A T4A is a tax slip reporting income other than regular employment wages, such as fees paid to contractors, pension income, or certain scholarships and benefits.
The T4A Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income covers payments that are not employment income on a T4. It reports things like fees for services paid to self-employed contractors, pension and annuity income, retiring allowances, and some scholarships and research grants.
Unlike a T4, a T4A for contractor fees generally carries no CPP or EI, because a genuine contractor handles their own contributions. The line between a T4 (employee) and a T4A (contractor) is the employee-versus-contractor question the CRA scrutinises closely, misclassification can lead to assessments for unremitted CPP and EI.
A business pays a freelance designer $15,000 for a project. Because she is a genuine contractor, not an employee, it reports the fees on a T4A with no CPP or EI withheld, due by the end of February.
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