T4 Nil Filing Requirement Checker
An open payroll account expects a T4 information return even where nobody was paid. Three answers give the date and what is owed.
Written and reviewed by Sharad Gondaliya, CPA (Ontario), CPA Ontario Membership 61040184.
Last reviewed: October 29, 2026
Enter the year and answer both questions.
Gondaliya CPA Professional Corporation is a registered EFILE electronic filer. Returns are prepared and transmitted in Canada. Credentials are never shared and never used offshore.
The T4 Runs on the Calendar Year, Not Your Year-End
Almost every other date on this site is measured from the fiscal year-end. The T4 information return is not. It reports a calendar year and is due at the end of the following February, whatever year-end the corporation uses.
A corporation with a June 30 year-end therefore has a T2 date in December and a T4 date at the end of February, four months apart and neither derived from the other.
| Obligation | Measured from | When it falls |
|---|---|---|
| The T2 return | The fiscal year-end | Six months after it |
| The T4 information return | The calendar year | The end of the following February |
| Nil payroll remittances | Each remittance period | For as long as the account is open |
An Open Account Expects a Return Either Way
The obligation follows the account, not the activity. While a payroll account is open, the Agency expects the annual information return and expects the remittances through the year, including nil ones.
That is the trap for a dormant corporation: it stopped paying anyone years ago, and the account is still open and still generating dates. The payroll nil remittance checker covers the remittances; this page covers the annual return.
Form RC145 Is What Stops It
Closing the payroll account with Form RC145 is the only thing that ends the obligation. Until it is closed the dates recur every year, and nothing about the corporation being dormant pauses them.
Closing the account is not covered by the nil T2 fee, and neither is the T4 return itself. The fee of $300.00 plus HST per tax year covers one nil T2 return for one corporation for one tax year, and the nil T2 filing cost page sets out what sits outside it.
Why This One Reaches the Directors
Payroll source deductions are money withheld from someone’s pay and owed to the Agency. Amounts of that kind can be assessed against directors personally, which corporate income tax on its own cannot.
That is the practical reason an unused payroll account is worth closing rather than ignoring. The director liability exposure checker sets out which amounts reach a director and which do not.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the T4 information return due?
The end of February following the calendar year it reports. It is measured from the calendar year, not from the corporation’s fiscal year-end.
Do I file a T4 return if nobody was paid?
While the payroll account is open the return is expected, and so are the nil remittances through the year. Closing the account with Form RC145 is what ends both.
Is the T4 return covered by the nil T2 fee?
No. The fee covers one nil T2 return for one corporation for one tax year. The T4 return, the nil remittances and the account closure all sit outside it.
How do I close a payroll account?
With Form RC145. Until it is closed the account keeps generating obligations whether or not the corporation is doing anything.
Does an open payroll account affect my nil T2?
Not the T2 itself, which is still nil where there was no activity. What it affects is everything alongside the T2, and the directors’ personal exposure to unremitted amounts.
Nil T2 Filing, $300.00 plus HST per tax year
Type your corporation name, pick your unfiled years, pay, and sign Form T183CORP on a secure screen. Your CRA confirmation is emailed within 3 business days.
Start Nil T2 Filing NOW