T4A moratorium officially lifted, CRA reports
The federal government today followed through on a budget promise to lift the moratorium on penalties related for failing to report fees for services via T4A slips for the 2025 tax year and beyond.
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced the change was made “to restore fairness” and “improve compliance in the trucking industry.”
“Tax noncompliance in the trucking sector has allowed some companies to avoid tax obligations, undercutting compliant competitors and denying workers the benefits and pensions they have earned,” CRA said in a release.
The moratorium on T4A-related penalties has been in place since 2011, when it was instituted “to allow businesses and organizations time to gain familiarity with the RFS requirement and adopt practices to comply.”
Trucking companies must report payments for services to Canadian-controlled private corporations in the trucking industry exceeding $500 in the calendar year, using box 048 of the T4A slip by Feb. 28, 2026.
A business is considered to be operating in the trucking industry if more than 50% of its primary source of income is from trucking activities, CRA clarifies.
“Driver misclassification undermines workers, distorts competition for honest businesses, and puts safety at risk,” announced Minister of Finance and National Revenue, Francois-Philippe Champagne. “By lifting the T4A penalties moratorium, we are reinforcing fairness in the trucking industry, ensuring drivers receive the protections they are owed, and contributing to safer roads for all Canadians, while making sure everyone pays their fair share.”
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T4A debate is a distraction
Mandatory T4A reporting will accomplish nothing if cheating carriers continue not filing, exactly as they do today.
A Cheating Carrier is not going to file T4’s or T4A Documents because filing them would require proper payroll Tax Remittances and immediately expose non-compliance.
Enforcement is the answer and always has been. Let’s see if CRA does their job!!!
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It will make a difference if part of the enforcement is to make sure non-compliance companies are penalized for not filing properly.
Call me a skeptic , but I have a bit of a hard time believing that the bad actors will not find a workaround. I feel we will see the return of the old “never never plan”, Where company drivers suddenly become quote , owner operators. Hopefully all levels of government will start closing all the other loopholes being used.
Long overdue!
The “Driver Inc.” operations have put many legitimate operations out of business, while enslaving unsuspecting immigrant drivers.
And all at taxpayers expense.
GST reporting will be the trigger, no way out. Revenue with no or little source deduction payments is a dead giveaway. They will look for T4A’s and if nothing is submitted, you have yourself an audit on the way.
The government already uses GST audits to trigger income tax audit if your GST audit does not go well.
First two quarters of 2026 should do a lot to clear this garbage out of the system.
“Restore fairness”??? The industry is already utterly destroyed. You fools have not enforced tax codes or regulations for YEARS. Many a driver has NOT BE PAID anywhere near properly because of it. This industry is a pathetic joke.
How about back taxes?
Finally