Guidance on Filing the RL1 Summary and CNESST Salary Declarations

The first important year end deadline for corporations, with employees, is the end of February. Salary declarations including T4 and RL1 (in Quebec) slips and summaries have to be filed with CRA and RQ. While there are numerous payroll software that handle the filing of the T4 and RL1 slips, the RL1 summary is usually left to the employer (and/or their accountants) to file. While a T4 summary is not specifically required if slips are filed electronically, an RL1 summary regardless of the method of filing the RL1 slips i.e. manually or electronically. Additionally, employers in Quebec also have to prepare a year end declaration for CNESST which is Quebec version of workers compensation. As someone who has filed numerous slips, declarations and summaries for clients over the years, I have enumerated some tips on preparing these documents::