T-slips for small amounts at EQ. | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

Loonie said
I just discovered that EQ issued a 2019 T-slip for an amount less than $15.

If you only had a small amount of interest and didn't bother to check EQ site or CRA MyAccount, you might want to be aware of this.

I am not aware of any other FIs that are doing this for amounts under $50, but it's something to watch for. And i don't know if EQ has done this in previous years.  

Thanks, Loonie. I noticed late last year that EQ Bank said they issue T-slips when any amount of interest is paid, not just type > $50.00 that is customarily done by substantially all financial institutions. It's nice to have confirmation of this. I can't remember where I saw the notification; it was either on (a) the EQ Bank online banking platform under tax slips; (b) in the fine print of an EQ Bank e-Statement; or (c) in an EQ Bank online notice or news release of some kind. Not to worry, though. CRA wouldn't even care; they would just kindly add it in for you and adjust your notice of assessment. I highly doubt they'd even issue you a letter of caution that further missed slips by you would result in penalties.

Cheers,
Doug

Briguy said
Isn't there a law that T4 and T5 tax slips must be mailed out by Feb. 28; and tax slips for mutual funds, flow-through shares, limited partnerships and income trusts by March 31? So if EQ Bank is going to issue T5 slips how can they not mail them?  

@Briguy, as I understand it, electronic delivery is a valid medium to deliver tax slips. Since EQ Bank operates entirely online, tax slips are delivered online via one's online banking. Whether one receives a notification or not depends on what notifications they've opted into. Nonetheless, their tax slip delivery works like clockwork; I suspect one could set their watch by it and not need a notification. Since one has to have an e-mail address to bank with EQ Bank (one cannot bank via postal mail with EQ Bank), they can mandate electronic delivery.

If one deals with Equitable Bank through a deposit broker or discount brokerage, in the case of the latter, it is the latter that prepares one's T5, not Equitable Bank. In the case of the former, it is either (a) Equitable Bank or (b) the deposit broker that mails out the tax slips, but deposits through Equitable Bank's broker channel are handled as a separate business. One's institution number is the same as with EQ Bank, but they will have a different contact centre and accounts are domiciled to a different branch transit. In fact, it may well be that Equitable Bank brokered deposits receive a tax slip only if the interest paid is greater than $50.00 while EQ Bank issues an electronic tax slip where the amount of interest is greater than zero. 😉

Hope that clarifies.

Cheers,
Doug

P.S. I'll leave the quoting of specific passage(s) from applicable legislation and/or regulations governing paper versus electronic tax slips to Norman1, should he feel so inclined. 😉

Loonie said
I just discovered that EQ issued a 2019 T-slip for an amount less than $15.

If you only had a small amount of interest and didn't bother to check EQ site or CRA MyAccount, you might want to be aware of this.

I am not aware of any other FIs that are doing this for amounts under $50, but it's something to watch for. And i don't know if EQ has done this in previous years.  

Just reading between the lines, are you saying that EQ does not post mail T slips nor do they inform you by email that they have an online T slip for you to retrieve?

I received a T5 for less than $2.

I always make the assumption that digital banks only 'post' statements, tax slips, and other documents online in PDF form, and that one needs to hunt for them proactively. For EQ Bank, I proactively generate my monthly statement and in early March, sought out the T5 on their site.

At one time, and possibly still, a few digital banks were sending paper tax slips and it completely 'floored' me that they did so. I think one of them was PCF (now Simplii) and it was because CIBC had not yet entered the PDF tax slip era.

I have been after the big 5 banks to get with the times too, with online PDF delivery. A person should be able to be on the other side of the world, and do their tax returns Netfile, having received ALL of their tax slips electronically. Snowbirds for example. I recall only getting a few T5 tax slips in paper form this past year. Everything else from T4As, to T3s and T5s to charitable and political donation tax slips are all available in PDF form online.

Briguy said

I also read somewhere you're only allowed to forget putting in a slip for one tax year. If you forget again within the next 4 years you will get a penalty.  

Oh, come on, @Briguy, whether that is true or not—it may well be, in theory, but in practice, I strongly suspect that, at most, it would trigger a query from a CRA representative and, upon your explaining what happened, they would use their discretion and not impose a penalty. Where you unfortunately drew the short straw, through the Taxpayers Bill of Rights and, if necessary, a call to one's Member of Parliament, I strongly think anyone could get any such penalty for what was obviously either an innocent or unavoidable error waived or reversed.

The solution here isn't to mandate paper delivery of tax slips, but rather, to do away with such nuisance penalties. The fact that the CRA has all the tax slip information, whether in electronic or paper format, provides a quick check on the taxpayer. More problematic is one who intentionally doesn't disclose material income to avoid paying income taxes, not someone who forgets to enter, or doesn't know about, an electronic tax slip amount that the CRA already knows about.

Cheers,
Doug

Penalty is only ever 5% of amount owing + 1% per month after the date it was originally supposed to be filed (so if he paid 20% it means he was late 15 months).

Note however, you may first be fined on what the CRA estimates you owe. BUT when all is calculated after final adjustment to return then the final amount is only based on actual amount owed, so the CRA refunds the difference, plus interest (a different and lower rate) from the date you paid the original fine.