CRA: Error Transmitting T4 Slips - TC News

Slips
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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is currently experiencing a technical issue reporting “invalid formatting detected in one or more fields” during transmission of T4 slips through internet file transfer.

The CRA has informed us that this error message appears if one or more of the information fields in the return contains invalid formatting.

Before attempting to transmit the T4 slips, verify that the fields on the Info worksheet and on recipient slips do not contain any extra blank spaces or invalid characters (such as $ or ^).

Note that this error message is only a warning and will not cause your return to be rejected. You can check the “I want to proceed without correcting these errors” box to file the slips return. You may need to manually enter the submission number if you choose to proceed.

If you continue to experience issues with filing information returns (slips), we recommend contacting the CRA directly for further guidance.

Aaron Doucet
TaxCycle PM

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What is considered an EXTRA blank space? Must all fields have a value in them?

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My brain went to an extra space in a string of characters.

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Its more " - " where there’s lots of padding around the dash or extra blank space, that’s what we would want to avoid if possible.

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So, in a taxpayer’s name (i.e. business name) where there is normally a space, what do we do - replace it with an underscore?

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I just click on “File anyhow” box when I get the error. I filed a number of T4s today and had to manually enter the submission number even on those without an error. Minor Inconvenience only.

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I don’t know that I completely believe what the CRA is telling you @aaron.doucet.cpa. I honestly think they don’t know what the problem is but feel they need to tell you something.

I sent you two files yesterday that contained no extra spaces, invalid characters, or anything strange in any of the fields (including postal codes), yet they received the “invalid formatting” error. I combed through both the TaxCycle file as well as the actual .xml file and there is absolutely nothing offside with the transmissions. It would be interesting to know if your Engineering team found any issues with those .xml files.

I filed about 10 sets in today… 8 of them were fine and another 2 of them received the error for no reason whatsoever.

The sets of T4’s that I sent in yesterday the CRA “claimed” to have invalid characters have been processed and I can view the slip information in Represent a Client.

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Aaron - the invalid formatting issue I mentioned last week is happening on the T4 SUMMARY not the slips - and there was no extra blank space or invalid characters.
I do note that if you do not have a “Care Of” address entry, there is a blank row on the T4 Summary page in the software but this cannot be removed.

UPDATE EDIT: I do note that there is no option to have the date filled in on filing like we do on the T183 “Use the Signing date entered on the Info Worksheet (or the current date if blank)”
Could this be the issue?
Also note that the T5 for the same client filed with no issues, and there was no date entered - but there is also no “care of” line on the T5 Summary

I did notice one troubleshooting that may or may not be relevant:
There were two T4 Summaries printing - Summary of Remuneration is one, and then Summary of Remuneration paid for reduced EI is another.

I had to change the T4Summary print options to “When used, show in set and select for print” instead of “Always show in set and select for print”. The latter was creating another T4Summary printed for the reduced EI even when it was blank.

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If I was to hazard a guess as to the underlying problem…

The “Invalid Formatting Detected” error is probably related to the second SIN number of the proprietors or principal owners in the Return Information being left blank… like in the case where there is only a single shareholder, or a sole proprietor.

In all instances where there are 2 SIN numbers completed in those boxes I have a 100% pass rate. In instances where there is only a single SIN number entered in the Return Information area I receive the “Invalid Formatting Detected” nag every time.

This only started happening on February 10th after CRA tried to tweak the system again. I think they screwed up when there is only a single SIN… nothing to do with invalid characters at all… just invalid programmers and coders. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Good help is tough to find apparently.

I didn’t have any of the issues that others are experiencing, but I don’t believe I have filed any slips since Feb 10. Lucky me I guess.

I did have the initial issues quite early in January until Taxcycle tweaked the program to account for the initial CRA changes.

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Recent related update: I receive the following error on any attempt to file any client T4 slips. Curiously, this did not appear when filing a T4 Summary for my own firm’s staff,

Has anyone had a similar problem?

Submission number:,“27786220”
Return type:,T4
Date of report:,2025-02-21 12:21:41 pm EST
Summary Sequence Number,Reported Account Number,Reporting Year,Slip Sequence Number,Status,Description
“1”
“781874136RZ0001”
“2024”
“N/A”
“Rejected”
“Filer account number is missing or invalid for this type of return.”

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Yes, I recently encountered this N/A issue.

kindly check the address of all the employees, and if it contains any “.” (DOT), you need to remove it and then try filing it.

It worked for me so hopefully will work for all.

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I had this on one file and the issue was in TC info the account number was RT0001 and not RP.

I see on yours you are filing T4s yet the account number is an RZ, fix that to RP and you should be good.

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Bingo. I don’t use taxcycle but was searching after having a similar problem with a different software…i checked my slip and summary no issue…after seeing what you noted I had an aha moment and just duplicated my single shareholders SIN…voila no processing issue