NR4 codes: two digit income codes in box 14, letters in box 18

Which income code fits each payment?

Box 14 takes the income code for line one of the slip and box 24 for line two, always two digits from Appendix B of guide T4061 canada.ca. The CRA's 2026 filing specification sends you to T4061 for every income and exemption code, and its country and currency fields accept only codes listed in the guide canada.ca.

The dividend split is the one to get right: 08 is only for a Canadian subsidiary paying its foreign parent corporation, and 09 covers every other dividend, including one paid to an individual shareholder canada.ca. Mutual fund taxable Canadian property gains distributions and assessable distributions have their own codes (57 to 60), and the film and video acting services codes (54 to 56) cover nonresident actors.

Codes 44 and 45 (Old Age Security and the supplement) and 46 to 51 (CPP and QPP benefits) belong to the government payers. OAS amounts go on a separate NR4 (OAS) slip canada.ca, so a private payer never uses them.

What does each exemption letter mean?

Box 18 (or 28 on line two) holds a single letter showing the authority that exempts the amount from Part XIII tax or lets you apply a reduced rate canada.ca. The guide is blunt about when it's needed: if no tax is withheld, the correct exemption code must be included, and a letter is only valid with the income type it's listed for canada.ca.

Code M has a trap: it's invalid when the dividend is reported on a T3, because the amount is then trust income, so use S if it applies canada.ca. The letters run G to W with gaps; there are no codes A to F, K, L or V in the current guide.

Which letter goes with exempt interest and treaty exemptions?

Arm's length interest is usually exempt by the Act itself: Part XIII reaches interest only when it isn't fully exempt interest and is paid to a non arm's length person, or is participating debt interest laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. The slip is still required, since T4061 wants one for Part XIII amounts even when no tax is deducted canada.ca. The guide doesn't pair code 61 with a named letter, but because the exemption comes from the Act and not a treaty, S (other Income Tax Act exemptions) is the letter that fits it. That's our reading of Appendix C, not a CRA statement.

A payment the treaty takes to 0% gets T. Interest a Canadian company pays its US parent is non arm's length, so the Act taxes it, but Article XI(1) of the Canada US treaty says that interest may be taxed only in the US canada.ca. That's code 62 with exemption T. The same goes for software royalties under Article XII(3) canada.ca. Exact treaty rates by payment are on the Canada US treaty withholding page.

A reduced treaty rate where you still withhold tax, such as 5% or 15% on a dividend, doesn't match any letter in the guide. The only reduced rate letters, H and J, both depend on a CRA authorization canada.ca. For the treaty rate itself, keep the payee's Form NR301 on file, the declaration of eligibility for treaty benefits canada.ca; see the NR301 page.

What do the slips and summary look like for two US payees?

Your client, Canco, pays two US residents in 2026. USco, which owns 100% of Canco's voting shares, gets a $200,000 dividend and $40,000 of interest on an intercompany loan. Jane, a US resident individual who holds a small block of shares and an arm's length Canco bond, gets an $8,000 dividend and $2,500 of bond interest.

The dividend rates come from Article X(2): 5% to a company owning at least 10% of the voting stock, 15% in all other cases canada.ca. Both slips show USA in box 12 and recipient code 3 (USco) or 1 (Jane) in box 11 canada.ca. The S on Jane's line 2 follows the reading in the section above, since T4061 names no letter for code 61.

On the NR4 Summary, line one and line two stay separate: box 16 totals $208,000 and box 17 totals $11,200 for the first lines, while box 26 totals $42,500 and box 27 is $0 canada.ca. If Canco also paid USco a royalty, that third income type would go on a second USco slip canada.ca.

How do the country, currency and recipient codes work?

Box 12 is the recipient's country of residence for tax purposes, using the three letter codes in Appendix A of T4061. If the mailing address is in another country, box 12 still shows the tax residence canada.ca. Box 11 is the recipient type: 1 individual, 2 joint account, 3 corporation, 4 association, trust, estate, nominee or partnership, 5 government or international organization canada.ca.

Box 15 (or 25) is the currency. Enter CAD and report Canadian dollars. If you can't convert, enter the three letter currency code instead and report both the gross and the tax in that currency; the CRA converts them at the Bank of Canada's average annual rate canada.ca.

Box 13 takes a Canadian tax number (SIN, ITN, TTN or a payroll account number), or nine zeros if there is none. T4061 also describes a new box 30 for the recipient's foreign tax identification number, left blank or nine zeros if unavailable canada.ca. The 2026 XML specification hasn't caught up: it has no box 30 field and labels box 13 as the recipient's foreign or Canadian tax number or SIN, so an electronic filer has only the box 13 field for either number canada.ca.

When does one recipient need more than one line or slip?

Partly exempt income goes on two lines: the taxable part with its tax on line one, the exempt part with its letter in box 18 or 28 on line two canada.ca. A slip holds two income types, so a recipient with more than two needs separate slips, and a payee who changes country of residence during the year gets a separate slip for each canada.ca. Income paid while the person was a Canadian resident goes on the regular Canadian slip, not the NR4.

Below $50 of gross income for the year with nothing withheld, no slip is needed; under $50 with tax withheld, you report it canada.ca. Payers of rent and film amounts report the gross even when some or all of it had no tax withheld. The slips and the return for 2026 are due March 31, 2027; see the NR4 deadline page.