T1213 gets your client a CRA letter to cut withholding for one year

Which deductions and credits can go on a 2026 T1213?

The 2026 T1213, version T1213 E (26), covers any deduction or credit that isn't on the Form TD1, and asks the CRA to reduce tax deductions at source, which the form also calls a waiver canada.ca. Part 3 has 12 lines, and each one tells your client what to attach.

A rental loss isn't one of the named lines, so it goes under the catchall for any other deduction, with the supporting documents. The last line works the other way: income nobody withholds on, such as interest or net rental income, shrinks the reduction the CRA approves canada.ca.

Part 2 has a shortcut. If the only reason is that your client works in one province or territory and lives in another, they answer yes, name the province of work and skip straight to the Part 4 signature canada.ca. The T4001 gives that same case as an example of when an employee needs a letter of authority canada.ca.

What has to be true before the CRA approves a T1213?

Before sending it, your client must have filed returns for the previous years, had them assessed and paid any amount owing in full canada.ca. The T4001 says the CRA won't usually issue a letter of authority to someone with a balance owing or unfiled returns canada.ca.

The request is annual because the CRA has to check that the deduction or credit will actually produce a refund on that year's income before it approves anything. One exception: if deductible support payments stay the same or increase from one year to the next, your client can make the request every two years by giving a form for each year canada.ca. The CRA usually issues a letter of authority for a specific tax year canada.ca.

The legal authority is subsection 153(1.1) of the Income Tax Act: where withholding the normal amount would cause undue hardship, the Minister may set a lesser amount, and that becomes the amount to withhold. Two things can't be the basis for a reduction: a pension income splitting election, under subsection 153(1.3), and a stock option benefit just because it's received in a form other than cash, under subsection 153(1.31) laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.

The CRA's processing times page lists no service standard for T1213 requests as of October 2026, so tell your client to send the form early in the year with complete documents canada.ca. The form itself warns that an incomplete one may delay processing canada.ca.

How is a T1213 sent, and what does the employer do with the letter?

Your client, or you as their representative, can upload the form and documents through My Account or Represent a Client using Submit documents, under the topic "Contact Centre and International Correspondence". It can also go by mail to the Sudbury Tax Centre, PO Box 20000 Station A, Sudbury ON P3A 5C1, or by fax to the numbers on the form. Keep the original receipts canada.ca.

The employer reduces tax only on a letter of authority from the CRA, and keeps every letter with its payroll records for CRA officers to review canada.ca. Nonresident employees who perform services in Canada and nonresident directors shouldn't use the T1213 at all canada.ca. For a treaty exempt employee, the employer can ask to stop withholding through RC473 certification.

In the payroll formulas, the letter lands in one of three factors. Authorized deductions such as child care and support payments go in F1 and come off annual taxable income. Authorized federal credits such as medical expenses and donations go in K3, and the provincial or territorial version in K3P canada.ca.

When a letter starts after the first pay period, F1 and K3 are scaled up: P times the amount, divided by PR, where P is the pay periods in the year and PR the pay periods left, counting the current one canada.ca. That packs the full year's reduction into the pays that remain. For an employee in Quebec the CRA formulas set provincial tax T2 to zero, so the CRA letter affects federal withholding only canada.ca.

A $6,000 RRSP letter that arrives at pay 14 saves the same $1,230 federally

Take a client paid $3,000 biweekly ($78,000 a year) who plans $6,000 of RRSP contributions on their own, outside payroll. The CRA letter authorizes a $6,000 deduction, and payroll first applies it on pay 14 of 26. Their annual taxable income sits between $58,523 and $117,045 before and after the deduction, so the federal rate on it is 20.5% throughout.

The CRA's option 1 formula divides the annual tax figure by P to get each pay's tax, which is why the scaled F1 lands on exactly the right yearly total canada.ca. The 2026 federal rates are 14% up to $58,523 and 20.5% from there to $117,045 canada.ca. The provincial reduction is added on top at the provincial rate. If your client then contributes less than $6,000, the deduction on the return is smaller than the one payroll used, and the gap shows up as a balance owing in April. The 2026 RRSP limit caps what the letter can cover.

When does payroll withhold less tax without a T1213?

Several amounts reduce taxable pay with no letter. RRSP contributions the employer withholds from pay come off automatically when it has reasonable grounds to believe the employee can deduct them, such as a copy of the RRSP deduction limit statement from the notice of assessment. The same applies to FHSA contributions, RPP and PRPP contributions, union dues and the prescribed zone deduction canada.ca. That is why line 1 of the T1213 tells your client to leave out RRSP contributions made through payroll canada.ca.

A retiring allowance moved straight into an RRSP needs no letter either. The eligible part under paragraph 60(j.1) needs no RRSP room check, and the rest can go in without tax deducted if the employee gives a written statement that it fits within their deduction limit canada.ca. The retiring allowance rollover page has the per year math.

Personal credits such as the age, disability and caregiver amounts belong on the 2026 TD1, not the T1213. Commission employees claim expenses on Form TD1X, which goes in factor E of the formulas canada.ca. And Old Age Security recovery tax has its own form: use Form T1213(OAS), not the T1213 canada.ca. See the OAS clawback page for how that withholding is set.