NR4: Statement of Amounts Paid or Credited to Non-Residents of Canada
Reviewed by EverStone CPA · August 2026
Quick answer: The NR4 reports amounts a Canadian payer paid or credited to non-residents that are subject to Canadian withholding tax. Non-residents pay a 25% Part XIII tax unless a treaty reduces it, and the slips and summary are due by the last day of March following the year.
What the form is
Part XIII of the Income Tax Act taxes certain Canadian-source amounts paid to non-residents — the rate is 25%, reduced or eliminated where a bilateral tax treaty or a provision of the Act applies. The payer withholds it at source; the non-resident typically files nothing in Canada.
The NR4 slip and summary are how the year’s payments and withholdings get reported. The CRA’s reporting limit: amounts of $50 or more must be reported — and any payment where tax was actually withheld must be reported regardless of size.
The payer is personally on the hook. As the CRA puts it, the Canadian payer or withholding agent is responsible for withholding and remitting Part XIII tax — get the rate wrong and the shortfall is the payer’s problem, not the non-resident’s.
Who files it
Any Canadian resident — person or corporation — paying rents, royalties, dividends, certain interest, management fees or similar amounts to a non-resident. For owner-managed companies the commonest triggers are dividends to a shareholder who has moved abroad, and rent collected for a non-resident landlord.
Estates and trusts with non-resident beneficiaries meet it too, on their own 90-day timetable.
The form at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Legislation | Part XIII of the Income Tax Act |
| Default rate | 25%, unless reduced by treaty or the Act |
| Reporting limit | $50 or more — or any amount where tax was withheld |
| Due | Last day of March following the calendar year (estates and trusts: 90 days after their year end) |
| Paper filing | More than 5 slips must be Internet-filed — penalties start at $125 |
What to have ready before you file
Most of the delay on these is not the form, it is assembling what the form asks for. Have each non-resident’s name, country of residence and identification number, the gross amount paid or credited by income type, the treaty article or exemption code relied on for any reduced rate, and proof the withheld tax was remitted through the year to hand before starting.
Gathering it first also surfaces the problems early — a missing account number, a balance nobody has actually calculated, a date that does not line up — while there is still time to fix them rather than after a filing has been rejected.
What catches people out
The treaty rate is not automatic. The payer has to establish the recipient’s country of residence and entitlement before applying a reduced rate. Withhold 15% on the strength of an address alone and the CRA can assess the payer for the difference.
A shareholder who emigrates changes the company’s obligations. The dividend that was an ordinary T5 matter last year becomes a Part XIII withholding and an NR4 this year — and nobody sends a reminder.
Rent is caught on the gross amount. A non-resident landlord’s Canadian property manager or tenant is the withholding agent, and the 25% applies to gross rent unless an election is made to be taxed on the net.
Two duties travel together: withhold Part XIII tax when the payment is made — 25% unless a treaty lowers it — and report the year’s payments on NR4 slips by the last day of March. Withholding correctly but forgetting the slips is still a failure.
How it is filed
The NR4 return — slips plus the NR4 Summary — is filed and the recipient copies distributed by the last day of March following the calendar year. Estates and trusts instead file within 90 days of their tax year end. More than five slips means Internet filing is mandatory.
Whichever route applies, keep the filed copies and the working papers behind them together. A slip is only as defensible as the records that show how its boxes were calculated, and those records are what a review asks for rather than the slip itself.
Common questions
What rate do I withhold?+
When are NR4 slips due?+
Do I report a payment under $50?+
Who pays if too little was withheld?+
Where this comes from
- CRA — T4061: NR4 withholding, remitting and reporting guide
- CRA — NR4 slip
- CRA — Penalty for accepting a late, amended or revoked election
General information current as of August 2026, not advice for your situation. Filing deadlines are unforgiving — confirm yours before you file. Please speak with a CPA about your circumstances.
Related reading
- GST/HST on exports and non-residents
- Eligible vs non-eligible dividends
- Every CRA deadline in one place
- All CRA forms we cover
Other CRA forms
Who does this work
The withholding rate is where the money is. The default is 25%, treaties routinely cut it — but only if the payer applies the treaty correctly at the moment of payment. After year-end, the slip just records whatever was done.
If that is where you are, the service page for cross-border and non-resident filings sets out what the engagement covers and how it is quoted.
These deadlines are date-driven and unforgiving. Email us before the deadline rather than after — we quote the work in writing first.
Email us about NR4