T5: Statement of Investment Income
Reviewed by EverStone CPA · August 2026
Quick answer: The T5 reports investment income — for an owner-managed company, chiefly the dividends it paid its shareholders. The return is due by the last day of February following the year, no slip is needed under $50 per recipient, and late filing costs $100 to $7,500 depending on slip count.
What the form is
The T5 Statement of Investment Income reports dividends, certain interest and similar amounts paid by a corporation. For most owner-managed companies it is the slip behind the owner’s dividend remuneration.
The dividend’s character travels on the slip: eligible dividends and other-than-eligible dividends carry different gross-ups and credits on the shareholder’s return, and the slip is where the designation is reported.
The CRA’s guide (T4015) sets the exclusions — no slip is required where the year’s total to one recipient is under $50, for interest one individual pays another privately, and for several other listed cases.
Who files it
Corporations that paid taxable dividends to shareholders — which is to say, nearly every profitable owner-managed company that remunerates by dividend. Banks and investment dealers file them at scale for interest; a small company files a handful.
A company that paid interest on a shareholder’s loan account files one for that too, once the $50 floor is passed.
The form at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Guide | T4015 — T5 Guide, Return of Investment Income |
| Who files | Corporations paying dividends or certain interest |
| Minimum | No slip needed where the year’s total to a recipient is under $50 |
| Due | Last day of February following the calendar year |
| Late penalty | Minimum $100, maximum $7,500, scaled to the number of slips |
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 the dividend resolutions for the year with their dates and amounts, each shareholder’s SIN and address, the eligible-or-other designation for every dividend — decided when it was declared, not in February — and any interest the company paid on shareholder loans 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
Declaring a dividend and papering it are separate acts. The resolution fixes the date and amount; the T5 reports it. Companies that reconstruct their dividends in February — deciding after year-end what last year’s draws “were” — are building on sand, and the shareholder-loan rules are the downside.
The eligible designation has its own notification requirement and depends on the corporation’s GRIP balance. Marking a dividend eligible without the balance to support it creates a Part III.1 problem, not a typo.
A calendar-year deadline, not a fiscal one. A company with a June year-end still files its T5s for each calendar year by the last day of February — the corporate year-end is irrelevant to the slip.
The T5 return is due by the last day of February following the calendar year, and the late-filing penalty scales with slip count — a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $7,500. Below $50 per recipient per year, no slip is required at all.
How it is filed
The corporation files the T5 slips and summary by the last day of February following the calendar year the dividend was paid in, and gives each shareholder their copy by the same date. More than five slips means mandatory Internet filing.
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
When is the T5 return due?+
Do I file a T5 for a $40 dividend?+
Eligible or non-eligible — who decides?+
What if I file the T5s late?+
Where this comes from
- CRA — T5 information return due date
- CRA — T5 penalties
- 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
- Eligible vs non-eligible dividends
- Salary vs dividends for owners
- RRSP vs dividends for owners
- All CRA forms we cover
Other CRA forms
Who does this work
The T5 records a decision that should have been made months earlier — how much to pay as dividends and of which kind. Planning remuneration once a year, before the dividends are declared, is what makes the February slip a formality.
If that is where you are, the service page for corporate tax and owner remuneration 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.
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