Insights & Information regarding enterprise resource planning software from a leading industry expert.

Sage Accpac ERP T4's - Electronic Filing -

  

 Email Article  

Tweet  

  

  

  

 delicious  

  

  

Before you begin using Sage Accpac Payroll's T4 electronic filing feature:

Contact your local Federal government representatives to advise them that you are going to use electronic filing software to file T4 data, and to obtain publications outlining their requirements for electronic filing. You will also need a Web Access Code.

Other information you need from them include:

• Your company's business number. (example: 123456789RP1234)
• Your 6-digit magnetic media transmitter number, that starts with MM

Ensure that your employee information is correct and complete. For example, each employee record must contain the employee's first and last names, city, province, postal code, and country.

Ensure that all earning/deduction codes in Sage Accpac Payroll are assigned to the correct T4 box numbers.

Generating the Electronic File

To generate the T4 electronic file.

1. From the Payroll Government Reports folder, choose T4s Electronic Filing.
2. In the Payment Year field, enter the year of the T4s you are filing.
3. If you have created employee selection lists, you can choose the selection list of employees for whom T4s will be processed.
4. Choose a range of employees for whom T4s will be processed (in addition to or instead of a selection list).
5. Choose how to sort the employees.
6. In the Report Type field, choose:
1. Original File, if generating an original file for submission.
2. Amended File, if generating a file to amend an original file.
7. Optionally select employees who are assigned a particular EI rate. For example, if you use two EI rates in your Payroll system, and you want to select only the employees who are assigned to the second rate, then select the Rate 2 box.
8. Complete the information on all tabs of the form, using publications from CRA to guide you. You must complete the information on the Employer and Transmitter tabs, even if the employer is also the transmitter. The Transmitter Info II tab includes fields such as:
9. Transmitter TypeTo identify the transmitter, choose from the list, one of the options defined by the CRA. - To identify the transmitter, choose from the list, one of the options defined by the CRA
10. Transmitter NumberEnter your magnetic media transmitter number assigned to you by the CRA. The transmitter number must be prefixed by the code MM. - Enter your magnetic media transmitter number assigned to you by the CRA. The transmitter number must be prefixed by the code MM.
11. Submission Reference IDEnter a unique number that the transmitter creates to identify each submission they file with CRA. - Enter a unique number that the transmitter creates to identify each submission they file with CRA.
12. In the Local File Path field, enter the location where the file will be created, on your hard drive or directly on diskette. Do not include the file name; you specify it in the next step.
13. Name the file by entering these fields:
1. File Name PrefixEnter any combination of numbers or alphabetical letters. - Enter any combination of numbers or alphabetical letters
2. File Creation NumberThe program displays a default number. You can accept this number, or enter a number that identifies the submission. For example, 001 if submitting the file for the first time; 002 if resubmitting it for the second time, and so on. The program automatically appends the File Creation Number to the end of the File Name Prefix, as required by the CRA's file-naming convention. - The program displays a default number. You can accept this number, or enter a number that identifies the submission. For example, 001 if submitting the file for the first time; 002 if resubmitting it for the second time, and do on. The program automatically appends the File Creation Number to the end of the File Name Prefix, as required by the CRA's file-naming convention.
3. For example, if you enter T4EFILE in the File Name Prefix field and 001 in the File Creation Number field, the file will be named T4EFILE001.XML
14. Click Process to start the file generation.
15. The system will verify your data.
16. If it finds invalid data, it will inform you and stops processing. Edit your data, and then restart the file generation. ** See MOST COMMON ERRORS below.
17. If no errors are found, the program will create an XML file at the location that you specified in the Local File Path field.

Click Close.

MOST COMMON ERRORS:

• SIN of 1^st Proprietor cannot be blank
• the SIN numbers of the proprietors can be set to zeros if your company is not a proprietorship or partnership
• T4 Submission Reference Identification cannot be blank
• This is a field created by you, to identify your submission. It can be any characters or numbers.
• Transmitter Number should contain 6 numeric characters
• This number needs to be given to you by CRA. It starts with MM and concludes with six digits.
• Tax INCTAX has a blank reporting ID or Tax EIR1 has a blank reporting ID
• On the Income Taxes form (Payroll Setup folder), enter the business number in the Reporting ID field of the EI rate you use (or of the tax code INCTAX if EI exempt).
• Employer country code does not exist
• The country must be a valid 3-character country code: for example, CAN is acceptable, CDN is not.
• Employee has an invalid province / state code
• The province must be a valid 2-character province code; for example BC is acceptable, B.C. is not.

Submitting the File

Before submitting the file, CRA recommends that you verify it with an XML validating parser.

List of Parsers, provided by the CRA, that work with CRA file:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/mgmd/flrs/bfr/vldtng-eng.html

Download CRA Schema from here

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/mgmd/flrs/bfr/dwnld-eng.html

1)  Download and install Parser.

2)  Download CRA schema and put everything into one directory.   You want all the .XSD files from CRA and the .XML file from Accpac in the same place.

3)  Open the Accpac XML file using the XML Parser.

4)  If everything is in the right place, you shouldn't see any errors and you should see a statement declaring that this is a valid file.

5)  If errors are displayed, make any required corrections in your accpac data and then re-generate the XML file, and parse again.

6)  Once file is valid - send XML file to the CRA using your web access codes.

For more information or for further assistance please contact our office directly.