Budget Proposal Eliminates Express Consent Required to Deliver T4s Electronically to Active Employees

In the Tax Measures: Supplementary Information (the “Supplement”) on Budget 2017, the government proposes that employers be allowed to provide electronic T4-Statement of Remuneration Paid slips to current active employees without obtaining express prior consent. Sufficient privacy safeguards, to be specified by the Minister of National Revenue, will need to be in place before employers can begin this practice. The change, if passed, will apply from 2017 onward, and is contained in a Notice of Ways and Means Motion to Amend the Income Tax Act and Other Related Legislation included in the Supplement. The measure is intended to “reduce costs and increase efficiencies for employers.” Employers will be required to provide paper copies of the T4 to “employees who do not have confidential access to view or print their T4s (e.g., employees on leave and former employees)” and to employees who request them.