T4 Other Information Codes

The code employers reach for most. Anything taxable that has no code of its own: a cell phone allowance, a gift card that can be cashed out or spent anywhere (near-cash, so taxable from the first dollar), a parking benefit, a tool allowance paid in cash. The amount is inside box 14 and is repeated here so the employee can see what part of their income was a benefit rather than pay. Do not use 40 for something that has its own code, such as an automobile benefit (34) or board and lodging (30).

The standby charge plus the operating-expense benefit for a company vehicle the employee could use personally, calculated with the CRA's automobile benefits calculator. Included in box 14 and, for a non-cash benefit, in box 26 (pensionable) but not box 24 (insurable), which is one of the ways boxes 24 and 26 come to differ.

30 is the taxable value of free or subsidized housing and meals. 31 flags a special work site, where the same board and lodging is exempt because the employee had to live away from home; the amount goes in 31 and stays out of box 14. 32 and 33 are the northern travel benefits for employees in a prescribed zone, which they claim against on Form T2222.

Commissions paid to a salaried employee, already inside box 14. Reported separately because a commission employee who filed a TD1X or T2200 can deduct sales expenses against this figure only. Self-employed commissions go on a T4A (box 020), not here.

Severance and retiring allowances are not employment income and are not in box 14. 66 is the eligible portion, which the employee can transfer to an RRSP without using contribution room ($2,000 per year of service before 1996, plus $1,500 per year before 1989 without a vested pension); 67 is everything else. Tax withheld on either is still in box 22.

Premiums the employee paid through payroll for a private health services plan, such as the employee share of a group benefits plan. Optional for the employer but useful: the employee can claim them as a medical expense, and without code 85 they have to prove the amount from pay stubs.

Up to $1,000 paid to a volunteer firefighter, ambulance technician or search-and-rescue volunteer is exempt from income. The exempt amount goes under 87 and stays out of box 14; anything above it is ordinary employment income. A volunteer who claims the volunteer firefighters' tax credit instead gives up the exemption, so report the amount and let them choose.