As an employer, you may create a federal and/or provincial or territorial Form TD1 Personal Tax Credits Return and have your employee send it to you electronically rather than send you the actual completed Form TD1.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) cannot provide you with any advice or guidance in developing an electronic product. As long as the following conditions are met, you will be allowed to create, maintain, and store the TD1 Personal Tax Credits Return forms electronically. Since there will be no written signature on the TD1, security measures must be in place to authenticate the employee's identity, for example a password system or an employee self-service portal.

In addition, the electronic forms have to:

• be made available and accessible to the CRA when requested and be maintained in a format that can be read by representatives of the CRA.
• mirrors the CRA approved TD1 paper form
• include a certification confirming that the information given by the employee is accurate. For example, clicking on a button saying "I agree" to a statement that is similar to the certification statement on the paper Form TD1 return (i.e. the information is correct and complete to the best of his or her knowledge)
• be in a format that cannot be altered. In other words changes can only be made if your employee submits a new Form TD1
• include a date so you can tell when your employee submits a new Form TD1 to you
• meets all of the CRA's general guidelines on record retention and on electronic records, which can be found in information circular IC78-10R, Books and Records Retention/Destruction

Finally, the use of the electronic form will not relieve you of your responsibility to review the completed forms for reasonableness. You should communicate with a tax services office if you have any concerns that a completed Form TD1 might contain a false or deceptive statement.

Forms and publications

• Guide T4001, Employers' Guide - Payroll Deductions and Remittances
• Guide T4032, Payroll Deductions Tables
• Form TD1, Personal Tax Credit Return
• Information circular IC78-10R, Books and Records Retention/Destruction