Hi Barbara Barchen ,

Thank you for sharing your concern regarding the manual entry of Box 87 for Volunteer Firefighters in T4 forms and the CRA's electronic filing requirement. We recognize the importance of streamlining this process and ensuring compliance with CRA regulations.

To address your specific concern, while Sage 50 Canada currently may not automatically populate Box 87 for special T4 entries, there are a couple of steps you can take to ensure your T4 forms are correctly prepared and submitted:

1. Manual Adjustment: As you've been doing, manually adjusting the T4 slips for your firefighters is an immediate solution. Although this method may seem less efficient, it ensures the accurate reporting of the $1000 in Box 87 for Volunteer Firefighters.

2. Seek Professional Advice: Given the complexity and the need for accuracy in payroll and tax submissions, consulting with a CPA or certified payroll specialist is advisable, especially when adjustments on payroll data are considered, as mentioned in our article on adjusting Box 14 on the T4. This professional can provide tailored advice on handling this situation and possibly suggest a more streamlined way to comply with CRA requirements.

   Contact CRA: For a long-term solution and to ensure compliance with electronic filing, reaching out to the CRA directly may provide additional guidance or alternatives for electronic submission that accommodates the unique entries needed for volunteer firefighters. Here is the link for more information: CRA T4 Information.

For any further assistance or to discuss automated payroll solutions that might better suit your needs, including premade T4/RL-1 printing, please don't hesitate to contact our sales team at 1-888-261-9610.

Your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve. Please keep us posted on your progress or if there's anything more we can do to assist.

Warm Regards,
Erzsi

Thanks for your reply Erzsi.  I just talked to someone in another (Yukon) community who said that Quick Books allows for the first $1000 earned by Volunteer Firefighters to go into Box 87 and the remainder automatically goes into Box 14.  I'm curious as to why Sage isn't able to do this...

Thanks,

Barbara