Fill Out CRA Form TD1 Online

What is Form TD1 used for

The federal TD1 lists the non-refundable tax credits you expect to be entitled to for the year, such as the basic personal amount, the age amount, pension income, tuition, and disability and caregiver amounts. Your employer or pension payer adds up your total claim and uses it, together with the CRA payroll deduction tables, to calculate how much federal income tax to withhold from each pay.

The TD1 never goes to the CRA. It stays on file with your employer or payer, and the CRA only sees the result indirectly through the tax withheld and reported on your T4 or T4A slip.

Who fills out Form TD1

You complete a federal TD1 when you start a new job, begin receiving pension payments, or want to change the amounts you claimed earlier. Employees in every province and territory use the same federal form; most also complete a provincial or territorial version, such as the TD1ON for Ontario or the TD1AB for Alberta, so both levels of tax are deducted correctly.

If you have more than one employer or payer at the same time and have already claimed personal tax credit amounts on another TD1, you cannot claim them again. Instead, check the box for more than one employer or payer on page 2 and enter zero as your total claim amount.

How to fill out Form TD1

The form is one calculation from top to bottom. Always use the current year's version, since the CRA updates the credit amounts annually. Working through the numbered lines:

• Line 1: the basic personal amount, which almost everyone claims. Enter the amount shown on the current year's form, or use the worksheet if your income is above the threshold printed there.
• Line 2: the Canada caregiver amount for infirm children under 18, claimed per child.
• Line 3: the age amount if you will be 65 or older at the end of the year and your income is below the limit shown on the form.
• Line 4: the pension income amount if you receive eligible pension or annuity income.
• Line 5: tuition, if you are enrolled at a university, college, or other eligible institution and will pay more than the minimum shown on the form.
• Line 6: the disability amount if you are eligible for the disability tax credit.
• Lines 7 to 10: amounts for a spouse or common-law partner, an eligible dependant, and the Canada caregiver amounts for infirm dependants.
• Lines 11 and 12: credit amounts transferred from your spouse or common-law partner or from a dependant.
• Line 13: add everything up to get your total claim amount, then sign and date the certification.
• Page 2: check the boxes that apply, including more than one employer, total income less than the total claim amount, or non-resident status, and use the optional field to request additional tax deducted from each pay.

When to give it to your employer or payer

Hand the completed TD1 to your employer or payer when you start the job or the pension, not to the CRA. If your entitlements change during the year, for example you turn 65, start school, or your dependant situation changes, the CRA expects a new form within seven days of the change.

You do not need to complete a fresh TD1 every year if nothing has changed. If you never file one at all, your employer simply deducts tax using only the basic personal amount, which can mean too much or too little tax withheld depending on your situation.