CRA ended its 14-year pause on T4A reporting penalties for trucking

In December 2025, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) lifted its moratorium on penalties for failing to report fees for services in the trucking industry. Federal ministers framed the move as a crackdown on the Driver Inc. model.

The CRA had introduced the moratorium in 2011 to give businesses time to get used to reporting fees for services in box 048 of the T4A slip. Under the Income Tax Act, payments to other businesses for services that exceed $500 in a calendar year must be reported.

What changed

• From the 2025 tax year on, trucking businesses can be penalized if they fail to report payments of more than $500 a year for services from a Canadian-controlled private corporation in the trucking industry.
• The slips for 2025 were due by Feb. 28, 2026. Because that date fell on a Saturday, returns received or postmarked by March 2, 2026, would count as on time.
• A business is considered to be in trucking if more than half of its primary income comes from trucking activities.
• The CRA said it would publish more guidance to help businesses work out whether they are affected.

The budget connection

The change built on Budget 2025, tabled in November, which proposed $77 million over four years starting in 2026-27, and $19.2 million a year after that, for the CRA to lift the moratorium and run a program targeting non-compliance by personal services businesses. The budget also proposed letting the CRA share information with Employment and Social Development Canada to enforce the Canada Labour Code on worker classification.

When the budget came out, Canadian Trucking Alliance president Stephen Laskowski said it established that all companies would again compete under the same tax and labour rules. Finance and National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in the CRA's release that driver misclassification undermines workers, distorts competition and puts safety at risk.