T5018 — reporting what you paid your subcontractors
The T5018 is the slip that tells the CRA what you paid your subcontractors. It exists because construction is where cash work is most common, and reporting the other side of the transaction is how the CRA finds income nobody declared. If you hire subs, this is almost certainly your obligation, not theirs.
The rules, with sources
Every line below links to the authority it came from and the date we last read it.
| Who has to file | Individuals, partnerships, trusts and corporations whose primary source of business income is more than 50% from construction activities. |
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checked 2026-09-08
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|---|---|---|
| Reporting threshold | More than $500 in total payments to a subcontractor over the reporting period, not including GST/HST. |
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checked 2026-09-08
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| Payments for goods only | Not reportable. Only the construction services component is. |
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checked 2026-09-08
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| Reporting period | Your choice of calendar year or fiscal period — but once chosen, you have to stay with it. |
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| Filing deadline | Six months after the end of the reporting period you chose. |
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| Late-filing penalty | $100, or the per-day amount for your slip count, whichever is more. 1–50 slips: $10/day to a $1,000 maximum. 51–500: $15/day to $1,500. 501–2,500: $25/day to $2,500. 2,501–10,000: $50/day to $5,000. 10,001 or more: $75/day to $7,500. |
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checked 2026-09-08
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| The form | T5018 slip for each subcontractor, plus a T5018SUM summary for the return as a whole. |
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checked 2026-09-08
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The part people get wrong
The threshold is measured per subcontractor across the whole reporting period, not per invoice. Four $200 cheques to the same framer is $800, and that is reportable. This is the single most common way a contractor discovers they were supposed to be filing.
It also runs on the payment, not the invoice. What you actually paid inside the period is what goes on the slip, so an invoice you received in November and paid in January belongs to the period you paid it in.
Six months is not the same deadline as your taxes
The T5018 deadline is six months after the end of the reporting period you picked — which means if you report on the calendar year, the slips are due at the end of June, not in April with everything else. Contractors who assume it rides along with the corporate return are the ones who file late.
Keep the sub's number on file
Each slip needs the subcontractor's SIN or business number. Chasing that down in June, for work done fourteen months earlier, from someone who has moved on, is the avoidable part of this. Ask for it when you onboard the sub, not when you file.
Questions people actually ask
Who has to file a T5018?
Any individual, partnership, trust or corporation whose primary source of business income is more than 50% from construction activities, and who paid subcontractors for construction services.
What is the T5018 threshold?
More than $500 in total payments to a single subcontractor over your reporting period, not including GST/HST. It is a running total for the period, not a per-invoice test.
When is the T5018 due?
Six months after the end of the reporting period you chose. On a calendar-year basis that is the end of June.
What is the penalty for filing a T5018 late?
$100, or a per-day amount based on how many slips you filed late, whichever is greater. For 1 to 50 slips it is $10 per day up to a maximum of $1,000.
Do I report payments for materials?
No. Payments for goods only are not reportable. Where an invoice mixes goods and services, the construction services component is what counts.
Can I report on my fiscal year instead of the calendar year?
Yes. The CRA lets you use either a calendar year or your fiscal period, but you have to stay consistent once you have chosen.
GoBuild does not file the slip for you. What it does is keep every payment to every subcontractor in one place, against the job it belonged to, so the annual total per sub is a report rather than an archaeology project in June.
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This is a plain-English summary written for contractors, not legal or tax advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the source or talking to your accountant or lawyer. Rules change; each line above carries the date we last checked it. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.