PD7A Remittance Voucher

Form PD7A, Statement of Account for Current Source Deductions, is the statement and voucher CRA sends to regular and quarterly remitters. The top part is a statement of account for the remittances CRA has received, with your current-year balance and any action you need to take. The bottom part is a remittance voucher for the next payment, preprinted with your payroll account information. CRA sends a new PD7A as soon as it receives a payment for current source deductions or processes a PD7A reply. CRA stops mailing paper PD7As after six or more consecutive electronic remittances. A nil remittance reported through TeleReply or My Business Account does not generate a new paper PD7A. Accelerated remitters get the PD7A(TM) instead. The voucher carries the amount; when that amount is due depends on your remitter type.

When is the remittance due?

CRA assigns every employer a remitter type, and the type sets both the remitting period and the due date. Your pay schedule does not change it: a new remitter type means new due dates, not paying employees more often.

• AMWA (average monthly withholding amount) is the total of all required remittances in a calendar year (income tax, CPP and EI, employee and employer shares) divided by the number of months, up to 12, that required a remittance. CRA uses the AMWA from two calendar years ago, so the 2024 figure sets the 2026 type.
• A new corporation does not apply to be quarterly. While the RP account has been open less than 12 months, it remits quarterly as long as each month's withholding stays under $1,000 and the compliance record is perfect. Once a month reaches $1,000, it becomes a regular remitter from the next calendar quarter.
• Perfect compliance means, for the previous 12 months, no late remittances, no failure-to-remit or failure-to-deduct penalties and no overdue T4-type returns on the payroll account, and no balance owing, overdue return or credit held from refund on a GST/HST account. Losing eligibility changes the schedule: a new small employer moves to regular remitting the next calendar quarter; an existing quarterly remitter generally changes the next calendar year. Follow CRA's notice and effective date.
• Associated corporations share a type. Their remittances are combined, with each month counted once, so an operating company and a holding company that both run payroll are classified on their joint AMWA. All payroll accounts of one organization also share a type.
• CRA reviews every payroll account each November and tells you in writing if your type changes. You can ask CRA to review your type at 1-800-959-5525, for example if you are a regular remitter that meets the small employer conditions, or an accelerated remitter whose AMWA from last year would lower your frequency. Paying more often than required is accepted but does not change your type.
• Weekends and holidays: when a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday recognized by CRA, the payment is on time if CRA receives it, or a Canadian financial institution processes it, by the next business day.

Working out your type

A BC corporation remitted $180,000 of source deductions in 2024, with a remittance due in all 12 months.

1. AMWA = $180,000 / 12 = $15,000.
2. That is under $25,000, so the corporation is a regular remitter for 2026.
3. Deductions from April 2026 pays are due May 15, 2026.

A corporation that started payroll in July 2024 and remitted $30,000 over six months has an AMWA of $30,000 / 6 = $5,000, not $2,500: only months that required a remittance count. It is a regular remitter for 2026.

If the first corporation's AMWA had been $40,000, it would be a threshold 1 accelerated remitter: deductions from pays dated March 1 to 15 would be due March 25, and from pays dated March 16 to 31, due April 10.

How to pay

• Methods. Online or telephone banking (the payee is the payroll source deductions account, with the BN plus RP as the account number), CRA My Payment, pre-authorized debit, a third-party service provider, in person at a Canadian financial institution, or a cheque by mail. Quarterly, regular and threshold 1 remitters can use any of these. Threshold 2 remitters must pay electronically or at a Canadian financial institution; paying on the due date by another method costs 3% of the amount.
• Over $10,000: since January 1, 2024, a payment or remittance to the Receiver General of more than $10,000 should be made electronically, and a penalty can apply unless you cannot reasonably pay that way.
• At a bank counter you need the original paper voucher, because each one carries micro-encoding. Photocopies and faxes are not accepted, and a missing voucher does not move the due date. Order vouchers through CRA forms and publications or at 1-800-959-5525.
• When CRA treats the payment as received: online or telephone banking, the date the financial institution credits CRA; in person, the date stamped on the voucher; mail, the date CRA receives it; post-dated cheques and pre-authorized debit, the negotiable date; My Payment, the same day if made on a business day.
• Keep arrears separate. If CRA has assessed a balance owing, pay it with the arrears or balance-owing option online, or with the arrears voucher on Form PD7D. Do not combine it with a current remittance.
• Year-end reconciliation payment. When filing the T4 return, an eligible employer can pay a reconciliation amount on or before the last day of February with the PD7R voucher (Payment on Filing) without penalty or interest.

Worked example: a monthly remittance

A regular monthly remitter is running May 2026 payroll in British Columbia. Total combined employee and employer source deductions for May are:

• Income tax: $3,200
• CPP (employee + employer): $2,100
• EI (employee + 1.4× employer): $900
• Total payable: $6,200

1. By June 15, 2026 (a Monday), the bookkeeper logs in to online banking.
2. Selects the federal payroll source deductions payee with account number 123456789RP0001.
3. Enters the remitting period end date 2026-05-31 and pays $6,200.
4. Because the payment is electronic, CRA does not mail a PD7A. The bookkeeper checks the RP account in My Business Account to confirm the payment posted to May, and reconciles it against the payroll journal.

Nothing to remit this period

A period with no source deductions still needs a report. Report a nil remittance by the due date for your remitter type, and tell CRA when you expect to make deductions again (an estimated date is fine). If you give no date, CRA expects a remittance for the next month or quarter.

• Online: through CRA sign-in services (My Business Account, or Represent a Client for a bookkeeper or accountant).
• TeleReply: 1-800-959-2256, 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Have the RP account number, the reason and the next expected deduction date ready, and keep the confirmation number. You cannot use it if you paid remuneration and had to make deductions, or to change a previous reply.
• Mail (regular and quarterly remitters): fill in the nil section of the PD7A, or send a letter with your name, position and phone number, the RP account, the business's legal name and address, the reason and the next expected deduction date to the Sudbury Tax Centre.

If the business stops operating, changes legal status, is restructured, reorganized or amalgamated, or goes bankrupt or into receivership, the final remittance is due within 7 calendar days.

What a late remittance costs

A late or missed remittance draws a penalty on the part of the total due on that date that is over $500 (ITA s.227(9.1)). If the failure was made knowingly or under circumstances amounting to gross negligence, the $500 relief does not apply and the penalty is on the whole amount.

Interest runs on top from the day the payment was due, at CRA's prescribed rate, which is set every calendar quarter and compounded daily; it also applies to unpaid penalties. A returned cheque costs a fee of up to $25.

Common mistakes

• Paying the wrong program account. Paying the GST/HST (RT) or corporate income tax (RC) payee at the bank instead of payroll (RP) leaves the payroll remittance unpaid until CRA moves the money, and a late-remitting penalty can arrive in the meantime.
• Filing the remittance under the owner's personal account, which leaves the payroll account short and puts a credit on the owner's T1 account.
• Paying only the employee share. The PD7A amount is the employee deductions plus the employer's CPP contribution and EI premium.
• Using the wrong period end. Enter the last day of the remitting period (for a monthly remitter, the last day of the month the pay was made), not the same date every month and not the pay period end.
• Skipping the nil remittance. Without it, CRA expects a payment for the period.
• Using last year's AMWA. CRA uses the second prior calendar year, so employers know their type well in advance.
• Assuming quarterly status is permanent. A late remittance can end eligibility. The effective date differs for new and existing quarterly remitters, so check CRA's notice before changing the schedule.
• Remitting monthly when assigned accelerated. Even a one-day miss on an accelerated due date draws the 3% penalty on the amount over $500.
• Treating penalties as capped at 10%. Repeated failures in a year made knowingly or with gross negligence are 20% under s.227(9)(b).
• Treating Form PD24 as a general refund form. PD24 is how an employer claims back CPP contributions or EI premiums it over-deducted for a worker, sent with the T4 return or later (within four years for CPP, three years for EI). It is not a way to recover an overpaid remittance.

Related concepts

The PD7A is the payment side of the payroll cycle: amounts calculated from CPP, EI, and income tax are aggregated by period and paid under the RP account. Year-end totals reconcile to the T4 Summary.