The RL-1 slip (Relevé 1) is the Québec slip that reports employment and other income. Any employer or payer that paid salaries, wages, tips, fees, scholarships or commissions in the year must file one for each person and give them a copy by the last day of February of the following year. Employees use the information on it to complete their Québec income tax return, the TP-1-V.
If you work in Québec you'll get an RL-1 for each employer, and if you employ people there you'll be the one producing it. Everything below comes from Revenu Québec's Guide to Filing the RL-1 Slip (RL-1.G-V, the edition for 2026), its general information page on RL slips and the RL-1-T courtesy translation, checked in October 2026.
Who has to file an RL-1
- Any employer or payer that paid salaries, wages, gratuities, tips, fees, scholarships or commissions in the year.
- A custodian of an employee benefit plan that paid amounts to a beneficiary.
- A trustee of an employee trust that allocated amounts to a beneficiary.
- A payer of certain income that isn't salary or wages, reported in box O.
The guide is clear on one thing people get wrong: the RL-1 isn't used for the drawings of a self-employed person or a partner. And fees paid to a self-employed person go on it only in specific cases, such as when Québec income tax was withheld from them.
The boxes you'll see most
| Box | What it shows |
|---|---|
| A | Employment income, before source deductions, for the year it was paid |
| B.A / B.B | QPP contribution (base plus first additional) and the second additional QPP contribution |
| C | Employment Insurance premiums withheld |
| D | Registered pension plan (RPP) contributions |
| E | Québec income tax withheld |
| F | Union dues |
| G | Pensionable salary or wages under the QPP |
| H | Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) premiums withheld |
| I | Eligible salary or wages under the QPIP |
| J | Private health services plan |
| L | Other benefits |
| O | Other income, with a code such as RA, RB or RJ showing the type |
Box A follows the date paid, not the date worked. The guide's own example: pay handed over on January 2, 2027 for the period from December 22, 2026 to January 2, 2027 goes in box A of the 2027 slip, not the 2026 one. That's why a December pay run can make your RL-1 look lower than your contract salary.
What's new in the 2026 guide
- The tax holiday for seamen engaged in the international transportation of freight was abolished on March 25, 2025, so the related deduction can't be claimed for 2026 and later years.
- From the 2026 taxation year, a business in the trucking industry that pays fees for services to a Canadian-controlled private corporation in the same industry must report them in box O with the new code CE.
Deadlines
| Situation | Deadline for filing and giving out the slips |
|---|---|
| Normal case | Last day of February of the year after the year covered |
| You temporarily stop remitting source deductions but keep operating | Last day of February of the following year |
| You permanently stop remitting because you no longer have employees | 20th day of the month after your last remittance |
| You stop carrying on your business | 30th day after your business activities stopped |
| The person required to file has died | 90th day after the date of death, filed by the legal representative |
For the 2025 slips, Revenu Québec says the deadline fell on Saturday, February 28, 2026, so it was extended to Monday, March 2, 2026. The RL-1 summary (RLZ-1.S-V) has the same deadline as the slips.
How to file and hand them out
- Use the prescribed form: My Account for businesses, software authorized by Revenu Québec, your own software that meets their requirements, the fillable PDF or the paper form.
- If you're filing more than five RL-1 slips, you must file them online.
- Give each employee copy 2 of a paper slip in person, by mail or another way. To send it by email you need the employee's written consent, unless you use a secure portal that meets the confidentiality rules.
- If someone loses their slip, don't make a new one. Give them a new copy of copy 2 of the original.
- If an employee leaves during the year, you can prepare their RL-1 then, but you still file it with everyone else's by the normal deadline.
- File the RL-1 summary by the same date.
Checking your own RL-1 as an employee
- Compare box A with the year-to-date pay on your last payslip of the year, remembering pay dated in January belongs to the next year's slip.
- Check that box E matches the Québec income tax shown as withheld on your payslips.
- Look at boxes B.A and B.B for QPP, C for Employment Insurance and H for QPIP. The guide says the amounts in boxes B.A and B.B can't be the same.
- If box O has an amount, read the code next to it, such as RJ for a retiring allowance, so you report it in the right place.
- If something's wrong, ask the employer for an amended slip rather than changing the figures yourself.
Penalties
Under Québec's Tax Administration Act, you're liable to a penalty if you file an RL-1 slip late or if you don't file online when you're filing more than five slips. There's also a $100 penalty for failing to provide required information on a slip, as of October 2026, which doesn't apply if the missing item is someone's personal information and you made a reasonable effort to get it.
For employees with a federal slip as well, our guide to the T4 slip covers the federal side, and our CPP contributions guide explains the pension plan that applies outside Québec, where the RL-1 shows QPP instead.
The verdict
If you're an employee, check your RL-1 against your last payslip of the year and remember box A counts pay by the date it was paid. If you're an employer, put the last day of February in your calendar now, file online if you have more than five slips, and get written consent before you email anyone their slip.
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Frequently asked questions
What is an RL-1 slip?
It's the Québec slip used to report employment and other income, such as salaries, wages, tips, fees, scholarships and commissions.
When is the RL-1 slip deadline?
The last day of February of the year following the year covered by the slips. For 2025 slips, Revenu Québec extended it to March 2, 2026 because February 28 was a Saturday.
Is online filing required for RL-1 slips?
Yes if you're filing more than five of them. Not doing so can lead to a penalty.
What is box A on the RL-1?
Employment income before source deductions, entered for the year in which the amounts were paid.
Can I email an RL-1 slip to an employee?
Only with the employee's written consent, unless you make it available on a secure electronic portal that meets the confidentiality requirements.
What if an employee loses their RL-1?
Don't prepare a new slip. Give them a new copy of copy 2 of the original slip.
