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H
halfjeldsted
January 25, 2026
Question

Is anyone having trouble downloading their T4s for Submission to CRA? I am getting messages from CRA that the download is not compatible.

  • January 25, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 6 views
No text available

1 reply

N
NerbynMaeIQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
January 25, 2026

Hello, halfjeldsted

 

I appreciate you reaching out to the Community forum. Let me provide some solutions to help you submit your T4s to the CRA.

 

Before we proceed, could you please clarify what you meant? Has the T4s file already been successfully downloaded from QuickBooks but experiencing issues when submitting to CRA? Or are you encountering issues during the download process itself? Any additional information you provide will help us resolve the issue more effectively and efficiently.

 

On the other hand, ensure that your T4s are downloaded in XML format, as required by the CRA for electronic submission. Also, verify that your T4s comply with CRA guidelines to avoid issues during submission.

 

I’ll ensure this conversation remains open for any future updates and discussions.

H
halfjeldstedAuthor
January 25, 2026

I believe your last paragraph captures the problem.

When I download the T4 file from Quickbooks it shows as XML. However when I save the file to submit to CRA it has changed to an HTML file.

I have tried changing browsers and other suggestions I found on line, but cannot fix this issue.

I would appreciate any advice. I had the same problem with downloading T5018 for CRA.

J
JaneDave_IQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
January 25, 2026

I appreciate you walking me through the steps you’ve already taken to fix this, halfjeldsted. Since those browser adjustments didn't do the trick, let’s go through the specific download sequence required to stop the file from converting to HTML.

 

Just to make sure we're on the same page, were you using the standard QBO Payroll instructions for the T4 XML download?

 

If so, yet the file is still changing from .xml to .html. This is due to how web browsers try to be helpful by defaulting to a web-friendly format. This, unfortunately, breaks the specific XML structure the CRA requires for your submission.

 

To resolve this, please ensure that all optional fields without values are removed from your file and that all employee data is stripped of special characters (e.g., $, ^, #).

 

Next, you'll want to regenerate the T4 and T5018 again in QBO Payroll. Once completed, you'll want to locate the downloaded file on your device and follow these steps:

 

  1. Right-click the file link and select Save Link As or Save Target As, depending on your browser.
  2. In the save dialog, manually type the filename with .xml at the end (e.g., T4_2024.xml), then change the Save as type dropdown to All Files (.) instead of leaving it on the default setting.
  3. Before saving, ensure the file doesn't show a double extension like .xml.html in the filename field.

 

This will prevent the browser from appending a hidden .html extension.

 

If the file still won't behave after these steps, I’d recommend connecting with our Live Support team. They can join you in a secure screen-share to see exactly what’s happening during the save process and get to the bottom of this unusual behaviour.

 

Feel free to reply to this post if you need further assistance.

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