PAYROLL

Payroll. Text in light box. Pink coffee mug on gray background

Find out if you need to make payroll deductions

If you are you a trustee, an employer, or a payer of other amounts related to employment, you have to register for a payroll account and follow the payroll requirements.

Seasonal or no employees

You must still tell us if you have no source deductions to remit for a month or quarter if you usually remit payroll.

Trustees

A trustee includes a liquidator, a receiver, a receiver-manager, a trustee in bankruptcy, an assignee, an executor, an administrator, a sequestrator, or any other person who performs a function similar to the one a trustee performs.

A trustee does both of the following:

  • authorizes a payment or causes a payment to be made for another person
  • administers, manages, distributes, winds up, controls, or otherwise deals with another person’s property, business, estate, or income

Note 

The trustee is jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable for deducting and remitting the income tax, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and employment insurance premiums for all payments the trustee makes.

Employers

We generally consider you to be an employer if you:

  • pay salaries, wages (including advances), bonuses, vacation pay, or tips to your employees
  • provide certain taxable benefits to your employees (for example, an automobile or allowances)

An individual is an employee if the worker and the payer have an employer-employee relationship. This relationship is referred to as employment under a contract of service.

Although the intent of a written contract might mean that an individual is self-employed (and therefore working under a contract for services), we cannot consider the individual as self-employed if there is evidence of an employer-employee relationship.

If you or a person working for you is not sure of the worker’s employment status, either one of you can request a ruling to determine the status. For more information, go to How to get a CPP/EI ruling.

For more information on employment status, see Guide RC4110, Employee or Self-Employed?

Forms and publications for employers

Payers of other amounts related to employment

A payer of other amounts can be an employer, a trustee, an estate executor, a liquidator, an administrator, or a corporate director who pays other types of income related to an employment. This income can include:

To see if you should deduct CPP, EI or tax from these payments, see the Special payments chart.

If you determine that you are a payer, you have to fill out the T4A slip, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income, if you made any of the payments listed above (with the exception of retiring allowances) and one of the following applies:

  • the total of all payments in the calendar year was more than $500
  • you deducted tax from any payment

Source: CRA

Return to work raises crucial legal questions for organizations

As employees return to the workplace, there are many questions around the legal ground rules for employers. Adding to the challenge is the fact that there are few, if any, legal precedents to guide organizations in these unprecedented times. “There’s not a lot of clarity at this point,” says Emily Siu, a lawyer at the SpringLaw employment law firm in Toronto. Here are three key issues keeping employers up at night.

1. WORKPLACE SAFETY

Health Canada’s ongoing guidance on COVID-19 prevention includes a layered approach of common practices—keeping interactions to a minimum, avoiding crowds, masking, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette—along with vaccination. The common practices can easily be adopted into workplace safety policies, but actually mandating vaccination is something each employer will need to weigh out carefully. The nature of their industry and the working conditions will influence this discussion.

Whether to implement a workplace vaccination policy is definitely front and centre of employers’ conversations, says Howard Levitt, of Levitt Sheikh Chaudhri & Swann (LSCS Law). Many of the legal decisions moving forward will depend on whether the courts will consider safety more important than individual privacy, he says. 

“Employees that don’t get vaccinated have a mistaken sense that privacy and human rights are valid legal arguments. Although privacy rights apply, they are trivial compared to the overriding safety considerations, so have no legal impact. As result, vaccination policies are legally permissible, particularly if employees are working closely together or in situations in which working from home is not an option.”

2. ACCOMMODATING EXCEPTIONS

As with any employment situation, there will be exceptions that need to be addressed. 

“Employers should not discriminate against employees who have legitimate human rights reasons for not getting vaccinated,” says Siu. “These workers should be accommodated up to the point of undue hardship for the employer.”

This specifically pertains to people with medical conditions or religious reasons for not getting vaccinated. “However, they must be substantive reasons, not simply a matter of minor medical issues or a personal opinion, particularly one recently adopted rather than genuine adherence to an organized religion, which bans vaccinations as a significant tenet,” says Levitt. 

If an organization decides to implement a vaccine policy, protocols will need to be established around employees who are not vaccinated, adds James Fu, partner with Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) in Toronto. “Will there be different rules for distancing and masking? Should employers have badges or stickers to designate who is vaccinated? Each organization will have its own culture and approach.”

3. EMPLOYMENT TERMS

The impact of COVID-19 has also opened the doors to potential constructive and wrongful dismissal actions, particularly for remote workers not wishing to return to the workplace. As such, employers need to be mindful of the terms of employment on record. In many cases, these may need to be updated and signed to accommodate the current climate and requirements.

“Employers can provide a time frame for the employee to return to work,” says Levitt. “If they refuse to return, then the employer has the right to terminate their employment.”

Siu confirms she is seeing a strong interest on the part of employers around return-to-work requirements. “It’s really dependent on circumstances, such as the safety of the work conditions, the employer’s capacity for risk and the industry,” she says.

HOW EMPLOYERS CAN MINIMIZE THEIR RISK

There are both legal and practical measures employers can take to mitigate potential risks. For example, they can:

  • Review workplace policies, taking into account all the current factors and circumstances, as well as local law requirements, and then adjust their policies accordingly.
  • Be transparent about opening plans with employees. Providing clear direction reduces the chances of potential legal challenges.
  • Ease the employees return to the workplace and be supportive during the transition. “Returning requires time for adjustment,” says Siu. “Considering the employees’ needs can go a very long way to avoiding resignations or tricky legal proceedings down the road.” 
  • Take all reasonable measures to create a safe work environment. Prepare a safety plan and ensure it is up to date with current health guidelines. Employers are legally required to have a safety plan that can be provided to visiting health and safety inspectors.

Given the lack of legal precedents employment issues will be determined on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, Levitt notes, “What employers should be doing is decide what they want to do and build a legal strategy around that.”

About the Author: Denise Deveau

Source: CPA

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When to request a remission review

What is remission?

A remission order is a rare and extraordinary measure.

Remission provides full or partial relief from federal tax, interest, penalty, or other debt paid or payable under legislation administered by the CRA. Remission may be considered where relief is warranted but can’t be achieved under applicable tax laws, through an assessment, or through other actions.

Remission is only considered in exceptional circumstances

Remission is discretionary and we will examine each request to determine if a remission review is appropriate in the circumstances. Not all requests are considered for review. If a request is considered, it’s subject to an in-depth review process. See How we review your request for more details.

Very few requests result in remission being granted. Broad concerns must be considered in assessing whether it’s in the public interest to recommend the extraordinary remedy of remission, including: maintaining the integrity of the legislative appeals process, the self-assessing nature of Canada’s tax system, taxpayers’ responsibility to understand and meet their tax obligations – and importantly – fairness to other Canadians.

Situations unlikely to be considered for review

Remission generally isn’t recommended if any of the following circumstances apply to the amount(s) requested for review:

  • the circumstances affect the population as a whole, for example a downturn in the economy
  • the appropriate recourse belongs with a third party and not the CRA:
    • you entered into an arrangement with a third party that turned out to be fraudulent
    • you engaged the services of a tax professional who makes an error or omission
    • you entered into a business arrangement with negative tax consequences or with a third party who misled you
  • you were non-compliant, such as:
    • you missed deadlines as a result of a history of non-compliance with filing or remitting obligations
    • you intentionally avoided or evaded tax obligations or payment of a tax debt
    • you participated in domestic or offshore tax avoidance or evasion schemes
  • the remission request is an attempt to re-visit an audit, objection, consent to judgment, Minutes of Settlement, or court decision because you were dissatisfied with the results
  • you didn’t request to change a tax return or a reassessment, or file an election, a Notice of Objection, or further appeal a matter to court within the time limits, and you’re attempting to use remission to extend those time limits
  • you are attempting to use remission for retroactive tax planning purposes because you’ve realized, subsequent to a transaction, that there was a more beneficial alternative
  • granting remission would compromise the integrity of tax or benefit administration

However, even if the circumstances above are present, there may be extenuating reasons that would justify reviewing the request.

Who can request a remission review

You may request a remission review if you’re a taxpayer, including:

  • an individual
  • a corporation
  • a small business
  • a sole proprietor
  • an employer or payer
  • a partnership
  • a trust
  • an estate
  • an organization, or
  • a registered charity

You’ve paid or owe a federal amount which has been assessed, such as:

  • federal income tax
  • the goods and services tax (GST)/harmonized sales tax (HST)
  • excise taxes or duties
  • interest
  • penalties, or
  • other debt (for example, debts related to child and family benefits)

Situations that may be considered for review

We have developed guidelines which set out characteristics common in cases where remission has been granted. These guidelines assist us in reviewing remission requests.

Your request could still be considered for review even if your situation isn’t listed here.

  • Extreme financial hardship
  • Financial setback with an extenuating factor
  • Mistake made by the CRA
  • Unintended results of the legislation

Other circumstances may also be considered.

We consider each request on its own merits, based on relevant facts and your specific circumstances.

Source: CRA