--- title: "When Are Payroll Remittances Due? Your CRA RP Account" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/payroll-remittances-canada-rp-account description: "When payroll remittances are due by remitter type, what the RP account is and how to open it, and what the CRA charges when one lands late. Check yours." type: guide updated: 2026-10-06 summary: "Once your corporation has employees, you register a payroll (RP) account under your business number, then withhold income tax, CPP and EI from every pay and remit them — along with your own employer portions — to the CRA on a set schedule. T4 slips summarize the year for each employee." faq_count: 7 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) [Blog](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog) Payroll Remittances and Your CRA RP Account Payroll # Payroll remittances: *what your CRA RP account actually requires* By EverStone CPA · Updated August 2026 · 9 min read **Quick answer:** Once your corporation has employees, you register a payroll (RP) account under your business number, then withhold income tax, CPP and EI from every pay and remit them — along with your own employer portions — to the CRA on a set schedule. T4 slips summarize the year for each employee. Because withheld amounts are held in trust, unremitted source deductions can make directors personally liable, even though the corporation itself is a separate legal entity. Withheld amounts are held in trust — not [working capital](https://www.everstonecpa.com/glossary#working-capital). **Rather have a CPA handle this?** A CPA at EverStone replies with a straight answer and a fixed fee for your situation. [Get My Fixed Quote →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form) ## Key takeaways - Opening a payroll (RP) account under your business number registers you as an employer with CRA. - Employers must withhold income tax, CPP and EI from employee pay, and remit them together with employer portions. - Employers also contribute their own share of CPP and an employer share of EI on top of what’s withheld from employees. - How often you remit depends on your remitter type, which CRA assigns and can change over time. - T4 slips are due each year, and directors can be held personally liable for unremitted source deductions. The moment your corporation pays its first employee, including you, if you take a salary rather than dividends only — payroll compliance stops being optional. Unlike most other tax obligations, missed payroll remittances can reach past the corporation and land on directors personally. Here’s what an RP account actually involves. Related: [What the RP, RT and RC numbers mean](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/business-number-program-accounts-canada). Work out your own date with the [payroll remittance date calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-remittance-calendar#deadline-checker). **On this page**[Opening an RP account](#s-opening-an-rp-account)[What gets withheld from every pay](#s-what-gets-withheld-from-every-pay)[The employer’s own portion](#s-the-employer-s-own-portion)[Remitter types and how often you remit](#s-remitter-types-and-how-often-you-remit)[T4 filing at year-end](#s-t4-filing-at-year-end)[Why directors carry personal liability here](#s-why-directors-carry-personal-liability-h)[The bottom line](#s-the-bottom-line)[Frequently asked questions](#s-frequently-asked-questions)[Ready to hand payroll off entirely?](#s-ready-to-hand-payroll-off-entirely) ## Opening an RP account Your business number (BN) is the umbrella identifier CRA uses across program accounts — corporate tax, GST/HST, and payroll among them. A payroll program account carries the suffix **RP**. You need to register one before your first payroll run if your corporation has employees, which includes an owner taking a salary. It’s not required if your only payments are dividends, or if the people you pay are genuinely independent contractors rather than employees, a distinction that also connects to [personal services business risk](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/personal-services-business-psb-risk-canada) if the relationship looks more like employment than a contract. **Running payroll for a team?** EverStone runs your pay, remits source deductions on schedule, and files the ROEs and T4s, with payroll part of monthly bookkeeping from $325 a month. See [our payroll service](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-services-canada), or [get a payroll quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form). [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form) ## What gets withheld from every pay Three amounts come off an employee’s gross pay before they see it: - **Income tax** — based on the employee’s TD1 federal and provincial forms, which set the personal credits used to calculate withholding. - **Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions**, a percentage of pensionable earnings. - **Employment Insurance (EI) premiums**, a percentage of insurable earnings, up to an annual maximum. These are called **source deductions**. The money isn’t the employer’s — it’s held in trust for the CRA from the moment it’s withheld. **Source deductions aren’t operating cash.** It’s tempting, in a tight month, to use withheld payroll amounts to cover other bills and catch up later. Because these funds are legally held in trust, that habit is exactly what creates director liability down the road — treat the withheld amount as already spent the day payroll runs. ## The employer’s own portion On top of what’s withheld from employees, the employer contributes its own share. The corporation matches the employee’s CPP contribution, and pays an additional employer share of EI premiums at a higher rate than the employee portion. Both the withheld amounts and the employer’s matching amounts are remitted together — payroll remittance is never just what came off the employee’s cheque. You can see both sides of that split for a specific pay cheque in the [payroll deduction calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-deduction-calculator). Not sure how this applies to you? Every corporation’s situation is different. Send an enquiry to a CPA and get a straight answer, plus a fixed quote before any work starts. [Send an Enquiry →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form) [See fixed fees](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing) ## Remitter types and how often you remit CRA assigns every payroll account a **remitter type**, which determines how often remittances are due — monthly, more frequently for larger payrolls, or less frequently for smaller, newer employers. Your remitter type isn’t fixed forever; CRA can reclassify it as your average withholding amounts change. Missing the deadline for your assigned frequency triggers penalties and interest, separate from any T4 filing issues. ## T4 filing at year-end After the calendar year ends, employers issue a **T4 slip** to each employee summarizing their pay and the amounts withheld, and file a T4 summary with the CRA, generally by the last day of February. The totals on those T4s should reconcile to what was actually remitted throughout the year, which is much easier when payroll has been tracked properly all along rather than reconstructed in January. In hospitality this is where tips surface, and the guide to [tip reporting on restaurant payroll](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/restaurant-tip-reporting-payroll-canada) explains which tips belong in pensionable and insurable earnings. ## Why directors carry personal liability here Incorporation generally shields owners from the corporation’s debts. Payroll source deductions are a notable exception. Because withheld income tax, CPP and EI are treated as held in trust for the CRA rather than as corporate funds, a corporation that fails to remit them can expose its directors personally — even after the business becomes insolvent or winds down. Directors can sometimes defend against this by showing they exercised proper due diligence, but the safest position is simply never falling behind on remittances in the first place. Vacation pay deserves its own note here, because the deduction method changes with the circumstances. Paid while an employee is on leave, CPP and EI come off as they would on salary; paid out without leave or added to every cheque, income tax and CPP switch to the bonus method. See [vacation pay rules for Canadian employers](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/vacation-pay-rules-canada-employers) for how that affects the remittance. ## The bottom line Payroll is one of the few corners of running a corporation where a compliance slip becomes a personal problem, not just a business one. Setting up the RP account correctly, remitting on schedule, and reconciling to your T4s each year removes that risk entirely, and it’s exactly what we manage as part of our [bookkeeping and payroll](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accounting-services) service. Remittances are made and tracked through CRA My Business Account. See [what you need set up before the first one is due](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cra-my-business-account). Sources - [Canada Revenue Agency — Payroll](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/payroll.html) - [Canada Revenue Agency — Business number registration](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/business-registration.html) - [Canada Revenue Agency — Forms and publications](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications.html) This article is general information for Canadian business owners and is current as of July 2026. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not create a client relationship. Tax rules change and your situation is unique, so please [speak with a CPA](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form) before acting on anything here. Before adding a family member to payroll, read [what CRA expects when you pay a spouse a salary](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/paying-your-spouse-a-salary-canada). If remittances have fallen behind, [CRA payment arrangements](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/cra-payment-arrangements-cant-pay-tax-canada) explains the process. About this article **EverStone CPA** Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, a CPA firm working with small and midsized businesses in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. [About the firm →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/about) · [Send an enquiry →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form) Working through this in your own business? We advise owners on it remotely across BC, including a [Vancouver small business accountant](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-vancouver). If this is your first hire, the RP account is one item on a longer list — the full sequence is in [hiring your first employee in Canada](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/hiring-first-employee-canada-checklist). And whenever someone leaves or has an interruption of earnings, a [record of employment](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/roe-record-of-employment-canada) is due within days, not weeks. Everything remitted through the year has to reconcile to the slips you file in February. The [payroll year-end checklist](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/payroll-year-end-checklist-canada) walks through that reconciliation and the PIER review that follows it. ### Related articles [Bookkeeping & payroll →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accounting-services) [Corporate tax instalments →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/corporate-tax-installments-canada) [Just incorporated? Checklist →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/just-incorporated-now-what-canada-checklist) [T4, T4A & T5 slip deadlines →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/t4-t4a-t5-slip-filing-deadlines-canada) [Work out your remitter type and due dates →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-remittance-calendar)[PD7A: Statement of Account for Current Source Deductions →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/pd7a)[Business travel expenses: what the CRA accepts →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/travel-expenses-business-canada-cra)[Digital record keeping: what the CRA actually accepts →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/digital-record-keeping-cra-requirements) FAQ Never miss it again Subscribe to our Canadian tax deadline calendar — the fixed CRA dates land in your calendar every year with a reminder a week ahead. For your own due dates, the [payroll remittance due-date calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-remittance-calculator) works from your remitter type. [Add the deadline calendar](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cra-tax-deadlines#ics) ## Frequently asked questions about payroll Remittances and Your CRA RP Account **What is a CRA payroll (RP) account?** An RP account is a payroll program account registered under your business number (BN). You need one before your first pay run once your corporation has actual employees — including yourself, if you pay yourself a salary rather than dividends only. **What source deductions do employers have to withhold?** Employers withhold income tax (based on each employee’s TD1 forms), Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions, and Employment Insurance (EI) premiums from each pay. These are called source deductions and are held in trust for the CRA — they are not the employer’s money. **Do employers pay anything beyond what’s withheld from employees?** Yes. Employers match the employee’s CPP contribution and pay an additional employer share of EI premiums on top of what was withheld from the employee’s pay. Both the withheld amounts and the employer’s portions are remitted together to the CRA. **When are T4 slips due?** Employers must issue T4 slips to employees and file the T4 summary with the CRA for the prior calendar year, generally by the last day of February. The totals reported should match what was remitted throughout the year, which is why accurate payroll records matter all year, not just at filing time. **Can I be personally liable if my corporation misses payroll remittances?** Yes. Because source deductions are held in trust for the CRA, directors can be held personally liable for amounts withheld from employees but not remitted, even if the corporation later becomes insolvent. This is one of the narrow areas where incorporation does not shield directors from personal exposure. **How do I know how often I have to remit?** CRA assigns your payroll account a remitter type, and that determines the frequency: monthly for many employers, more often for larger payrolls, and less often for smaller or newer ones. It is not fixed either, because CRA can reclassify you as your average withholding changes. Missing the deadline for your assigned frequency triggers penalties and interest of its own. **Do I need a payroll account if I only take dividends?** No. A payroll account is required once the corporation pays employees, which includes you if you take a salary. If your only withdrawals are dividends, there is nothing to withhold and no RP account is needed. Adding a salary later means registering the account and having source deductions running before the first pay date, not reconstructed afterwards. ## Ready to hand payroll off entirely? We set up your RP account, run payroll on schedule, and file your T4s — so remittances never put you at personal risk. Send an enquiry. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form)[Book a Paid Advice Call](https://www.everstonecpa.com/advice-call) [← Paying Your Spouse (or Family) a Salary: What CRA Actually Allows](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/paying-your-spouse-a-salary-canada) [Payroll year-end: a checklist for Canadian employers →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/payroll-year-end-checklist-canada) More on this subject: [the payroll hub](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-hub). ## Have a question about this? Ask it free through [the quick-question form](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) and a CPA replies by email within one business day. For something that needs a proper look, a one-off **Advice Call** is a paid 45-minute session with a Chartered Professional Accountant: $225 plus GST, booked by email or phone with a secure payment link. It is credited against your first invoice if you become a client within 60 days. Looking for an accountant to take this on rather than an answer? [Send an enquiry](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=payroll#enquiry-form). What you remit is set by the year’s ceilings, and [the rates the remittance is calculated from](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/cpp-ei-rates-2027) has them for 2027. [Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) [Book a Paid Advice Call](https://www.everstonecpa.com/advice-call) Email info@everstonecpa.com ★★★★★ “Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!” Corrin Skalbeck · Google Local Guide --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/payroll-remittances-canada-rp-account Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online