Payroll Remittance Calendar

Payroll source deductions are the least forgiving deadline a small business has. The money is not yours — it is withheld on the CRA's behalf — and remitting it late attracts a penalty that applies from the first day.

The complication is that the deadline is not the same for everyone. There are four remitter types, and which one you are depends on your average monthly withholding amount, generally measured over the two preceding calendar years. As payroll grows, the type changes, and the due date moves with it. Businesses miss deadlines most often in the year they cross a threshold, because the date they had memorised is no longer the date that applies.

This one-pager sets out all four types, the thresholds that determine them, and the due date for each. The thresholds are read from our rates file at the moment this document was generated, and the version date is printed on it — if it is more than a year old, get a current copy.

Print it and put it where payroll is actually run. Remitter type is the sort of thing people learn once and then stop thinking about, which is exactly why the errors cluster in the year a business crosses a threshold: the date that had been correct for three years quietly stops being correct. Checking the type each January takes a minute and removes the single most common cause of a late remittance penalty.