Payroll services for Campbell River employers

Payroll for a Campbell River employer is priced as a fixed fee alongside monthly bookkeeping, which starts from $300 a month with GST and PST filing included. For an incorporated trade or contractor, bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 together usually run $450–$650 a month. The full list is on the pricing page.

Who is on a Campbell River payroll

The City of Campbell River names forestry and aquaculture as its industrial base, and its economic development office notes that tourism supports hundreds of full-time and seasonal jobs. Around those sit commercial fishing, marine services, the trades and a growing health, technology and logistics sector. That mix produces a few distinct kinds of payroll.

A logging or forest-service contractor runs crews whose hours depend on conditions in the bush. A company servicing fish farms may pay people who live on site for a rotation. A charter, lodge or restaurant hires for the summer and lays off in the autumn. A trade takes on apprentices who split their year between the tools and trade school. Each needs the same core deductions, but very different handling around them.

Source deductions and the remittance calendar

Every pay run creates a liability to the CRA. Income tax, the employee’s CPP and EI premiums, and the employer’s matching share are held in trust and remitted through the payroll program account. Most small employers remit monthly, by the 15th of the following month, but larger remitters pay more often. Late remittances carry penalties that accrue fast, and the directors can be held personally liable for unremitted amounts.

We calculate each run, prepare the remittance and reconcile it to the CRA account so nothing drifts. The payroll remittance calendar shows the dates, and the payroll deduction calculator gives a quick check on a single cheque.

Employee or contractor?

Campbell River businesses lean on contract labour: a faller who bills by the day, an operator with a machine, a skipper with a boat, a welder who invoices by the job. Whether that person is a contractor or an employee depends on the substance of the relationship, not the invoice. Who sets the hours, who owns the equipment, who carries the risk of a loss, and whether the person can send someone else all count. If the CRA decides a contractor was really an employee, the employer owes the CPP and EI premiums that were never deducted, plus penalties. Employee or contractor sets out the tests.

Owners are a separate case. An owner who controls the company is usually not insurable for EI, so no EI premiums are deducted from that owner’s salary, while CPP still applies. Family members can fall either side of that line depending on the facts. We set each person up correctly on the first pay run rather than correcting it at year-end.

Fishing crews on shares

Crew paid a share of the catch are not paid through an ordinary payroll. Their earnings are reported on the T4F slip rather than the T4, and the person paying them deducts and remits EI premiums on those amounts. The share settlement for each trip needs recording with each crew member’s portion, and the T4F slips are due by the last day of February. A fishing company that also pays a deckhand a straight wage runs that person through regular payroll instead. The fishing accountant page covers the rest of the fishing file.

WorkSafeBC for Campbell River employers

Any Campbell River business with workers must register with WorkSafeBC, report payroll and pay premiums based on its classification. The premium rate for logging, marine work or construction is very different from an office, so the classification matters. Assessable payroll is reported to WorkSafeBC separately from the CRA, and the two totals need to agree with the T4s at year-end.

If you hire subcontractors, ask for a WorkSafeBC clearance letter before paying them. Without it, you can be held responsible for premiums the subcontractor did not pay. WorkSafeBC registration covers the setup.

Seasonal hiring and layoffs

Tourism, charters and hospitality ramp up toward the summer. Forestry and construction work follow their own schedule. Each new hire needs a TD1, a signed offer and a payroll record from the first day. Each layoff needs a record of employment filed with Service Canada so the worker can claim EI. Records of employment explains the timing.

BC employment standards set the rules at the end of a job. Final pay is due within 48 hours of the employer ending the employment. Vacation pay is at least 4% of wages, rising to 6% after five years, and any unpaid balance goes on the final cheque. A seasonal business that rehires the same people each year needs those service years tracked properly.

Crews working away from town

Many Campbell River employers send people to logging camps, remote fish-farm sites and job sites up the coast or across on the islands. How you cover their costs decides how payroll treats it. A reasonable travel allowance paid for work away from the usual workplace can be non-taxable. Board and lodging at a special work site or a remote work location can be non-taxable when the conditions are met. A flat amount paid regardless of travel is usually just wages. Company trucks taken home also create a taxable benefit that belongs on the T4. Taxable and non-taxable benefits sets out the tests.

Statutory holiday pay and the employer health tax

BC statutory holidays require an average day’s pay for eligible employees, and premium pay when they work the holiday. Shift workers, rotations and part-timers are where it goes wrong. The BC stat holiday pay calculator works it through. As a payroll grows, the BC employer health tax applies once annual BC remuneration exceeds $1,000,000, with associated employers sharing the exemption. Rates are on the BC tax facts page, and the employer health tax guide explains instalments.

How payroll fits Campbell River’s main industries

• Construction: seasonal crews, WorkSafeBC clearance letters and T4A or T5018 reporting.
• Trades: apprentices, trade-school periods and journeyperson wages.
• Fishing: crew shares on T4F slips, EI on shares, and deckhands on wages.
• Trucking and log hauling: drivers paid by the hour or the load, and owner-operator status.
• Restaurants: tips, split shifts, stat holidays and summer hires.

Year-end slips and the reconciliation

T4 and T4A slips are due by the last day of February, with a summary that must agree with what was remitted through the year. Differences between the slips and the remittances are what trigger CRA letters in the spring. We reconcile the payroll account monthly, so the year-end is a confirmation, and we file the slips electronically. Subcontractor payments in construction are reported separately on the T5018.

Remote payroll

EverStone runs payroll remotely. There is no Campbell River office. Hours and changes come in by email or through a secure upload link, pay stubs go to employees electronically, and remittances are filed online. Questions go by email first. If you also need the books, see bookkeeping in Campbell River; for the year-end, see corporate tax in Campbell River; and for the owner’s return, personal tax in Campbell River.