Payroll Handled — Source Deductions, Remittances & T4s
If you pay yourself or a team a salary, CRA expects source deductions withheld, remitted on schedule, and reported on T4s. We run all of it remotely, so the deadlines and the math are never your problem.
At EverStone CPA, payroll is run by the same firm that handles your books and year-end, not a separate provider.
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Quick answer: Canadian employers must withhold income tax, CPP and EI from every payroll and remit those source deductions to the CRA — for regular remitters, by the 15th of the month after employees are paid — then issue T4 slips each February. EverStone runs payroll, remittances and T4s for incorporated owners online.
Running payroll through your corporation is more than sending someone their pay — it means opening a payroll (RP) account, withholding the right income tax, CPP and EI, remitting it to CRA by the deadline, and reconciling it to T4 slips at year-end. Miss a remittance and the penalties are immediate and steep. We take the whole cycle off your plate and keep it clean, whether you have one employee (yourself) or a small team across BC. Group counselling practices that pay associates a wage rather than a fee split are a frequent example; see payroll and contractor splits for counselling practices.
Related: Accounting for daycares and childcare centres.
Related: Payroll for home care and senior care agencies.
Hospitality payroll has its own complications, from controlled tips to constant records of employment — the restaurant and hospitality accounting hub covers them together.
Working out an average day’s pay for a B.C. statutory holiday? The BC stat pay calculator does it, and settles the qualifying test first.
What our payroll service covers
- Opening and managing your CRA payroll (RP) program account
- Calculating income tax, CPP and EI withholdings on every pay run
- Remitting source deductions to CRA on your required schedule
- Year-end T4 and T4A slips and summaries, filed on time
- Records of Employment (ROEs) when someone leaves
- Owner-salary setup coordinated with your salary-vs-dividend plan
Statutory holiday pay is a recurring source of quiet error, particularly where staff work irregular hours: the qualifying test is 30 days employed plus wages earned on 15 of the last 30 days, and the amount is an average day’s pay rather than a standard shift. Our guide to statutory holiday pay for employers sets out the calculation.
The payroll mistakes that cost small corporations most
Payroll penalties are among the fastest CRA assesses, because the deadlines are frequent and the amounts are unforgiving. Here is where owner-run corporations most often slip. Before a pay run goes out, the payroll deduction calculator shows what should come off the cheque and what the employer owes on top.
Missed or late remittances
Source deductions have their own remittance schedule, separate from your corporate tax deadline, and CRA charges a penalty the moment a remittance is late — even by a day. For most new small employers, remittances are due by the 15th of the month after you pay wages. We track the schedule and remit on time, every time.
Getting your own salary wrong
Paying yourself a salary creates RRSP room and CPP, but it also means withholding and remitting on your own pay. Owners often run their salary informally and create a reconciliation mess at year-end. We set your owner-salary up properly from the first run.
T4s that don’t match remittances
At year-end, your T4 slips have to reconcile to what you actually remitted through the year. Gaps trigger CRA notices. Because we handle both the remittances and the slips, they always tie out.
Forgetting the ROE
When an employee leaves, a Record of Employment is required within a set timeframe — miss it and you create problems for both the employee and the corporation. We issue ROEs correctly and on time.
Mixing contractors and employees
Paying someone as a contractor when CRA would consider them an employee is a costly misclassification. We help you get the relationship right before it becomes a payroll-tax assessment.
Working with EverStone, start to finish
Enquiry & setup
We review how you pay yourself and any team, open or clean up your RP account, and quote a fixed fee before any work begins.
We run each cycle
You tell us hours or amounts; we calculate withholdings, prepare pay, and remit source deductions to CRA on schedule.
Year-end, handled
We file your T4/T4A slips and summaries, reconcile them to your remittances, and issue any ROEs — no scramble in February.
Payroll works best alongside your bookkeeping and corporate tax, so your pay, source deductions and year-end all reconcile in one place. See also our guide to payroll remittances and the RP account.
To check your remittance dates, use the payroll remittance calculator.
Payroll questions from business owners
Do I need to run formal payroll if I only pay myself?+
When are payroll remittances due?+
What happens if a remittance is late?+
Can you run payroll if my team is in different provinces?+
Do you handle T4s and ROEs too?+
Do I need a payroll account with CRA before my first pay run?+
Do taxable benefits change what I have to remit?+
Why clients stay with EverStone
Rated 5.0 on Google across 21 client reviews.
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”
“Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!”
“…He is very knowledgeable and has saved me tons in taxes by restructuring my group of companies — the best accountant I’ve worked with in the last 10 years, after switching from three different firms.”
Official resources: CRA — Payroll · T4001 Employers’ Guide
Information on this page was last reviewed in . See our how our content is reviewed.
Payroll questions that come up once you have staff on the books: T4, T4A and T5 slip deadlines, putting a spouse on the payroll, employee versus contractor classification, BC’s Employer Health Tax.
The contribution ceilings change every January and the payroll has to change with them — the 2027 CPP and EI figures carries the current numbers.
Related reading
Guides and tools that go deeper on what this page covers.
Payroll by city
Payroll rules differ by province; each city page sets out the ones that apply there.
- British Columbia: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Aldergrove, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna
- Alberta: Calgary, Edmonton
- Manitoba: Winnipeg
- Ontario: Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, London, St. Catharines, Windsor, Oshawa, Barrie
Payroll in Alberta
Alberta businesses file GST with no provincial sales tax and, for corporations, a separate AT1. City pages: Calgary, Edmonton, Airdrie, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray.
Starting fees
Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins.
- Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEsincluded in monthly bookkeepingThis page
- Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing includedfrom $325 a month
- Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together$500–$700 a month
- Corporate year-end and T2 returnfixed fee, quoted in writing
- Personal tax return (T1)from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500
- Catch-up bookkeepingfrom $2,200 per year of records
- Controller or CFO supportcontroller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month
- One-off advice call with a CPA$225 plus GST
We run payroll for owner-managed businesses across BC, including for Vancouver.
For the background reading, the payroll hub annotates every guide on remittances, slips, taxable benefits and owner compensation.
Still deciding how to bring someone on? Hiring an employee vs a contractor covers what each model commits the business to.
The forms and the dates
Source deductions — CPP, EI and income tax — are remitted with the PD7A by the 15th of the following month for most small employers, and T4 slips with the T4 Summary are due by the last day of February. Records of employment go to Service Canada within five days of an interruption of earnings. BC employer health tax applies once BC payroll passes $1 million, and WorkSafeBC assessments are reported quarterly or annually depending on the size of the payroll.
Who this is for in the Fraser Valley
Payroll clients in the Fraser Valley are mostly employers with two to twenty staff: Abbotsford and Chilliwack crews on hourly wages with overtime, Langley and Surrey shops with commissions, Mission and Maple Ridge offices paying salary. BC’s employer health tax, WorkSafeBC assessments and the provincial statutory holidays sit alongside the federal source deductions, and all of them run on the same calendar.
Payroll is the cost side of a decision that starts earlier: hiring and capacity planning sets out how to decide whether the next hire is affordable at all.
What it costs. Payroll is included in monthly bookkeeping from $325 a month; payroll-only engagements are quoted by headcount and pay frequency. Every published fee →
Other bookkeeping and accounting work
The rest of what this covers, and the page each one is on.
Want payroll off your plate?
One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation.
“…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!”