Payroll services for Courtenay employers

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

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. Payroll remittances and the RP account explains the account behind it.

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?

Comox Valley businesses use a lot of contract help: a framer who bills by the house, a cleaner who works for several restaurants, a deckhand paid by the trip, a bookkeeper or designer who invoices monthly. 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 tools, 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.

WorkSafeBC for Island employers

Any Courtenay business with workers must register with WorkSafeBC, report payroll and pay premiums based on its classification. The premium rate for construction, farm or marine work is very different from an office or a shop, 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.

Two seasons of hiring and layoffs

The Comox Valley’s busy seasons pull in different directions. Building, farm work, patios and marine tourism ramp up in spring and summer. Mount Washington Alpine Resort, a short drive from town, gives some hospitality and service businesses a second, winter season. 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. Vacation pay rules set out the detail.

Tips, travel and taxable benefits

Restaurant payrolls have their own wrinkle. Tips paid by card and distributed by the employer are generally controlled tips that run through payroll with source deductions and onto the T4, while cash tips a server keeps are the server’s own to report. Tip reporting and payroll explains the line.

Trades and builders face a different question: how you cover costs when crews work away from the shop. A reasonable allowance paid for work away from the usual workplace can be non-taxable, while a flat amount paid regardless of travel is usually just wages. Ferry fares reimbursed against receipts for a job off the Island are a business cost. A company truck taken home creates 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 and part-timers are where it goes wrong, especially in hospitality. 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 Courtenay’s main industries

• Construction: seasonal crews, WorkSafeBC clearance letters and T4A or T5018 reporting.
• Trades: apprentices, trade-school periods and company vans.
• Restaurants: tips, split shifts, stat holidays and high turnover.
• Farms: seasonal hands and family members on the payroll.
• Realtors: a PREC paying its owner a salary, or an assistant on a team.

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 Courtenay 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 Courtenay; for the year-end, see corporate tax in Courtenay.