Payroll services in Hamilton

Payroll covers the source deductions for CPP, EI premiums and income tax, the remittances to the CRA, the year-end T4 and T4A slips, and access through My Business Account.

Three payroll layers, three different bodies

Every Hamilton pay run answers to three bodies, each with its own account, deadlines and penalties. The CRA takes income tax, CPP and EI, employee and employer shares. The Ontario Ministry of Finance takes employer health tax. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board takes coverage premiums. A payroll that watches only the CRA can look fine for years before the other two surface. Payroll remittances and the RP account covers the federal schedule.

Employer health tax: the band comes first

Ontario’s employer health tax is graduated. Set the rate band from total Ontario remuneration before the exemption, then subtract the $1,000,000 exemption and apply that rate to the rest; reversing the order understates the band. Associated corporations, such as a fabrication company and a trucking company with one owner, share one exemption and must agree a split. See the bands on the Ontario tax facts page.

WSIB on a shop floor and a job site

WSIB premiums follow your classification, which matters most in Hamilton’s steel, fabrication and construction trades. A shop that also installs on site can fall in more than one class. A general contractor should check each sub’s WSIB clearance before paying, since an uncovered sub becomes the contractor’s problem. We run the figures behind your WSIB reporting and file clearances with sub invoices.

Shift work, overtime and a plant payroll

Manufacturing payrolls are rarely a flat salary: shift premiums, overtime, statutory holiday pay and vacation pay all follow Ontario’s employment standards. Shift premiums are taxable earnings. Ontario holiday pay is based on recent wages and vacation pay, not a flat day’s rate, so a policy copied from another province gets it wrong. We set up pay types once so each run follows the rules. Statutory holiday pay sets out the method.

Tips in a Hamilton restaurant pay run

From James Street North to Locke Street, restaurant payroll turns on who controls the tips. Tips the employer collects and allocates are controlled tips, run through payroll with source deductions. Tips handed straight to a server are direct tips, which the employee reports. Most dining rooms have both, so POS and payroll set-ups must agree. Tip reporting covers the distinction.

Drivers: on the payroll or on contract

Carriers running out of the QEW and 403 corridor use both company drivers and owner-operators, and the line between them is a payroll question before it is a tax one. An owner-operator with their own tractor, their own authority and several customers is usually a contractor. A driver in your truck, on your schedule, hauling only for you usually is not. If the CRA reclassifies a contractor as an employee, the unpaid CPP and EI come back to the carrier with interest. We look at each arrangement before the first cheque rather than after a ruling.

Slips, departures and the year end

T4 and T4A slips and summaries are due by the last day of February. Each departing employee needs a record of employment to claim EI, which Hamilton’s seasonal construction and patio hiring make routine. We issue ROEs, reconcile remittances to T4 totals and file on time. Records of employment covers when one is required.

Remote

EverStone is an online CPA firm with no Hamilton office or Ontario staff. We work by video call, secure upload and e-signature, which suits payroll: timesheets go in, pay stubs and remittances come out.