Payroll services in Mission

What has to exist before the first cheque

Payroll is the one obligation that starts before the money does. Ahead of a first pay run a Mission employer needs a payroll (RP) program account attached to its business number, a completed federal and provincial TD1 from the new employee so that personal credits are applied to withholding, and a decision about pay frequency — because the pay period drives the remittance timing that follows. None of it is difficult. All of it is easier to do in the right order than to reconstruct three months later, when the deductions were never withheld and the employee has already spent the gross amount.

The most common Mission version of this problem is the informal first hire: a helper paid in cash or by transfer over a busy summer, with the intention of "sorting it out later". Later means the employer owes the income tax, CPP and EI that should have been withheld, plus the employer's own share, plus penalty and interest — and has no practical way to recover the employee portion from someone who has moved on. The first-employee checklist runs through the steps in sequence.

Remitter type: why a new employer gets an easy schedule

The CRA does not let you choose how often to remit. It assigns a remitter type based on your average monthly withholding amount, generally looking back two calendar years. For a business that has never run payroll, that figure is zero, which places a first-time employer in the most forgiving category — typically remitting by the fifteenth of the month after wages are paid. Quarterly remitting exists for the smallest employers, but it depends on an average monthly withholding under $3,000 together with a clean compliance history; it is not a default.

The important thing to understand is that this classification moves. As payroll grows the CRA reclassifies you, notifies you in writing, and the change generally takes effect at the start of a calendar year. You do not change frequency on your own initiative because the business grew, and you do not keep remitting monthly once you have been moved. Our note on the RP account and remitter types sets out how the categories work.

Ending an employment: the record of employment

Small employers are often blindsided by the exit rather than the hire. When an employee stops working — quits, is laid off, or finishes a seasonal stint — a record of employment reporting insurable hours and earnings by pay period is required, and it is what Service Canada uses to decide an Employment Insurance claim. A record of employment produced from tidy payroll records takes minutes; one reconstructed from a chequebook takes a day and is likely to be queried. Final pay itself carries its own rules under BC employment standards, including any outstanding vacation pay, and our guide to final pay on termination covers the mechanics.

What the engagement covers

• Registering the CRA payroll (RP) program account for your business number
• Collecting TD1 forms and applying the right credits to withholding
• Income tax, CPP and EI calculated on each pay run, both sides
• Remittances filed on the schedule the CRA has assigned you
• Records of employment when someone leaves
• T4 slips and summary filed by the last day of February
• Employer health tax monitoring as the wage bill grows, plus WorkSafeBC payroll reporting

Remote, with no Mission office

EverStone has one office and it is in Abbotsford — there is no branch in Mission and no plan for one. Mission employers are served entirely online, and for a first-time employer that tends to be the point: setting up a payroll account should not cost you a morning of driving. Onboarding happens over a video call, forms are signed electronically, and pay data moves securely. Because most BC employers reaching this page have never run payroll before, it is worth knowing that BC's employer health tax exempts remuneration of $1,000,000 or less in a calendar year, so a first hire will not trigger it — the figures are on the BC reference page for when that changes.