Payroll services for St. Catharines employers

Hiring for the season, and the end of it

A Niagara employer may double its headcount in May and let most of it go in October. Each new hire needs a TD1, a correct start in the payroll system and, from the first pay, the right deductions. Each departure needs a record of employment, because an interruption of earnings is exactly what a seasonal layoff is, and the worker’s EI claim depends on it. Final pay has to include the vacation pay earned and not yet taken.

We set up the season before it starts and close it properly when it ends, so there is no pile of unfiled ROEs in November. Records of employment and vacation pay rules cover the detail.

Employer health tax, calculated the Ontario way

Ontario’s employer health tax is an employer cost, not a deduction from the employee. It has one feature that catches people: the rate is chosen from a table using total Ontario remuneration before the exemption, and only then is the $1,000,000 exemption subtracted from the base the rate applies to. Associated employers share one exemption and must agree how to split it, and no exemption is available at all where the employer or its associated group has more than $5,000,000 of annual Ontario payroll.

A winery with a restaurant, or two related companies run by the same family, is the typical associated group in Niagara. We identify the association, file the allocation and accrue the tax through the year. The rates, with their source, are on the Ontario tax facts page.

WSIB is its own account

Workplace coverage in Ontario is run by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, which is entirely separate from the Ministry of Finance and from the CRA. It has its own registration, its own premium based on the industry classification, its own reporting and its own clearance certificates. Contractors who hire subcontractors should hold a current clearance for each one before paying, because the hiring business can be held responsible for premiums a subcontractor failed to pay. We track the reporting dates and reconcile the premiums against insurable earnings each year.

Tips, harvest bonuses and other pay that is not salary

Restaurants and wineries with a tasting bar deal with tips every shift. Tips an employer controls, such as a pool the business collects and distributes, are run through payroll with CPP and income tax deducted, while tips paid directly by customers to the server are generally the employee’s to report. How your tip-out actually works decides which applies. Tip reporting on payroll explains the distinction.

Harvest and season-end bonuses are ordinary employment income and need the right withholding. Benefits such as staff meals, housing or a vehicle can be taxable, and each has its own valuation. Taxable and non-taxable benefits sets out the common ones.

Remittance schedules and the penalty that attaches to them

Source deductions are not your money. They are held in trust and remitted on a schedule set by your average monthly withholding. That schedule changes as you grow: a business that starts as a monthly remitter can become a more frequent one after a busy year. Penalties apply to late remittances even when the amount is small, and directors can be personally liable for deductions that were never sent. We keep the remittance calendar for you and confirm each payment went through.

Year-end brings its own set: T4 slips and the summary, reconciled to the remittances actually made during the year, and the employer health tax return where it applies. Differences between what was withheld and what was remitted show up here, and it is far better that we find them than that a CRA letter does. The payroll year-end checklist lists what gets checked.

Employee or contractor?

A vineyard hand paid by the day, a line cook who invoices, a labourer who works only for one builder: the label on the invoice does not decide the status. The CRA looks at control over the work, who supplies the tools, the chance of profit or loss and whether the worker can send someone else. Get it wrong and the business owes the CPP and EI that should have been deducted, with penalties and interest. We review arrangements before they become a pattern, and where someone is genuinely a contractor we make sure the paperwork shows why: a written agreement, invoices with their own business details, and evidence they work for others. The same care applies in reverse. A worker who really is an employee is usually cheaper to put on payroll now than to reclassify after a CRA review. See worker classification.

What payroll costs

Payroll is quoted as a fixed fee after a free consultation, based on the number of employees, how often you pay and how much the headcount moves through the year. For contractors it is often part of a bundle with bookkeeping and the year-end T2, which usually runs $450–$650 a month. Year-end slips, ROEs and the employer health tax return are included in the quote rather than billed as extras. See published pricing.

Remote payroll from Abbotsford

EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, serving St. Catharines clients entirely online. There is no St. Catharines office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone, documents are exchanged by secure upload link and e-signature, and no visit is required at any point. Pay runs, remittances and slips are processed online, on your pay schedule and in your time zone.