I guess we could have all predicted that EI premium rates would increase at some point. When the economic downturn hit causing massive job losses it was only a matter of time. Over a 4 year span from 2011 to 2014 the Parliamentary Budget Officer projects the EI premium rates for the employee will be: 2011 - $1.882012 - $2.032013 - $2.182014 - $2.33 Currently, the maximum allowable EI premium rate is $1.73 per year and will increase to $2.33 (per $100 of insurable earnings) by 2014. That’s only a $0.60 increase over the next 4 years. Just to put these figures into perspective, on average, the projected...

July 1st is not just Canada Day for residents in British Columbia and Ontario; it is the first day of the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in both provinces. So what is all the fuss about and how will it affect employers? What is in effect now? There are currently two forms of sales tax in both provinces: Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and the Goods & Services Tax (GST). The GST is federally regulated and applies to all Canadian provinces at a rate of 5%. PST is provincially regulated and is 7% in British Columbia and 8% in Ontario. There are many tax-exempt goods and services and many...

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is advising Canadians to be aware of fraudulent communications that claim to be from the CRA. Taxpayers are being asked by telephone, mail, or email for personal information such as their SIN, banking information and passport numbers. The communications claim that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or benefit payment. Another common scam refers the person to a website resembling the CRA's where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. Taxpayers should not respond to such fraudulent communications. Employees should be advised of the following: The CRA will not request personal...

Starting January 11, 2011 new accounting and financial principles will be implemented for both Public and Private Companies. Public Companies will no longer be able to use the current Canadian GAAP as they will be required to use the new Canadian GAAP-PE. Private Companies however have a choice to either adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or the new Canadian GAAP-PE. To learn more about these changes we have attached a link to an interesting article on the Benefits Canada website: https://www.benefitscanada.com/pension/governance/article.jsp?content=20100302_080842_12540 - written by Lorne Lebow  

You may already know of a few credits, deductions and benefits you are entitled to claim on your tax return, but do you really know all of them? Have you ever looked at your tax situation and researched various tax deductions you may be eligible for? Unless you’re an accountant, many of us just don’t know or take advantage of all the tax deductions possibly available to us. The Canadian Revenue Agency’s web site is a good place to start. With tax season just around the corner it has a wealth of information on various items you could claim on your taxes based on your current tax situation.  ...

In recent years we have seen an increase in employee pregnancies in our company and I’m sure that most of you have seen the same. This can be tough on employers as Canada has one of the most generous maternity leave policies in place. Combined maternity and parental leave is a total of 52 weeks. That is one year!! This is extremely nice for a family but hard on an employer as you have to fill that gap for that year.   First, you cannot fire or demote an employee because they are pregnant. Even if that employee has not worked for you for 52 weeks, you still...

Employees and employers must pay into the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI). Most earnings are taxable, pensionable and insurable. As there are too many to list, you can find this information on the CRA website.   Certain factors will make an employee exempt from Canada Pension Plan. Employees under 18 are exempt from paying CPP. However, once they turn 18, an employer must start deducting CPP the month after the employee turns 18. As with the employee contribution, the employer must also match the CPP contribution. On the other side, once an employee turns 70, and employer must stop deducting CPP the first month after...

Recently I had a discussion with someone regarding the terms of a layoff, from a large U.S. based Multi-National Corporation. This individual was a Canadian employee, working in Canada, which placed the U.S. based corporation in a position to be bound by Canadian laws.   What was interesting was the use of terminology, which may be appropriate by U.S. Employment Standards, but do not correlate equally into Canadian legislations. The Termination Contract stated that the choice to exercise the option of Salary Continuance that would extend 8 weeks was desired by the U.S. Corporation, but when the pay stub was received by the employee, it had been coded...

Today, many companies provide an automobile allowance to their employees, as they are required to use their own vehicle for business purposes. Since each company has different requirements from their employees, (the amount of driving they need to do) , the question that is always asked of the payroll specialist is – how much should I be giving my employee for car allowance?   CRA has guides as to what they consider “reasonable”. CRA says that ALL of the following must apply in order for a car allowance to be reasonable, which would make this a non-taxable allowance;   ·         The allowance is based only on the number...