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CanadianPayroll/docs/source/2_compliance.rst
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PAYROLL COMPLIANCE
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The Canada Revenue Agency
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Under the Canada Pension Plan Act and the Employment Insurance Act, the CRA is
responsible for determining:
- whether or not an individual's employment is pensionable under the Canada Pension
Plan Act or insurable under the Employment Insurance Act
- the types of earnings that are considered pensionable or insurable
- how many hours an insured person has in insurable employment
- the recovery of any debts owed as a result of an overpayment of Canada Pension
Plan, Employment Insurance, or Old Age Security benefits
The CRA is also responsible for ensuring that CPP contributions and EI premiums are
deducted, remitted and reported as required by legislation.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is a federal government agency that manages the
following business lines for the federal government: Tax Services and Benefit Programs.
The Tax Services business line assists over 25 million individuals, businesses, trusts, and
organizations to meet their obligations under the tax system. Each year, the CRA collects
approximately $324 billion in gross taxes and excise duties on behalf of the federal and
provincial governments - the equivalent of about $1.2 billion every working day. The CRA's
mission is to promote compliance with Canada's tax legislation and regulations through
communication, quality service, and responsible enforcement, thereby contributing to the
economic and social well-being of Canadians.
From this mission comes the CRA's mandate to:
- collect revenues and administer tax laws for the federal government and for most provinces and territories
- deliver various social and economic benefit incentive programs to Canadians
The CRA tracks the success of the first part of its mandate by measuring compliance in the following areas:
- **Filing:** the CRA's goal is to have over 90% of individual and corporate income tax and registered business' goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) returns filed on time.
- **Registration:** the CRA measures its success in this area by ensuring that the majority of all known businesses are registered for various programs including corporate income tax, GST/HST, payroll deductions, and import/export accounts.
- **Remittance:** the CRA's goal is to have over 90% of individual and corporate tax filers pay their taxes on time.
- **Reporting:** the CRA measures reporting compliance through the information it receives on tax documents, for example, the T4 and T4A information slips.
The CRA's program responsibilities that are specifically related to payroll include the administration of:
- the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) (shared responsibility with Employment and Social Development Canada and Service Canada)
- Employment Insurance (EI) (shared responsibility with Employment and Social Development Canada and Service Canada)
- Income Tax
Each of these programs requires compliance by employers to withhold deductions from their
employees' pay for CPP contributions, EI premiums and income tax deductions. These
withholdings are termed statutory deductions as the deductions are required under legislative
statute. Statutory deductions are the first deductions to be withheld from an employees gross
pay.
Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
--------------------------
The Canada Pension Plan became operational on January 1, 1966. The plan was fully
effective in 1976 after a ten year transitional period.
The Canada Pension Plan is a social insurance program, legislated under the federal Canada
Pension Plan Act, designed to provide protection in the form of benefits to contributors and
their families against loss of income due to retirement. In addition to retirement pension
benefits, the plan provides supplementary benefits in the form of:
- surviving spouse pensions
- disability benefits
- benefits for orphans and children of disabled contributors
- death benefits payable upon the death of a contributor
All employers are required by law to deduct CPP contributions from pensionable earnings
paid to their employees, and to remit these deductions, along with the employers portion, to
the CRA. The employer matches the employees contributions dollar for dollar.
*Example:*
Janet Frank has $45.00 in CPP contributions deducted from her gross pay. Her employer,
Northern Skies, must match her contribution of $45.00. A total of $90.00 in CPP
contributions must be remitted to the CRA.
CPP contributions take priority over all other deductions and are therefore the first statutory
deduction to be withheld from an employees gross pay.
Employment Insurance (EI)
--------------------------
The CRAs responsibility for the Employment Insurance program is associated with the
collection of employee and employer premiums. It also makes decisions about which types of
remuneration are considered insurable and, therefore, subject to EI premiums.
All employers are required by law to deduct EI premiums from the insurable earnings paid to
their employees, and remit these deductions, along with the employers portion, to the CRA.
The employers portion is 1.4 times the employees portion.
*Example:*
Janet Frank has $20.00 in EI premiums deducted from her gross pay. Her employer, Northern
Skies must contribute $28.00 ($20.00 x 1.4). A total of $48.00 in EI premiums must be
remitted to the CRA.
EI premiums are the second statutory deduction to be withheld from an employees pay.
Employers are also required to track the employees insurable earnings and insurable hours
by pay period for reporting purposes, such as completing the Record of Employment for a
terminated or inactive employee.
Income Tax
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Non-Compliance Penalties
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Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
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Service Canada
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Social Insurance Number (SIN)
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Statistics Canada
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Personal Privacy
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The Privacy Principles
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The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
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Pension Benefits Standards Act
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Canadian Human Rights Act
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Employment Equity Act
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