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CanadianPayroll/docs/source/4_calculating-gross-pay.rst
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CALCULATING GROSS PAY
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Regular and Non-Regular Payments of Employment Income
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Whether the payment is regular or non-regular, and whether it is paid separately from the regular pay, has an impact on the prescribed methods used to calculate statutory
deductions for Canada/Québec Pension Plan (C/QPP) contributions and income taxes.
Once you have determined if the payment is employment income, you must establish whether it is a regular or non-regular payment as follows:
* regular payments have an established frequency, such as weekly-paid salary or wages
* non-regular payments do not occur each pay period, for example, a bonus or a retroactive adjustment
.. admonition:: Example
*Fraser Co. pays all salaried employees every two weeks; this is considered a regular payment.*
*The company also has a compensation plan where qualified employees are paid an annual bonus. The payment of the annual bonus is considered a non-regular payment.*
Pay Period Frequencies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Employment/labour standards legislation in all jurisdictions, except for federal (*Canada Labour Code, Part III*) and Ontario, requires that employees
receive their pay according to a specified frequency.
+--------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Jurisdiction | Minimum Standard |
+============================================+=============================================+
| Federal (*Canada Labour Code, Part III*) | On the established regular payday and |
| | within 30 days of the entitlenet to wages |
+--------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| | |
+--------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| | |
+--------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
Types of Regular Earnings
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**Employment Income**
An individual working for an employer receives compensation or pay, known as remuneration, for the services they perform. Where an employee-employer relationship exists,
remuneration is referred to as employment income. Employment income can be categorized into earnings, allowances, benefits and taxable expense reimbursements.
Earnings
~~~~~~~~~~
Earnings are dollar amounts the employer pays an employee for the work they perform. Earnings can be paid as:
* a salary
* a rate for each hour worked
* a rate per piece of goods produced or picked
* a disability payment for time off work due to illness
* payment for vacation time
* premium pay for overtime hours worked
* premium pay for hours worked on shift
Deciding which types of earnings are paid and how they are calculated is primarily a decision made by the employer. Earnings are pensionable,
insurable and taxable, and therefore subject to all statutory deductions.
Allowances
~~~~~~~~~~~
Allowances are additional dollar amounts paid to employees for the use, or anticipated use, of their personal property for business purposes.
Allowances can also be provided to employees to cover the cost of personal living expenses associated with employment.
The most common types of allowances cover the costs incurred by the employee for car, meals, uniforms, safety shoes or other particular types of
clothing for business reasons. Under certain conditions, allowances are not considered employment income and therefore are not subject to statutory withholdings.
Benefits
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Benefits are dollar values attributed to something the employer has either provided to an employee or paid for on an employee's behalf. Usually, when an employer
provides an employee with something (for example, a company-leased automobile is given to the employee for both business and personal use) or pays for something on an
employee's behalf (for example, group term life insurance premiums), it results in a benefit to the employee. There are certain situations where benefits are not included
in the employment income and therefore are not subject to statutory withholdings.
Expense Reimbursements
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Similar to allowances, expense reimbursements are also dollar amounts paid to employees to cover expenses that they incurred while performing their job. For the most part,
expense reimbursements generally fall outside of payroll because they are business-related and therefore not employment income to employees. These expenses are claimed on an
expense report, supported by receipts, and usually submitted directly to the accounting department for reimbursement. As such, they are not considered in the calculation of an
employee's pay. Some organizations choose to reimburse expenses through payroll in which case they are not subject to any statutory deductions; they will, however, affect the
net pay.
Any reimbursements made to an employee for personal living expenses are considered taxable to the employee, included in income and subject to statutory withholdings.
Content Review
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* Remuneration is compensation or pay for services performed.
* Employment income can be categorized into earnings, allowances, benefits and taxable expense reimbursements.
* Earnings are dollar amounts the employer pays an employee for the work they perform.
* Earnings are pensionable, insurable and taxable, and therefore subject to all statutory deductions.
* Allowances are additional dollar amounts paid to employees for the use, or anticipated use, of their personal property for business purposes.
* Benefits are dollar values attributed to something the employer has either provided to an employee or paid for on an employee's behalf.
* Expense reimbursements are dollar amounts paid to employees to cover expenses that they incurred while performing their job; they are not considered in the calculation of an employees pay.
* A regular payment has an established frequency, such as weekly-paid salary or wages.
* A non-regular payment has no established frequency, for example, a bonus or a retroactive adjustment.
Review Questions
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#. What are the four categories of employment income?
#. List five methods an employer can use to pay earnings.
#. What are allowances? Provide an example of an allowance.
#. What are benefits? Provide an example of a benefit.
#. What are expense reimbursements?
Non-Regular Earnings
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