Payroll Reporter
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www.payroll-reporter.com
February 2017
News in Brief pg. 4
Feds still clearing Phoenix backlog |
Rate changes announced for 2017
government programming
Ask an expert pg. 5
Updating minimum wage |
Rules for electronic pay
statements
100 years of income tax pg. 3
Origins of Canada's income tax date
back to First World War, and leadership
of Prime Minister Robert Borden
Quebec considering QPP reforms
Discussion paper outlines
potential for enhancement
BY SHEILA BRAWN
EMPLOYERS WITH Quebec payrolls could soon
learn whether the provincial government will
make changes to the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP).
In December, Quebec Finance Minister Carlos
Leitão released a discussion paper outlining pos-
sible options for enhancing the plan's retirement
benefits. In January, a National Assembly finance
committee held consultations on the issue.
The discussion paper, called Strengthening the
Plan to Promote Greater Intergenerational Fair-
ness, asked for public input on whether the Quebec
government should adopt changes that the federal
government is making to the Canada Pension Plan
(CPP), implement its own QPP proposals or leave
the plan as is.
Last year, the federal government and all prov-
inces but Quebec signed an agreement to raise the
CPP's income replacement level for retirement
benefits from one-quarter of pensionable earnings
see ROUNDUP page 7
PM
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Legislative Roundup
Changes in payroll laws and regulations
from across Canada
see POPULARITY page 6
Credit:
pavels/Shutterstock
Payroll's role
in PRPPs and VRSPs
While plan providers have heaviest
responsibility, payroll departments
do have some administrative duties
BY SHEILA BRAWN
WITH GOVERNMENTS across
Canada enacting laws to allow
for pooled registered pension
plans (PRPPs) and voluntary re-
tirement savings plans (VRSPs),
payroll professionals may need
to become as familiar with these
terms as they are with registered
pension plans (RPPs) and regis-
tered retirement savings plans
(RRSPs).
Legislation to allow for PRPPs
has been slowly rolling out
across Canada over the last few
years, beginning in 2012 for em-
ployers and employees under
British Columbia
WorkSafeBC implements
payroll policy changes
On Jan. 1, WorkSafeBC revised its payroll policies to consolidate
two of them and to clarify the rules it uses to determine which
earnings are included when calculating an employer's assessable
payroll.
Updated policy AP1-38-2, Assessable Payroll, replaces previous
policies AP1-38-2, Payroll—Categories, and AP1-38-3, Payroll—
Principles for Determining.
It combines content from the two policies, in addition to provid-
ing new/updated information on terminology used and on how to
The Quebec legislature will soon rule on potential changes to the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP).
see FAST-AGING page 2