Canadian Payroll Reporter

CANADIAN PAYROLL REPORTER 3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Federal budget: What payroll needs to know | BY SHEILA BRAWN | BEGINNING IN 2015, many employers in Canada will not have to remit as many source deduction payments as they do now, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty an- nounced in this year's federal budget. The announcement was the chief payroll-related proposal put forward in the budget, which Flaherty presented on Feb. 11. The government proposes to increase the thresholds that apply for source deduction remittances to reduce the maximum number of payments employers have to send to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). They are based on an employer's average monthly with- holding amount two calendar years ago. The changes would apply to amounts employers withhold beginning in 2015. For threshold 1 remitters, the budget proposes to increase the threshold from $15,000 to $25,000. For threshold 2 re- mitters, the threshold would rise from $50,000 to $100,000. The change would mean employers with average monthly withholdings of between $25,000 to less than $100,000 would have to send in their remittances for CPP, EI and income tax to the CRA twice a month. Employ- ers with average monthly withholdings of $100,000 or more would have to send in remittances four times a month. The due dates for remittances would not change. Employers with average monthly re- mittances of less than $25,000 would pay their remittances once a month. Currently, only employers with aver- age monthly withholdings of less than $15,000 in the previous two calendar years remit monthly. The change will reduce the admin- istrative burden for small and medium- sized businesses, says the Canadian Pay- roll Association (CPA). "The world has changed dramatically since 1990 — the year the thresholds were implemented — and an average payroll remittance of $50,000 per month is no longer a large business," said CPA president and CEO Patrick Culhane. While pleased with this proposal, the CPA is disappointed the budget did not include more payroll-related measures to reduce administrative requirements for employers. For instance, the associa- tion wanted the government to include a measure to allow employers to provide electronic T4s to all employees. It says this change would reduce the number of paper T4s and save employers more than $73 million a year. Overall, the budget contained very few changes affecting payroll. There were no changes to CPP contributions or to personal income tax rates or brack- ets. Budget documents did reiterate a Continued on page 5 Find Out Why the CPA's Conference is so Highly Rated! "This was my first Conference and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with other payroll professionals. I will definitely attend again." – 2013 Conference attendee RICHMOND ST NAVIGATING TOWARDS EXCELLENCE Join the Canadian Payroll Association in dynamic Toronto to enhance your payroll knowledge and network with professionals from across Canada! • NETWORK with over 800 attendees, exhibitors and speakers • CHOOSE from over 60 education sessions • EXPERIENCE the latest innovations and BENEFIT from the expertise of over 50 exhibitors in the LARGEST payroll trade show in Canada • Be INSPIRED and MOTIVATED by two dynamic, world-class keynote speakers • For certified CPA members, earn 21 CPE HOURS Register by April 2nd at payroll.ca and save up to $100! 32 nd Annual Conference & Trade Show • June 17-20 Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter @cdnpayroll

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