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Employee vs. Contractor

In most cases you hire someone to work for you and you put them on payroll. You pay their taxes, CPP, EI and it is a fairly straight forward process. But what if someone comes to you only part of the time, or they are hired for a specific purpose only, how do you handle those individuals?  Many of these part-timers or “occasional” workers are being treated as contractors which means they are not going on your payroll, you are not deducting CPP/EI/Income Taxes. Instead, they are invoicing you for their time, maybe even charging you HST (which you get to claim back!), and you treat them like an operating expense vs. salaries and payroll.

So what is the big deal? In the eyes of the CRA it is a huge deal. They lose out on CPP & EI contributions and receive less income taxes too!

So how can employers help make the right choices? Ask the following questions:

  • How much control does this individual have on their own activities? If you’re dictating what they have to do (i.e. giving them tasks and deliverables and reviewing their work)
  • Do you provide the tools and equipment (computer, phone, equipment)
  • Can that individual subcontract the work or hire their own assistants?
  • How much financial risk is the person taking?
  • How responsible is the worker for their deliverables?
  • Is there an opportunity for the worker to profit?
  • Other factors such as the written contract

All of these individually and combined, as well as the stated intention, is considered in the choice of employee vs contractor.

Let’s take a look at an example:

I need help with my marketing. Person X is great for the job.

Employee à Person X is going to work from my office 2 days a week from 9-3, on my computer, I am purchasing the marketing software, there is no fixed amount of work but they will be told on an on-going basis what we need (e.g. I am telling Person X to write me 5 blogs, 2 Facebook posts with content relating to ABC), I am reviewing that content. Person X is more likely than not an employee and I should put Person X on my payroll.

Contractor à If Person X can choose to work from home OR my office until the work is done, have their own laptop and software, and I am paying them for a package of 5 blogs and 2 Facebook posts, and I approve the final content. Person X could be considered a contractor.

Each scenario needs to be evaluated accordingly. If you are unsure take a look at how similar positions are being treated.

 

 

 

“Behind Every Great Business is a Great Accountant”

For more information on how to keep your business tax efficient, or to get a consultation on whether you are making all the right tax choices for your business, contact Dharna CPA. www.dharnacpa.ca. Info@dharnacpa.ca

Best Practice record keeping

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  1. What documents and information should a business provide to its accountant in order to file its business taxes, specifically payroll, HST and income tax?

 

  1. If you do your bookkeeping yourself, provide a softcopy of your records (eg., Quickbooks or Simply Accounting file)
  2. A copy of all your Bank statements for the year. Note: if you do your own bookkeeping, then ensure you provide a copy of your year-end bank reconciliation
  3. A copy of all your business credit card statements for the year. Note: if you do your own bookkeeping, then ensure you provide a copy of your year-end credit card statement bank reconciliation
  4. Cancelled cheques, cheque stubs and bank deposit book for the year
  5. Copies of all invoices issued
  6. List of Accounts Receivables
  7. List of Bad debts
  8. List of year-end inventory (including the cost)
  9. Invoices for capital assets purchased during the year (eg computers, furniture etc)
  10. Details of assets disposed of during the year (even if you got no money when the asset was disposed of)
  11. Copies of all expense receipts
  12. List of Accounts Payable
  13. Details of all bank loans
  14. List of all payroll payments during the year showing gross amount, withholdings and net amount paid. You should also indicate how paid (cheque, cash or direct deposit)
  15. Your accountant should have access to your CRA account data , so it will n ot be necessary to provide CRA correspondence, unless it is of a non-routine nature, and one which your accountant would not have access to
  16. Mileage log detailing business kilometers driven
  17. Record of any expenses you paid for the business (out of your personal funds)
  1. Tips on recordkeeping
  • It is very important to have a record keeping system in place from the first day of business operations. It is best practice to consult with your accountant on what records to maintain. The accountant should have readily available, a checklist of record required. This makes the first year of filing much easier, and you are less likely to make mistakes which have to be fixed in later years due to lack of knowledge
  • After your tax filing deadline, consider filing your income and expense receipts in “tax” folders, as opposed to putting them in categories. If you are audited, then all the data used in the tax return is in one place. You simply pick up the folder, and hand it to the auditor. You can use tabs to separate the docs in the categories on the tax return
  • Manual record keeping – this can be as simple as an accordion folder where you drop all invoices, expenses, bank statements and other required documents, in the separate sections. Then give this folder to the accountant to summarise and use to prepare taxes.
  • To reduce accounting bill, you can summarize the receipts for your accountant. This is most applicable to a Sole Proprietor, where the basis of the tax return is your income and expenses, as a full financial statement is not required. However, for a corporation, expense summarization doesn’t help too much, as the basis of your corporate tax return is your Bank statement.
  • Electronic recordkeeping is strongly suggested for a corporation. Simply because of the details required to be reported, as well, CRA requires a full financial statement – Income Statement and Balance Sheet (which is not required for Sole Proprietors)
  • Stay on top of your recordkeeping

Green Meikle & Smith Chartered Professional Accountants

Authorized to practice public accounting by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario

1020 Matheson Blvd. E. Unit 10

Mississauga, ON L4W 4J9

905-919-3543 Ext 101

647-338-5306 (cell)

greenmeiklesmith.com

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