Contents:

Welcome
Upcoming Events
What's New
GrandMaster Updates

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Welcome!

May 2003 - Welcome to the latest edition of The Payroll News. As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and associates who are interested in keeping up with the latest changes in the Payroll industry. Or better yet, subscribe them for free using the Tell Someone About Us link.

Upcoming Events

Listed here are recent changes in legislation on Federal and Provincial levels that may impact your payroll calculations. Please view the following list for changes that affect your region.

FEDERAL:

April 4, 2003 - Changes to EI Regulations related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - The HRDC announced today that the Government of Canada is further responding to the needs of Canadians facing the SARS situation by making amendments to the Employment Insurance Regulations related to EI sickness benefits. HRDC minister Jane Stewart said "We have amended the EI Regulations so that eligible workers can access EI benefits more quickly and easily." The amendments remove the usual two-week waiting period for SARS-related cases. The requirement for a medical certificate will also be removed when the period involved is the SARS-related quarantine. (Full Story - 932 Words)

Alberta:

April 28, 2003 - Amendment to the WCB Act secures pension benefits for dependent children - The government has introduced amendments to the Workers' Compensation Act to ensure that dependent children of deceased workers will continue to receive pension benefits. Bill 38, sponsored by Clover Bar-Fort Saskatchewan MLA Rob Lougheed, applies specifically to cases where a deceased worker's dependent children do not live with the worker's surviving spouse or adult interdependent partner. (Full Story - 256 Words)

April 2003 - Electronic Loss Control Reporting from the Alberta WCB - The Alberta WCB now offers a self-service system that allows you to electronically request and receive Claim Cost History and Pricing Program reports. It currently consists of six standard employer and industry reports, which will give you access to key data. (Full Story - 417 Words)

British Columbia:

April 23, 2003 - $20 Million Helps People with Disabilities Access Jobs - Government is establishing a $20-million endowment fund with Vancouver Foundation to help British Columbians with disabilities find and keep jobs, Human Resources Minister Murray Coell announced today. "Our government is committed to assisting people with disabilities to achieve greater independence," said Coell. "We are establishing this $20-million fund to provide a range of supports that will assist people with disabilities to participate in the workforce. Creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities benefits individuals and employers and enriches communities.". (Full Story - 305 Words)

Manitoba:

April 29, 2003 - New Tax Credit To Support Employers In Creating Work Experience For Students - Advanced Education and Training Minister Diane McGifford today unveiled a new initiative to provide training and work experience for students that will create more employment opportunities through co-operative education work placements. Budget 2003 outlines a new 10 per cent tax credit of up to $1,000 per student that is designed to encourage employers to provide a work placement for co-op education students. (Full Story - 296 Words)

April 14, 2003 - Agreement Reached Between Manitoba Chiropractors and the WCB - The Manitoba Chiropractors Association (MCA) and the WCB of Manitoba have reached a four-year agreement recognizing the valuable services chiropractors provide to WCB claimants. Highlights of the agreement include: Length of the agreement is 4 years extending to 2007, The new basic fees are $25.75 for an initial exam and history, $24.65 for subsequent adjustments and $30.00 for a report, The basic fees will rise by 3% in year 2, 3% in year 3 and 3% in year 4, and The initial examination fee is increased by a further $5.00 in year 2 and $5.00 in year 3. (Full Story - 365 Words)

New Brunswick:

April 4, 2003 - Unemployment rate drops to single digits - Record numbers of New Brunswickers were working last month as the province's unemployment rate dropped to single digits, Training and Employment Development Minister Norman McFarlane said today. Statistics Canada figures show the New Brunswick seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March stood at 9.8 per cent, which was down from 10.3 per cent at the same time last year, and also down almost a full percentage point from last month when it was recorded at 10.7 per cent. Other results indicated there were 351,400 employed which was up from 346,800 at the same time last year. The labour force was 389,700 last month. (Full Story - 278 Words)

April 4, 2003 - Minimum reporting wage now in effect - Employers and employees are reminded a minimum reporting wage is now in effect in the province, Training and Employment Development Minister Norman McFarlane said today. The amendment to the Employment Standards Act of a 'minimum reporting wage', provides an employee three hours pay at minimum wage when the employee reports for work as required by the employer. It further ensures that employees with the greatest need such as low wage earners with no collective bargaining rights do not incur a 'net cost' to go to work. (Full Story - 269 Words)

Newfoundland and Labrador:

April 15, 2003 - 2003 employment program for social work students announced - Youth Services and Post-Secondary Education Minister Anna Thistle and Health and Community Services Minister Gerald Smith are pleased to announce that the Social Work Student Employment Program will be offered again this year. First offered in 2002, the benefits of this program are two-fold, as students gain relevant work experience and employers are provided an opportunity to begin early recruitment efforts. (Full Story - 332 Words)

Nova Scotia:

April 10, 2003 - Minimum Wage to Increase - Nova Scotia's minimum wage will increase on Oct. 1, 2003, and again on April 1, 2004. The rate will rise 25 cents each time to a total of $6.50 an hour. The minimum wage for inexperienced workers is also increasing by two 25-cent increments, to $6.05 an hour. (Full Story - 255 Words)

April 6, 2003 - Another Nova Scotia Job Record Set - For the fifth time in less than 18 months, Nova Scotia has set a new record for jobs. Figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday showed the total number of Nova Scotians employed for the month of March 2003 was 436,300, a new historic high for jobs in the province. (Full Story - 393 Words)

Saskatchewan:

April 4, 2003 - Job Numbers Keep Climbing - Saskatchewan's job numbers continue their impressive climb with an 11th straight month of increases over figures for the previous year. Statistics Canada figures released today show the second highest March on record for people working in the province. There were 477,100 people working in Saskatchewan last month (seasonally unadjusted), an increase of 11,400 over March 2002. (Full Story - 400 Words)

The current release of GrandMaster Suite (3.70.05) incorporates a number of changes to make it even easier to use the program and perform your payroll tasks. Recent program changes since our last Payroll News issue include:

• Added deduction code 124 to perform weekly indemnity benefit calculations - We have added deduction Code 124 that allows you to perform weekly indemnity benefit calculations. This code performs the same calculation as deduction code 38, however rather than calculating an employee deduction, the result is an employee benefit paid by the company on behalf of the employee.
• New deduction code for garnishee calculations - Deduction Code 125 has been added for performing garnishee calculations. It allows you to calculate a fixed deduction amount with a set maximum, while leaving a user-definable net pay amount. When defining this calculation, you have the opportunity to specify the fixed amount of the garnishee, the minimum net pay amount and the maximum YTD.
• New deduction code for long term disability - Deduction Code 126 has been added for performing long term disability calculations. It calculates an LTD deduction along with a benefit that is a percentage of the corresponding deduction.
• Fixed deduction code 119 to allow benefits - Deduction Code 119 has been adjusted so that it now calculates a benefit along with the corresponding deduction.
• Incorrect year-to-date QPP remittance results on pay register - The year-to-date amount that appeared on the Pay Register report for QPP remittances was incorrect. It was only summarizing the employee deduction amount and disregarding the matching company benefit portion. This has been adjusted so that both amounts are now included in the total.
• Program not allowing you to include more than 100 earnings - If you set up a deduction to calculate based on an earning then selected more than 100 earnings (e.g. 101), the program would display an error message and would only save the first 100 selections (which would result in an inaccurate calculation since all of the required earnings were not included). Since the program does not support more than 100 selections, the only way to accomplish this was to choose the earnings that you did not want to include and then choose the Exclude button. Prior to this fix, the Exclude option was not working properly and instead would include the selections.
• Certain earning totals missing from Payroll Range Report - If you had an earning that was used for the first time in the pay period the Payroll Range Report would exclude those earnings because they had no previous YTD for the selected pay range. This display issue has been corrected so that the relevant totals appear on both reports. The summary totals for Provincial Health, WCB and Accumulators have also been adjusted in this report.
• Imported accumulator amounts not being added to current payroll - If you imported an accumulator into a payroll, the imported amount would not be added to the payroll's current amount unless it was a YTD. This has been corrected so that pay adjustments are now included in the accrual as well as the balance amounts or hours (depending on what was imported).
• Tab key not moving between fields in Shift Time Entry dialog box (Time Keeping) - When entering time in the Time Keeping module, the key would not move the cursor beyond the Hours field. This made it difficult to enter time quickly unless you used the mouse to move to each successive field. This only occurred for shifts that had no defined start or end time. This has been corrected so that the key moves freely to each successive field. You can also use the + combination to move back to the previous field.
• Employee template adds employee with incorrect pay method - When adding an employee using a template that has a base earning, the Unit type from the template was being not applied to the new employee. The program would incorrectly apply the Rate Per Hour setting instead of the setting assigned to the template's base earning. This has been corrected.
• Deduction calculation code 24 not working correctly - Deduction calculation code 24 was incorrectly updated in version 3.70.03 (due to a change in the way the program processes deductions). This deduction code had been adjusted and now works correctly as it did in prior releases.

Stay tuned to CanPay's Product News page to receive the latest changes and release information for all GrandMaster products!

This month we conclude our basic review of the responsibilities and obligations that Canadian employers have with respect to the deduction of employee income tax, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums.

Remitter Types

As an employer, you have to regularly remit your employees' payroll deductions along with your employer share to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA). Employers are classified into remitter types based on the amount of their average monthly withholding amount (AMWA). When employers are associated, all the associated employers are classified based the AMWA of the total of the associated employers' remittances.

• Quarterly Remitter: An option only when AMWA is less than $1,000, the employer has a perfect compliance record for the last 12 months, and GST/HST and T4 information returns have been filed on time for last 12 months. New employers can apply only after they have been in business for 12 months (and meet the eligibility criteria).
• New and Regulard Remitter: Less than $15,000.
• Accelerated Remitter: $15,000 and greater.
  

New and regular remitters
As a new or regular remitter, you have to remit your deductions so that the CCRA receives them on or before the 15th day of the month following the month you made the deductions. If the 15th day of the month is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, your remittance is due on the next business day.

You may remit your payment to your Canadian financial institution or tax center or your local tax services office. If you make your payments at any Canadian financial institution, you must use the remittance form provided by the CCRA. Most financial institutions will not accept payments unless they are accompanied by this form. You may wish to discuss electronic payment options offered by your financial institution.

Accelerated remitters
The CCRA divides accelerated remitters into two groups based on how much they remit each month. Businesses who remit $15,000 or more will remit twice a month. Businesses who remit $50,000 or more will remit four times a month.

If you remit twice a month, your due dates are the 25th day of the month, and the 10th day of the following month. If you remit four times a month, you pay any time during the month by the third working day after the end of the following periods:

• from the 1st through the 7th day of the month;
• from the 8th through the 14th day of the month;
• from the 15th through the 21st day of the month; and
• from the 22nd through the last day of the month.
  

If the remittance is a Saturday, Sunday or statutory holiday, your payment is due the following working day.

Quarterly remitters
As a quarterly remitter, you have to remit your deductions so that the CCRA receives them on or before the 15th of the month following the end of the calendar quarter:

• January to March - due 15th of April
• April to June - due 15th of July
• July to September - due 15th of October
• October to December - due 15th of January
  

For more information on remittances, please view the CCRA guide RC4163 "Employers' Guide - Remitting Payroll Deductions".