Canadian Payroll Reporter

5 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 Upcoming minimum wage changes QUESTION: Are there any minimum wage changes planned for 2018? We have employees in most provinces and territories. ANSWER: Here is a list of the minimum wage changes that we are aware of so far: Alberta: On Oct. 1, the government will raise the general minimum wage rate from $13.60 an hour to $15.00. The rate for speci- fied salespersons will rise from $542 per week to $598 and the rate for domestic em- ployees living in their employer's home will increase from $2,582 per month to $2,848. British Columbia: The government has not yet announced minimum wage changes for 2018, but has plans to raise the rate to $15 an hour by 2021. The government has set up a fair wage commission to study changes. Manitoba: The minimum wage rate is ad- justed annually to reflect changes in Manito- ba's consumer price index. Minimum wage changes will take place on Oct. 1 each year. The government is required to post the new rate online before April 1. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador: The governments have not an- nounced any minimum wage changes for 2018. Both jurisdictions are reviewing the way minimum wage rates are set and have previously stated they want to begin indexing changes. Northwest Territories: The minimum rate will rise to $13.46 per hour on April 1. Nova Scotia: Minimum wage changes are indexed to the consumer price index. Any minimum wage changes will occur on April 1. At publication time, the government had yet not announced changes for this year. Ontario: Minimum wage rates went up on Jan. 1 to the following amounts: The rate changes are part of a plan to raise the general minimum wage rate to $15.00 an hour as of Jan. 1, 2019. The other rates will also go up at that time. Once those changes are enacted, the gov- ernment will again revert to indexing the minimum wage adjustments to the consum- er price index on Oct. 1 of each year. Prince Edward Island: The minimum wage rate will rise to $11.55 per hour on April 1. Quebec: Minimum wage rates will go up on May 1 to the following amounts: Saskatchewan: The government annual- ly indexes the minimum wage rate based on percentage changes to both the consumer price index and the average hourly wage for the previous year. Minimum wage changes are expected to occur on Oct. 1 each year, with an announcement expected by June 30. Yukon: The territory adjusts its minimum wage every April 1 based on the consumer price index. At publication time, changes had not yet been announced. CPR | February 2018 ASK AN EXPERT Annie Chong MANAGER OF CARSWELL'S PAYROLL CONSULTING GROUP annie.chong@thomsonsreuters.com | (416) 298-5085 ANSWER: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) states that employers may only dis- tribute T4s via email if they have their em- ployees' written consent to do so. The new rules for distributing T4s to employees elec- tronically do not apply to email. The CRA states that, "the T4 slip contains sensitive taxpayer information and general email communication does not contain suf- ficient security features to be permitted un- der the new rules when consent is not pro- vided by the employee." The new rules allow employers to distrib- ute T4s electronically without first having to obtain employees' written consent if they meet specific criteria. This includes provid- ing employees with a secure portal and site for accessing and printing their T4s, as well as giving employees the option to receive pa- per copies instead if they request it. Employ- ers who do not meet these criteria must con- tinue providing employees with two paper copies unless they already have their written or electronic consent to deliver the e-T4. Even if employers meet the CRA criteria, they must still provide employees with pa- per T4s if an employee requests it or if, at the time the employer is issuing the T4, the employee is on an extended leave of absence or no longer works for the employer or the employee does not have confidential access to view or print the T4. The new rules apply only to T4s and not to other federal year-end reporting forms. The Quebec government has also harmo- nized its rules with the federal changes to allow employers to distribute RL-1 forms to employees electronically without needing to obtain their written consent. Distributing T4s through email QUESTION: With new rules for distributing T4s to employees electronically in effect with 2017 year-end reporting, are employers allowed to send T4s to employees through email if they have a secure place to print them? Fuel cards may be a taxable benefit QUESTION: We provide some of our employees with an employer-leased automobile for daily work purposes. We also provide them with a fuel card, with a weekly limit, to pay for gas. The invoice comes to us and we pay it. Is the fuel card a taxable benefit? General $14.00/hour Students (under 18 and working less than 28 hours per week, or more than 28 hours during school vacation) $13.15/hour Liquor servers $12.20/hour Homeworkers $15.40/hour Hunting and fishing guides – working for fewer than five consecutive hours a day – working five or more hours in a day, whether or not the hours are consecutive $70.00/day $140.00/day General $12.00/hour Employees who receive tips $9.80/hour ANSWER: It depends. If the gas the em- ployees buy with the card is used solely for business driving, there is no taxable benefit for the employees. If the employer pays for gas when employees use the automobiles for personal reasons, a taxable benefit applies. If the employees use the gas for both busi- ness and personal driving, only the personal use is a taxable benefit. If there is a taxable benefit for the purchase of fuel, the employer must include it when calculating the operat- ing expenses portion of the employee's auto- mobile taxable benefit. The CRA advises that employees record both their business and personal use of the automobile in a logbook. Revenu Québec requires employees to use a logbook. Logbooks will help the employer distin- guish between business and personal use when it comes to determining automobile taxable benefits.

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