Focuses on issues of importance to payroll professionals across Canada. It contains news, case studies, profiles and tracks payroll-related legislation to help employers comply with all the rules and regulations governing their organizations.
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/945279
5 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 Tackling errors in T4 box 52 QUESTION: I have recently become responsible for payroll at our company. After distributing T4s to employees and filing the information return with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), I discovered an error in the amount reported in box 52 for a pension adjustment for a number of employees. I checked last year's return and noticed a similar error. How do I correct it? ANSWER: Whether or not you have to file amended forms depends on the size of the correction you are making. The CRA does not require employers to file an amended T4 if the difference between the previ- ously reported pension adjustment and the amended one is less than $50. However, re- gardless of the amount, employers must file an amended T4 to correct a pension adjust- ment error if the CRA requests it or an em- ployee asks you to accurately report it. You may make a correction using the CRA's online options of Internet File Trans- fer or Web Forms or by paper. If filing on- line, you only need to change the informa- tion that was incorrect. Use summary report type code "A" and slip report type code "A". To file amended slips by paper, clearly iden- tify the revised form by writing "AMEND- ED" at the top of it. Besides correcting the error, include all of the correct information that was on the original form. Send a copy of the amended form to any CRA tax centre, along with a letter explaining why you made the change. Besides notifying the CRA, you have to give the employees affected by the change an amended T4. The rules that apply for amending cur- rent-year T4s also apply to T4s for previous years. CPR | March 2018 ASK AN EXPERT Annie Chong MANAGER OF CARSWELL'S PAYROLL CONSULTING GROUP annie.chong@thomsonsreuters.com | (416) 298-5085 Jurisdiction Employee sick leave (not related to a workplace injury or illness) Employer required to pay employee for days taken Eligibility for time off Canada Labour Code 17 weeks no 3 consecutive months Alberta 5 days/16 weeks 1 no 90 days British Columbia N/A N/A N/A Manitoba 3 days/17 weeks 2 no 30 days for the three-day leave; 90 days for the 17-week leave New Brunswick 5 days no 90 days Newfoundland and Labrador 7 days no 30 days' continuous employment Northwest Territories 5 days no 30 days Nova Scotia 3 days no N/A Nunavut N/A N/A N/A Ontario 10 days first two days must be paid if employees employed more than one week with employer N/A Prince Edward Island 3 days no six continuous months to less than five years 4 days one day paid; 3 days unpaid 5 years or more of continuous employment Quebec 26 weeks/104 weeks 3 no 3 months Saskatchewan 12 days/12 weeks 4 no more than 13 consecutive weeks Yukon 12 days 5 no N/A ANSWER: The short answer is — it de- pends on where you're located. The answer is determined by the jurisdic- tion in which the employee works, since days off are governed by labour standards legis- lation in each province and territory and under the Canada Labour Code for feder- ally regulated workers, as the following table shows: Regarding sick leave, what is required by law? QUESTION: How many days/weeks off each year are employers required by law to provide employees for sick leave and do any of the days have to be paid? 1. The five days are for Personal and Family Responsibility Leave. The 16 weeks are for Long-term Illness and Injury Leave. 2. The 17-week leave applies for serious illnesses. 3. The 104 weeks apply in cases where an employee sustains a serious bodily injury related to a criminal offence and it prevents the employee from carrying out his or her regular job duties. 4. The 12 days apply for illnesses or injuries that are not serious. The 12 weeks apply for serious illnesses or injuries. 5. Employees are entitled to take off one day per month of employment, up to 12 days less the number of days they were previously absent because of illness or injury.