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E-Myth – “Why most small businesses don’t work & what to do about it”

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Edmonton Small Business Accountant | Canadian Payroll Source Deductions Problems


There are not a lot of problems that a business owner can run into when they are paying their source deductions to Canada revenue agency says Edmonton small business accountant, however those few problems, can end up costing a business owner a lot, if they are not paying their source deductions properly, either by not paying enough, or not paying them on time. With all of the numerous challenges that entrepreneurs face in business in Canada, helping business owners avoid huge problems that are easy to avoid once a business owner knows about them, can significantly help business owners not only operate their business, but the plan for the future.

Business owners should be aware that if they run into problems paid source deductions to CRA, they can be assessed instantly and for large amounts of money. The first thing that business owners should be aware of, if the are even one day late in submitting remittances to the Canada revenue agency, the could potentially be hit with a 20% interest and penalty says Edmonton small business accountant. This is actually Canada revenue agency’s largest and most expensive penalty. The reason for that, is to act as a deterrent. It is also to reflect the seriousness of not paying source deductions. The way the CRA views the failure to pay source deductions is, business owners that are collecting government money and then using that money to fund their business. CRA takes that very seriously, and in addition to extremely high penalties that are incurred almost instantly, CRA will also be very aggressive when contacting the business to pay back the missed payment, or the shortfall. Business owners can easily avoid this happening in their business, knowing how much source deductions they need to pay every pay period, and when that amount is due.

Payroll source deductions are due to CRA on the 15th day of every month, in the month following the paycheck. Business owners can keep this in mind when they are running payroll says Edmonton small business accountant. For example if they run to payrolls in a certain month, they will need to pay all of the source deductions for both of those payrolls, on the 15th day of the following month. Although that day is the same for businesses everywhere, owners should not wait until the final day in order to submit their people remittances recommends Edmonton small business accountant. If they wait until the last day before making the payment and anything goes wrong, they can be assessed with penalties simply by filing one day late. Business owners should pay their remittances sooner in order to negate this risk. One of the best practices that business owners can do in order to avoid paying they remittances late, is by paying CRA remittances at the same time they run their payroll. This makes a lot of sense, because business owners are already calculating remittances in order to take them off of their employees checks, it is a very simple thing to add all of those up, and send that money into CRA.

Just because a business owner is very good at doing what their businesses product or service is says Edmonton small business accountant, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good at running that business. A quote from Michael Gerber, who is the author of the E myth says” the sale assumption is: if you understand the technical work of the business, you understand that a business that does the technical work. Business owners may be very good at what they do, but learning how to efficiently run their business may take time and effort. When businesses take on employees for the first time, there is a learning curve that happens when owners learn how to pay their employees for the first time. Knowing exactly what businesses need to deduct off of their checks is very important in order to pay CRA their source deductions properly and avoid penalties. Also, by knowing what the expectations are, can help business owners plan how to pay their taxes efficiently and avoid being in arrears.

One of the first things that businesses should learn when it comes to paying source deductions, is exactly how much they need to pay. If they end up with the shortfall to CRA, they can be assessed with huge penalties, which can be very detrimental to their business and their cash flow. Edmonton small business accountant says there are five components of paying source deductions that businesses need to be aware of. Those components are employer and employee EI, employer and employee CPP, and taxes. A business owner needs to take CPP, EI tax off of their employees checks, they themselves need to also contribute to the source deductions of CPP and EI which is an amount that equals roughly 7.4%. Business owners who are not aware that they themselves also have to pay source deductions can end up paying fewer source deductions then they require, triggering penalties and audits for them in the future.

In addition to knowing the amounts that they have to pay, business owners should also be aware of when that payment is due in order to avoid late penalties. Edmonton small business accountant says that all people remittances are due on the 15th day of the month. Whenever that the payroll is issued, the remittances are due the following month. This means, if a paycheck happened any time in January, the source deductions would be due February 15. Although this is extremely easy to remember, business owners shouldn’t wait until the very last day in order to submit their payroll remittances. If something were to happen that causes the business owner to not be able to submit their remittances on that day, can result in huge penalties being assessed to the business. A much better option, is to pay those source deductions well in advance. For example, on the actual day that the business owner is running their payroll. we hope to hear from you.