Edmonton Small Business Accountant | How To Minimize Source Deductions Problems

The first thing that employers need to understand when it comes to running payroll in their business, is what source deductions they need to take from their employees paychecks, as well as what they need to commit to CRA. Edmonton small business accountant says that there are actually five components of candidate revenue agency remittances, they are the employee CPP and the employee EI as well as tax. The employer must withhold those amounts from their paycheck, and submit them to CRA, but many business owners do not know that there are additional components. The additional components are the employer CPP, which is equal to the amount that the employee pays, and then the employer EI which is actually 1.4 times the amount that employees paid. The employer must submit all five of those components to CRA otherwise they risk sending in a shortfall that can impact their business at any time.

Any time a business owner either short pays their payroll remittances to CRA, or is late with a payment Edmonton small business accountant says they run the risk of being assessed huge penalties. Simply by being a single day late on their remittances, business owners can be assessed with a 20% interest penalty. That means if an entrepreneur needed to pay CRA $10,000 in remittances, by being a day late, the business owner then owes $1200. That interest is charged on a daily basis until shortfall is paid. This is astronomical, and if left for any length of time could spell out massive financial problems for a business owner. This is CRA’s largest and most serious penalty.

The reason why this is the steepest penalty that Canada revenue agency hands out is because they view withholding payroll remittances as an abuse of a trust fund. It’s not the business owner’s money, they withheld it from their employees on behalf of the federal government, and then instead of paying it, they used it in order to fund their business says Edmonton small business accountant. For this reason, CRA charges huge penalties as a deterrent for business owners to withhold remittances, and they are very relentless in collecting that money from business owners. CRA often gives businesses more grace when they are behind in personal tax or corporate tax, but being behind in payroll remittances is seen as a lot more serious.

Entrepreneurs may not be skilled at running their business, because they are skilled at what they do in their business and have never run their own business before says Edmonton small business accountant. Because of this, they may not know all of the things they need to do in order to stay out of trouble with Canada revenue agency. For example, if entrepreneurs don’t actually know what to do when it comes to submitting payroll tax, they may end up submitting incorrectly, or not submitting enough and be hit with severe penalties. There are a few things that business owners need to know when it comes to r’s submitting payroll remittances, that can help business owners file properly and avoid penalties in the future.

Business owners may not be aware of when they have to submit their payroll remittances to CRA. Most businesses have to submit remittances on the 15th day of the month. What ever payrolls they ran the month previous, the money is due to CRA on the 15th day of the month. For example says Edmonton small business accountant, if a business man 3 Payrolls in January, all of the remittances for all of those payrolls would be due February 15. Some small organizations can remit quarterly, and some large organizations have to remit twice per month, but for the most part business owners should be remitting by the 15th day of the month at the latest. However, business owners should not necessarily wait until the 15th day of the month. The reason for this is because they run the risk of not paying it on time. There is no reason for a business owner to wait, especially when it is not only faster, but simpler to submit their remittances at the same time that they are running payroll. Edmonton small business accountant says best practices are when a business owner is figuring out the source deductions from their employees checks during payroll time, they just add all those amounts together and send in the payment to CRA at the same time. This can help business owners avoid missing the duties.

If they miss their filing date by even a single day, CRA will be extremely aggressive in collecting that money, and business owners may even be hit with a 20% interest penalty after just one day. Because of this, Edmonton small business accountant says it’s fairly serious that business owners should avoid missing their filing day at all costs. Not only can they be hit with the penalty, but it may even trigger a payroll audit. If Business owners want to avoid paying high interest and getting audited, they should be sure that they send in the remittances well before the due date. CRA may also collect that money very aggressively, because they view missing remittance payments as very seriously. CRA often has more grace when it comes to allowing payments for personal tax or corporate tax, so business owners should be aware of this before they miss a payment.