Hiring your first employee is a milestone - and the moment payroll compliance becomes your problem. Here's what BC employers actually need to stay onside with CRA, Service Canada, and provincial rules.
Register before your first payday
You need a CRA payroll program account (an RP extension on your business number) before your first remittance is due. In BC you'll also generally need to register with WorkSafeBC - premiums apply to most employers, even very small ones.
Source deductions: the core obligation
Every pay cheque, you must withhold three things - CPP contributions, EI premiums, and income tax - and add your employer portions (CPP matched, EI at 1.4×). These amounts are trust funds in CRA's eyes: they were never your money, and CRA pursues missed remittances more aggressively than almost any other debt.
Remit on time - the 15th
New and small employers typically remit monthly, by the 15th of the month after the pay date. The penalty ladder for late remittances starts at 3% and climbs to 10% - and repeated failures can add another 20% on top. A calendar reminder is the cheapest compliance tool there is.
T4 season
By the end of February, every employee needs a T4 slip and CRA needs your T4 Summary. Totals must tie back to what you actually remitted during the year - discrepancies trigger reviews. This is also when errors from mid-year (a wrong TD1, a missed taxable benefit) surface, so a year-end payroll reconciliation matters.
Records of Employment
Whenever an employee leaves, is laid off, or has an interruption of earnings, an ROE must be issued within 5 calendar days. It drives their EI claim - late or wrong ROEs hurt your former employee and expose you to compliance problems.
BC employment standards
Provincial rules travel alongside the tax rules: minimum wage, vacation pay (4% minimum, 6% after five years), statutory holiday pay, and overtime after 8 hours a day or 40 a week. Payroll that's CRA-perfect can still violate Employment Standards - both matter.
Employee or contractor?
Paying someone as a contractor doesn't make them one. CRA looks at control, tools, financial risk, and integration - and misclassification means back CPP, EI, tax, penalties, and interest, all at the employer's expense. When in doubt, get an opinion before the arrangement starts, not after the audit letter arrives.
Or hand it all to us
Payroll is the definition of work that has to be perfect and adds nothing to your revenue. We run payroll end-to-end for BC businesses - calculations, remittances, T4s, ROEs, WorkSafeBC. Book a free consultation and take it off your plate.