Sometimes distance is relative.
It may, for instance, only be a few miles from one U.S. city to a Canadian city, but those few miles can mean a good deal of paper work and payroll and tax guidelines for U.S. companies operating businesses north of the border.
For example, it may only be three hours from Seattle to Vancouver, but that distance for employers can be significant. So significant, in fact, that it only makes sense to contract with payroll services companies to make sure that U.S. companies operating businesses north of the border in Canada are correctly filing and processing all of the proper paperwork for employees who live in Canada.
Payroll management tasks are complicated enough for companies that only do business and operate in America. Add a group of contract employees who live in Canada, however, and those payroll laws and regulations become more complex and complicated. U.S. companies operating businesses north of the border can find themselves facing confusing tax codes and regulations when they attempt to do everything from determining tax withholdings to accurately recording benefits and many other human resources tasks.
For many businesses, both large and small, the decision to join the many U.S. companies operating businesses north of the border in Canada necessitates working with payroll companies who are familiar with these tasks. In addition to making the entire payroll process simpler, both large and small businesses benefit from outsourcing payroll, because they can also contract for Human Resource services and employee benefits packages. This allows company owners to focus on their core business, instead of the time consuming process of attending to the equally important task of cutting cheques and many other processes every payroll period. In fact, one of the major conveniences of outsourcing payroll is that there is only one report to approve and one invoice to pay.
Unless you have worked with payroll for a U.S. company that employs workers in Canada, you likely have no idea that simply by doing business across this one border you must navigate the complicated list of more than 190 regulatory legislative requirements that come with processing payroll in Canada.
- Calculating payroll in-house involves a variety of tasks such as totaling hours, performing gross-to-net calculations for each employee, calculating and depositing payroll taxes, as well as preparing and filing tax returns both on time and accurately. These tasks become even more complicated when companies do business or employ contractors across borders.
- Apayroll processing company can also provide continuing Human Resources support, and expertise and guidance when dealing with sensitive employment issues.
- Never fall into the trap of thinking that payroll only involves cutting cheques.
- A number of payroll and HR management requirements in Canada are very different than in the America, because of very different laws and regulations.
- Deciding to outsource payroll makes good sense, even in small companies. In fact, even small businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 employees, could benefit financially and otherwise by outsourcing HR and payroll needs.
- A payroll provider can also offer HR Management, ESA, and OHSA compliance and government remittances.
- Over 85% of certified public accountants recommend that small businesses contract with professional payroll providers.
- Research indicate that even small businesses will find that outsourcing to payroll sources can be both a time savings and cost savings, especially during tax season.
- Businesses that process their own payroll face many potential problems, because a mistake can be complex, risky, and even expensive.
- Unless you have a staff member who can dedicate his or her time to keeping up with all of the changes that occur every year when it comes to payroll and taxes, the decision to work with a payroll provider may be a wise decision.
- Small businesses in Canada have been identified as the greatest source of uncollected taxes. As a result, the Canada Revenue Agency is focusing its efforts on enforcing payroll tax policies for even the smallest of businesses.
- Tax codes constantly change. The transition to the current Presidential administration is just one example of a time when businesses of all sizes will find it essential to make sure that they understand all of the compliance codes and new regulations.