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As your business grows, having the right partners and technology in place is essential to preventing unnecessary roadblocks. We’ve seen how the right payroll provider can help your business grow — and how the wrong one can hold you back. What worked when your business was smaller might now be slowing you down with manual processes, compliance headaches, or poor support.
These 8 must-ask questions will help you assess whether your payroll provider is still meeting your needs, and what a better experience could look like — based on our own success using Wagepoint and helping clients transition to smarter payroll systems.
1. Are You Still Doing Payroll Manually?
If you’re entering hours, calculating deductions, or preparing ROEs by hand, your payroll system is behind the times. Modern solutions automate these tasks to reduce risk and save you time.
2. Is Your Payroll Support Team Letting You Down?
Support delays or unresponsive service are major red flags. Payroll is time sensitive. You need a provider that responds quickly and helps you resolve issues — not adding them.
3. Does Your Payroll Software Feel Like a Hassle?
If your payroll platform is clunky, hard to navigate, or filled with jargon, it’s likely creating more problems than it solves. Great payroll systems are intuitive, user-friendly, and work seamlessly in the background.
4. Can Your Payroll System Grow with Your Business?
As you scale, your payroll needs to evolve. Whether you’re hiring, offering bonuses, benefits, allowances, RRSP matching, or managing multiple pay structures, your provider should handle complexity without friction.
5. Are You Still Writing Manual Cheques to Pay Your Staff?
If you’re still writing physical cheques on payday, there’s a much better way. Solutions like Wagepoint draw funds directly from your business bank account, makes all the payroll calculations quick and painless, remits the withholdings to the CRA automatically, and deposits pay directly into your employees’ bank accounts. It even sends each employee an electronic paystub — no more paper or manual processing required.
6. Are You Still Preparing T4s Manually Each Year?
If year-end T4 prep is still on your to-do list, or you’re always late submitting T4s, it is time to automate. Wagepoint automatically generates and files T4s, making tax season far less stressful. It ensures everything is accurate, timely, and compliant — without all the manual effort.
7. Have You Had to Deal with a CRA Payroll Review in the Last 12 Months?
If you’ve faced a payroll review recently, it may be due to improper calculations, missed remittances, or inconsistent record keeping. These issues are often caused by outdated systems or human error. Wagepoint helps reduce that risk by automating calculations and remittances, ensuring you’re always onside with CRA expectations.
8. Are You Constantly Behind on Your Personal Taxes Because You Take Dividends from Your Company?
Unfortunately, you’re in good company. A great many entrepreneurs are stuck in the trap of taking dividends throughout the year only to learn that they have a large tax liability this coming April. What’s worse is the CRA now expects instalments for the following year. Your cash is spent, so you struggle to pay off your personal taxes, while penalties and interest for missed instalments are stacking up. It’s time to switch to payroll.
What Does a Great Payroll Experience Look Like?
At Achen Henderson, we run our own payroll using Wagepoint. Here’s what we love and why we recommend it to clients:
Automate as much as possible to reduce payroll pain
With Wagepoint, our salaried staff get paid automatically on time — no manual input required. We only log in to make occasional updates. It’s accurate, reliable, and removes the stress of payroll deadlines.
Onboard new employees with ease
Wagepoint simplifies onboarding with guided steps and automation. Our clients appreciate how quickly they can get new hires set up—without missing critical compliance items.
Pay employees and the CRA directly, without ever writing a cheque
With a proper payroll provider, your company account will be debited automatically for the exact amount of the payroll and then employees’ pay cheques are automatically deposited to their bank accounts, and CRA receives their remittances on time, every time.
Digital paystubs and T4s
Rather than write out manual pay stubs and answer constant questions from staff about the status of their pay, Wagepoint automatically issues them with electronic pay stubs. Even better, come yearend time, T4s are a breeze and can be reconciled to the CRA and your company’s books with very little effort.
How you can avoid the Dividend Trap
Relying solely on dividends can lead to CPP issues, financing challenges, liability issues, and cash flow issues at tax time; creating gaps in long-term planning. Being on payroll with tools like Wagepoint keeps your income steady, your CRA filings clean, and your financial picture more robust. Would you like to read more about the benefits of paying salaries instead of dividends? Read our article: Paying Yourself as a Business Owner: Salaries or Dividends?
Is It Time to Switch Payroll Providers?
If payroll is causing frustration, it’s time for a better solution. With Wagepoint, you can save time with automation, meet CRA requirements, provide a seamless experience to your employees, and more. We use it. We trust it. We recommend it.
Thinking of switching? Let the team at Achen Henderson know. We’d be happy to help you assess your current setup or support your transition to Wagepoint.
