Payroll

Running payroll in British Columbia comes with its own rules, from provincial Employer Health Tax to daily overtime and statutory holiday eligibility. This checklist keeps your business compliant and your team paid accurately. Prefer paper? Click Download as PDF on the lefthand menu to get a printable version. Let’s get started. Step 1: Obtain a […]

Summer’s winding down, and the busy fall season is just around the corner. Before year-end chaos kicks in — with ROEs, T4s, client questions, and compliance deadlines piling up — now’s the time to reset how you manage payroll.  Whether you’re juggling a few clients or dozens, streamlining and automating your workflows can help you […]

As an employer, there are many decisions that you’ll have to make when it comes to hiring and paying your employees. Minimum wage, AKA the lowest hourly pay rate that an employer can pay an employee? That’s not one of them. In Canada, minimum wage by province or territory falls under the domain of the […]

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 […]

As a business owner, what worked for a team of five might not cut it when you’re managing 50. A payroll system that once felt simple can quickly become a source of stress and even a business risk as your team grows. That’s why it’s important to revisit your payroll setup as you scale. Whether […]

Canada has seen a significant shift toward pay transparency legislation in recent years. For small business owners, understanding these laws — both current and upcoming — is critical to ensuring compliance, fostering equitable workplaces, and maintaining competitiveness. This article provides an overview of pay transparency trends across Canada and practical tips to ensure compliance. Pay […]

Managing payroll for multiple clients can be time consuming — especially during certain times of the year. So, the thought of switching payroll software solutions (on top of everything else) might feel like a harder path than trying to stick it out with your current tool or solution. But switching your payroll systems doesn’t have […]

What if one of your most underutilized advisory tools was already right at your fingertips? In our recent webinar, Leveraging Payroll Data for Smarter Financial Decisions, we explored how Canadian bookkeepers and accountants can tap into payroll data to deepen their advisory role, drive better business decisions, and elevate the value they deliver to small […]

Choosing the right payroll software features is a big decision. For small businesses, it’s easy to focus on what makes your life easier — tools that save time, keep you compliant, and don’t require you to moonlight as a CPA to understand. But when you’re evaluating payroll software, it’s worth remembering: your employees don’t see […]

Over the last six months, I’ve had the chance to talk to several bookkeepers and firm owners who’ve said the same thing: “I don’t take on clients with payroll.”  Which makes me question why? The reasons are consistent: I do not want to be tied down. It makes it hard to go on vacation. The […]

Vacation pay remains one of the more nuanced areas of payroll for Canadian small businesses — especially as federal and provincial standards continue to evolve. From minimum entitlements to how vacationable earnings are defined, staying compliant can be challenging.  While employment standards laws set the floor, non-union employers still have flexibility in how vacation pay […]

When economic uncertainty hits — whether it’s a dip in demand, rising costs, or global disruptions — Canadian small businesses often feel it first and hardest. Payroll is usually one of the largest expenses on your balance sheet, and managing it wisely can be the difference between weathering the storm and falling behind. As a […]

When running small business payroll, it’s important to understand payroll deductions. Knowing how they’re calculated, and at which point of the payroll process they need to be applied, is essential for remaining compliant, avoiding costly errors, and paying employees accurately. What are payroll deductions? Payroll deductions are the amounts withheld from an employee’s pay cheque […]

Does overtime get taxed more in Canada? No, it doesn’t. There are no special rules. No hidden rates — in fact, it’s taxed at the same rate as regular pay. So why might you have employees in your office with their pay stub demanding to know why you taxed them so much for putting in overtime? […]

Mistakes happen. However, there are some lessons that are much better taught than experienced. Payroll is one of those. Payroll errors add up, literally. They aren’t just annoying or embarrassing, a wrong keystroke can carry heavy consequences for your business. It could mean wasted hours and resources to fix the problem — or worse, legal […]