Canada Payroll

Canadian payroll terms for CRA setup, source deductions, remittance timing, and year-end payroll records.

Canada Payroll

This section covers payroll terms that need clear Canadian labeling to stay accurate. Use it when the topic depends on CRA setup, Canadian withholding language, remittance timing, EI or CPP earnings bases, or Canada-specific year-end records.

General payroll ideas like gross pay and net pay can stay broad. These pages exist for the terms that stop being accurate once you switch to U.S.-leaning wording or skip the Canadian filing workflow.

Start Here

  • Source Deductions for the Canadian term most readers mean when they say payroll withholding.
  • Form TD1 for the employee tax-credits form used to set income tax withholding.
  • T4 Slip for the employee’s year-end payroll slip.
  • Record of Employment for the interruption-of-earnings record used outside the regular pay-stub flow.

Employer Setup And Filing

Deductions And Payroll Bases

Year-End Records

  • T4 Slip for employee year-end income and deduction reporting.
  • T4 Summary for the employer-side year-end filing summary.
  • Payroll Register for the run-level record payroll teams review before filing and remitting.

In this section

  • Business Number (BN)
    Nine-digit CRA business identifier used to open payroll accounts and tie payroll filings and remittances to the employer.
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
    Canada Pension Plan payroll deduction and matching employer contribution applied to pensionable earnings outside Quebec.
  • Employment Insurance (EI)
    Employment Insurance payroll deduction and matching employer contribution applied to insurable earnings in Canadian payroll.
  • Form TD1
    Canadian personal tax credits form employees complete so payroll can set federal and provincial income tax withholding.
  • Insurable Earnings
    Earnings that count for EI premium calculations and related reporting in Canadian payroll.
  • Insurable Hours
    Hours that count for EI-related records such as the ROE and other Canadian payroll reporting workflows.
  • Payroll Program Account
    CRA payroll account under a business number, used to report and remit source deductions for a specific employer payroll setup.
  • Pensionable Earnings
    Earnings that count for CPP calculations and related year-end reporting in Canadian payroll.
  • Remitter Type
    CRA classification that sets how often a Canadian employer must remit payroll deductions and handle remittance follow-up.
  • Source Deductions
    Canadian payroll amounts withheld from employee pay, usually income tax, CPP, and EI, then remitted by the employer.
  • T4 Slip
    Canadian year-end slip reporting employment income and key payroll deduction totals for an employee.
Revised on Friday, April 24, 2026