Some charities that are registered to charge GST/HST qualify to file under the general method, where they can claim 100% input tax credits rather than partial rebates. You will find details on the CRA website.
Do you have a question about GST/HST? Contact the GST/HST Rulings Hotline at 1-800-952-8987 to speak to an officer.
If the CRA determines that a staff member has been improperly treated as a self-employed person, you can be charged both the employer’s and the employee’s share of EI premiums and CPP contributions for the period in question.
Visit the CRA website. It contains many guides and forms, lots of which are now “fillable” online.
Employers must provide detailed pay stubs itemizing pay and deduction amounts. Accounting software does this automatically with each pay. If you use manual cheques, every time net pay changes you should issue a report to each employee.
Become familiar with privacy legislation in your jurisdiction. In Canada, we must adhere to PIPEDA, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act . Some provinces also have privacy legislation for public and/or private sector organizations. Know your local requirements. Check out this handy tip sheet.
Charities that are registered to charge HST normally charge it on the sale of tangible items — not services. But, if you’re selling a tangible item at cost or below cost, you are allowed to treat it as tax-exempt.
Errors on your T3010 return? You can amend a return after submitting it to the Canada Revenue Agency by filing an adjustment request with the Charities Directorate. You will find instructions and a link to the form here.
Staff Post
By Anna Mathew
The proclamation of the new Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) has been delayed. No official date has been set, but it will not be proclaimed prior to January 1, 2014.
Visit the Ontario Nonprofit Network website for more information on the delay and other ongoing developments with ONCA.
‘Holiday pay’ and ‘Time in lieu’ are actually very different. Holiday pay is pay for ‘standard’ holidays, either public or at least consistently recognized by the employer. Time in lieu is paid time off in exchange for overtime work.
Holiday pay is pay for days that an employee doesn’t have to work, because they are public holidays. In Ontario, these days are: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Public holidays vary in different jurisdictions. Also, some employers choose to provide holiday pay for days which are not official public holidays, but are frequently observed. For example, in Ontario, employers often acknowledge Civic Holiday the first Monday in August. Public holiday pay is based on the previous four weeks of work, and can be calculated here. The calculation i:s (regular wages from 4 weeks previous + vacation pay from 4 weeks previous) / 20. You add up the last month of earnings and divide by 20 because there are 20 working days in a normal month.
In the entertainment field — and others — it’s not uncommon for employers to ask their staff to work on a public holiday. Employees have the option to agree in writing to work the day and receive either public holiday pay plus premium pay for the hours worked on the holiday OR their regular rate plus holiday pay on a ‘substitute’ day off. In this case, the holiday rate would be calculated on the four weeks previous to the substitute holiday, not the original holiday. Some jobs do not entitle employees to take public holidays off. More details on public holiday pay in Ontario can be found here.
‘Time in lieu’ is paid time instead of overtime pay. The Employment Standards Act sets out rules on overtime pay; in most cases it is time-and-a-half (1 ½ times regular pay) for hours worked beyond 44 in a week. An employee and employer can agree in writing to time in lieu, also sometimes called ‘banked time’. In Ontario, if an employee has agreed to bank overtime hours, the employer must provide 1 ½ hours of paid time off for each hour of overtime worked. The time off must be taken within 3 months or, if an agreement is made in writing, within 12 months. If employment ends before the employee takes the paid time off, the employer must pay him or her overtime pay instead.