Payroll Consulting

Canadian and US Payroll Consulting

H-E Plus provides payroll consulting from the perspective of tax professionals which ensures that relevant corporate tax and personal tax principles are properly analyzed and optimized when determining your obligations.

Canada

The laws governing payroll withholding obligations are straightforward in most cases. Withholding is generally required based on the province where an employee reports for work at an establishment of the employer. If the needs of your business require a more complex operational model, determining your obligations as an employer can be difficult.

H-E Plus provides Canadian payroll consulting services to ensure you are compliant with the various laws governing income tax, social charge and payroll tax withholding and reporting. Our focus is on assisting employers with employees on the move, whether the movement is within Canada, internationally or between related employers. We can provide a full range of services related to:

• the obligations of a Canadian employer hiring foreign workers to perform services in Canada;
• the obligations of a Canadian employer sending Canadian employees to work in foreign countries;
• the obligations of foreign employers paying employees for services performed in Canada;
• province of employment determinations for employees working in different provinces;
• employer succession rules;
• payments made to the board of directors.

H-E Plus is based in Montreal, Quebec and can provide guidance with respect to the comparatively complex Quebec social security and payroll tax legislation. Foreign employers using H-E Plus as an intermediary in dealing with the Quebec authorities can ensure that their concerns and needs are communicated in French and that nothing is lost in translation.

US

An increasing number of Canadian employers are sending employees to work in the United States and as a result may have US payroll obligations. H-E Plus can assist you in meeting your withholding, remitting and reporting requirements on the Federal, state and local level.

H-E Plus can provide consulting services to assist you in determining your payroll obligations whether you have opened up a new office in the United States or if you will be employing people temporarily in the US. We can provide you with a full range of services related to:

• employer registration/deregistration for tax remittances and Unemployment Insurance;
• quarterly reporting;
• year-end reporting.

Putting it all together

H-E Plus can assist you with the payroll planning and tax optimisation strategies related to your employees working internationally. Assistance is available with:

• creating structures to minimize Quebec social security and payroll tax obligations for employees working outside of Quebec;
• applications for Certificates of Coverage to minimize social charge costs and to ensure employees continue to contribute in their home country;
• requests for EI rulings;
• applications for Tax Reduction Requests;
• applications for Tax Waivers.

Tax Reduction & Exemption Requests

If you or your employees are subject to tax withholding in a foreign jurisdiction as well as in your country of residence you may be subject to an undue hardship. The tax laws in Canada, Quebec and the United States provide for the possibility to reduce the amount of income tax withholding in anticipation of the foreign tax credit you may claim on your income tax return. This alleviates the burden of having to pay the full amount of foreign tax and tax in your country of residence on each pay and waiting for a refund when you file your tax returns.

If you are exempt from tax in the United States or Canada due to a tax treaty concluded between either country and your country of residence you may also request an exemption from withholding under certain circumstances.

We can assist you in determining your eligibility for the reduction/exemption, completing the necessary documents and following-up with the authorities.

Non-Resident Withholding

The payer of the income has certain withholding and reporting requirements when making payments to non-residents for services rendered in either Canada or the United States.

Whether you are the company / contractor performing services or the payer of the income, H-E Plus can assist you with your obligations with respect to:

• determining your withholding and reporting obligations when you hire a non-resident company or independent contractor;
• assessing secondary withholding obligations when a non-resident company is hired to perform services in Canada and pays other non-resident subcontractors to perform work in Canada;
• determining if the person you hire is an independent contractor or an employee;
• applying for a tax withholding waiver;
• W-7 applications and W-8BEN completion;
• payer registrations;
• annual reporting.

International Payroll

Understanding and being in compliance with your international payroll obligations can be challenging on many different levels, from understanding local tax and social security regimes to language barriers in dealing with local authorities. The team at H-E Plus has hands on experience and can help clarify your obligations in the following countries:

Assistance is available in Mandarin, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.