Payroll Services for Canadian Businesses
MaxPro Financials runs payroll for businesses across Canada — pay calculation and direct deposit, CRA source deductions, records of employment, T4 and T4A filing, and provincial payroll obligations in every province we operate in. You approve the hours; we own every deadline attached to them.
Payroll is unlike other back-office work in one important way: the penalty is automatic. The CRA charges a percentage of the entire remittance the moment it is late, not a percentage of what is outstanding. That single feature is why payroll is the function small businesses most often outsource first.
- Every pay cycle — weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly, with direct deposit and digital pay stubs
- Source deductions — income tax, CPP and EI calculated, remitted and reconciled to your PD7A each month
- Year-end filing — T4, T4A and summaries filed before the last day of February
- Records of employment — filed electronically with Service Canada within the required window
- Provincial obligations — employer health tax, WCB and workers’ compensation reporting where they apply
Payroll for Contractors and Contract Employees
Paying contractors instead of employees saves CPP, EI and payroll admin, but only if the relationship really is a contract. The CRA looks at control over the work, who supplies tools and equipment, whether the worker can hire helpers, and who carries the financial risk. If a contractor is reassessed as an employee, the business owes the CPP and EI that should have been deducted, both shares, plus penalties and interest.
T4 or T4A?
- Employees are paid through payroll with income tax, CPP and EI deducted, and receive a T4.
- Self-employed contractors invoice you and are paid without deductions. You may need to report fees for services on a T4A.
- Contract employees, such as a fixed-term hire, are still employees and go through payroll like anyone else.
We review each arrangement against the CRA tests, put employees on payroll correctly and prepare T4A slips where they are required.
Our Payroll Services
Every plan includes the full payroll cycle, priced as one fixed monthly fee:
Payroll Processing Services
Payroll processing involves calculating salaries, benefits, and taxes accurately and efficiently. Our online payroll service automates every step, from calculating paychecks to issuing direct deposits, and generating pay stubs. This system also minimizes errors by integrating data from attendance and time-tracking systems, ensuring accurate payroll processing.
Payroll Tax Filing
Each province has specific payroll tax filing rules, especially in BC and Alberta. Our team stays updated with these ever-evolving regulations, making sure your business remains compliant with income tax, EI, and CPP contributions. We also handle remittances on time to avoid penalties.
For additional information, check out CRA’s payroll deductions and remittances guidelines.
Direct Deposit and Pay Stub Generation
Our system allows you to schedule payments via direct deposit, streamlining the payment process. Employees also have online access to their pay stubs, which reduces HR paperwork and improves transparency.
Automated Year-End Reports
End-of-year processing can be stressful. With our automated system, you can generate year-end reports like T4s quickly, ensuring compliance and accuracy with CRA requirements.
How to Do Payroll in Canada
Payroll is entirely possible to run yourself, and for a business with one or two salaried employees on identical pay it is often the sensible choice. The work becomes harder to justify in-house once you have hourly staff, variable overtime, benefits, turnover or employees in more than one province — because each of those adds a rule that has to be right every single cycle, not on average.
| Step | What it involves | Where it usually goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Register for a payroll account | Open an RP payroll account under your business number with the CRA before the first payday | Hiring first, registering later — remittances then have nowhere to go |
| 2. Collect employee forms | Federal and provincial TD1 forms, SIN, and banking details for direct deposit | Using last year’s TD1 amounts, or no TD1 on file at all |
| 3. Calculate gross pay | Regular hours, overtime, statutory holiday pay, commissions and taxable benefits | Overtime and holiday pay calculated on the wrong provincial rule |
| 4. Deduct and withhold | Income tax, CPP contributions and EI premiums, plus any garnishments or benefit deductions | Missing the CPP basic exemption or applying the wrong annual maximum |
| 5. Remit to the CRA | Send withholdings plus the employer portion by your assigned remitter deadline | Remitting on the pay date instead of the remitter schedule |
| 6. File year-end | Prepare T4 slips and the T4 Summary, balance them to the ledger, file by the end of February | T4s that do not reconcile to what was actually remitted |
Can you do payroll yourself for free?
You can. The CRA publishes a free online payroll deductions calculator that will produce correct income tax, CPP and EI figures for a given pay period and province, and there is no requirement to use commercial software. What free tools do not do is track your remitter schedule, reconcile what you remitted against what you withheld, produce and file T4 slips, or issue records of employment — and those are where the penalties live.
The honest test is not whether you can calculate a paycheque. It is whether you will still be reconciling remittances in month nine of a busy year.
Who we run payroll for
Our payroll clients range from single-shareholder corporations paying one salary to companies with fifty-plus employees spread across several provinces. The common thread is that payroll had become a recurring monthly risk rather than a routine task — missed remittance deadlines, T4s that did not balance to the ledger, or contractors who probably should have been on payroll.
- Owner-operator corporations — a single salary, plus the salary-versus-dividend decision that sits behind it
- Small businesses with hourly staff — variable hours, overtime, statutory holiday pay and turnover
- Professional practices — mixed employee and associate arrangements, benefits and taxable benefit calculations
- Multi-province employers — employees in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario under different provincial rules
- Seasonal and construction businesses — crews that scale up and down, with frequent records of employment
Best Payroll Software in Canada vs an Outsourced Payroll Service
Most comparisons of Canadian payroll software focus on features and price per employee. That is the wrong axis for a small business. Every credible platform calculates CPP, EI and income tax correctly — the calculations are published by the CRA and are not a competitive differentiator. What separates the options is who is accountable when the input is wrong.
| Payroll software | Outsourced payroll service | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A tool that calculates what you tell it to calculate | A team that prepares, files and reconciles on your behalf |
| Who enters the data | You or your bookkeeper, every cycle | You submit hours; we handle the rest |
| Who catches an error | Nobody, until the CRA or an employee does | Reconciled monthly against your PD7A statement |
| Remittance deadlines | Tracked by you | Tracked and met by us |
| Year-end T4s | Generated, but balancing them is your job | Prepared, balanced to the ledger and filed |
| CRA correspondence | You respond | We respond with you |
| Cost shape | Monthly per-employee subscription | Fixed monthly fee scaled to headcount |
Software is the right answer when you already have someone in-house who understands payroll and simply needs a faster tool. A service is the right answer when nobody in the business wants to own remittance deadlines. Both are legitimate; the expensive mistake is buying software and assuming it transferred the responsibility.
Popular payroll software in Canada
If you decide software is the right fit, these are the platforms Canadian employers use most. All of them calculate deductions correctly; the difference is how much of the process they automate and how much work they leave with you.
| Software | Typically suits | What you still handle yourself |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online Payroll | Small businesses already keeping books in QuickBooks | Hours and changes, worker classification, reviewing remittances |
| Wagepoint | Small Canadian employers wanting simple payroll | Hours and changes, ROE timing, answering CRA letters |
| ADP | Growing employers that also want HR and benefits tools | Setup decisions, data accuracy, provincial rule changes |
| Payworks | Mid-size Canadian employers needing payroll with HR and time tracking | Data accuracy and year-end review |
| Dayforce | Larger and multi-province employers with complex workforce needs | An internal payroll administrator to run it |
We work with clients on most major platforms, either running payroll for them inside their existing software or moving them to a full service.
How much do payroll services cost?
Payroll is quoted as a fixed monthly fee based on headcount and pay frequency rather than an hourly rate, so it is predictable from month one. It is frequently bundled with bookkeeping — ongoing accounting for a Canadian small business commonly runs $450 to $800 a month, and a full-service package covering bookkeeping, payroll, sales tax and year-end typically falls between $1,200 and $1,500 a month. Our guide to accounting costs in Canada breaks this down further.
How to Start Payroll With MaxPro
Most businesses are running on our payroll within one or two pay periods, including mid-year switches.
1. Free consultation
2. Setup
3. Year-to-date import
4. First pay run
5. Ongoing cycle
Request a Free Payroll Consultation Today
If you’re uncertain about how online payroll services can benefit your business, we offer a free consultation. During this session, our payroll experts evaluate your business needs and suggest the best payroll solutions for you. This consultation helps you understand the various options available and how they can save time and ensure compliance.
Schedule a consultation today to see how we can streamline your payroll process.
CRA Remittance Schedules and Payroll Compliance
Every employer that deducts tax, CPP and EI must remit them to the CRA on a schedule set by the size of its payroll. The schedule is based on your average monthly withholding amount (AMWA) from two years earlier.
| Remitter type | Who it applies to | When remittances are due |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | Small employers with an AMWA under $3,000 and a perfect compliance record | 15th of the month after each quarter |
| Regular | Most small and mid-size employers | 15th of the month after you pay employees |
| Accelerated, threshold 1 | AMWA of $25,000 to $99,999.99 | Twice a month |
| Accelerated, threshold 2 | AMWA of $100,000 or more | Up to four times a month, within three working days |
We confirm your remitter type when you join, remit on that schedule, reconcile every payment against your PD7A statement and adjust when the CRA changes your frequency. Provincial obligations, such as BC’s Employer Health Tax, Ontario’s EHT and workers’ compensation premiums, are handled in the same cycle.
Provincial Payroll Differences Across Canada
Federal source deductions — income tax, CPP and EI — work the same way everywhere outside Quebec. What changes province to province is the employer-side payroll tax, the workers’ compensation board, and the employment standards that determine how overtime, vacation and statutory holiday pay are calculated.
| Province | Employer payroll tax | Workers’ compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | Employer Health Tax above an annual BC payroll exemption threshold | WorkSafeBC | Statutory holiday pay uses an averaging formula over prior days worked |
| Alberta | None | WCB-Alberta | Overtime after 8 hours daily or 44 weekly; no provincial payroll levy |
| Saskatchewan | None | Saskatchewan WCB | Public holiday pay calculated on a percentage of prior wages |
| Ontario | Employer Health Tax, with an exemption for eligible private employers | WSIB | Overtime after 44 hours weekly |
| Manitoba | Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax Levy above a threshold | Manitoba WCB | Threshold-based, so growing payrolls can cross into it mid-year |
| Quebec | Health Services Fund contribution | CNESST | QPP replaces CPP, plus QPIP; separate Revenu Québec remittances |
The rule that catches multi-province employers is this: each employee is governed by the standards of the province they actually work in, not the province your head office sits in. A Vancouver company with a remote employee in Calgary is running two sets of rules. We handle multi-province payroll routinely across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, so the correct rules follow each employee automatically.
Related tax and compliance services
Payroll Services: Frequently Asked Questions
Online payroll services are digital solutions that allow businesses to manage employee payroll processes electronically. These services can include calculating wages, deducting taxes, and handling payroll tax filings.
Yes, reputable payroll providers like MaxPro Financials use encryption and secure servers to protect sensitive data, ensuring that personal and financial information remains confidential.
Payroll providers stay updated on payroll tax laws and regulations, helping your business comply with federal and provincial requirements. This reduces the risk of fines or penalties for late or inaccurate filings.
Yes, online payroll services are flexible, allowing businesses to set up weekly, biweekly, or monthly payroll schedules based on their needs.
You have a named contact on our payroll team for questions, changes and new hires, reachable by phone and email during business hours. Urgent issues around a pay date are prioritised so employees are paid on time.
Payroll is priced as a fixed monthly fee based on headcount and pay frequency, not hourly, so it is predictable. Many businesses bundle it with bookkeeping: ongoing accounting for a Canadian small business commonly runs $450 to $800 a month, and a full-service package including payroll, sales tax and year-end typically falls between $1,200 and $1,500 a month. We confirm your fee after a free consultation.
Yes. The CRA provides a free online payroll deductions calculator that produces correct income tax, CPP and EI amounts for any province and pay period, and you are not required to use paid software. What free tools will not do is track your remitter schedule, reconcile remittances against what you actually withheld, produce and file T4 slips, or issue records of employment — which is where most penalties originate.
The CRA charges 3% if the remittance is one to three days late, 5% for four or five days, 7% for six or seven days, and 10% beyond that. Repeat failures in the same calendar year can attract a 20% penalty. Critically, the percentage applies to the whole remittance rather than to any shortfall, so even a small payroll produces a meaningful penalty for a single missed deadline.
No. Alberta and Saskatchewan have no employer payroll tax. British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba apply an employer health tax above a payroll threshold, and Quebec has a Health Services Fund contribution alongside QPP and QPIP instead of CPP. Federal income tax, CPP and EI apply everywhere outside Quebec regardless of province.
The province where the employee actually reports to work, not where your head office is located. A BC-based company with a remote employee in Alberta applies Alberta employment standards to that employee — different overtime thresholds, different statutory holiday calculations and a different workers’ compensation board. We run multi-province payroll across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Both are included. Records of employment are filed electronically with Service Canada within five calendar days of the end of the pay period containing the interruption, and T4 slips with the T4 Summary are balanced to the general ledger and filed by the last day of February. See our ROE guide and T4 preparation service.
Yes, and it is common. We import year-to-date earnings, deductions and CPP/EI figures so that year-end T4s reflect the full year across both systems. The first thing we check on any transfer is whether prior remittances reconcile to the PD7A statements — a discrepancy is far cheaper to correct in July than in February.