Looking to hire additional help for your expanding business? Last week, we outlined key questions to ask yourself before expanding your sales force.
We noted that deciding between hiring a contractor or an employee is not as simple as figuring out your personal preference. The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) has a very comprehensive checklist that they use to determine if you should be paying your new hire as an employee or if it is OK to consider them a contractor.
This week, we are going over the checklist presented by the CRA in more detail so that you can make sure you are paying people under the correct category to avoid nasty fines.
Tip: If you own a store or run an office and you don’t want to hire a contractor through a temporary employment agency then you need to hire an employee and pay the applicable payroll taxes.
Determine who has control
Do you want to have control over the worker? Will you determine when, how and where the work will be completed? Do you expect them to complete the work personally?
According the CRA ‘It is the right of the payer to exercise control that is relevant, NOT whether the payer actually exercises this right’ so basically, if you have the option in any way, shape or form to control the employee’s time and how they complete the work then they are not considered a contractor.
Tools & Equipment
Who provides the tools and the equipment to complete the job?
If you provide your new hire with the tools and equipment they need to complete the job and are responsible for all repairs to that equipment then you need to hire an employee.
Subcontracting Work or Hiring an Assistant
Can the person who is working for you independently hire an assistant or subcontract out the work you have asked them to do?
If the answer is no, then as you may be assuming by now, you have yourself an employee.
Financial Risk
Will the worker be financially liable if they do not fulfill the contract? Does the worker actively market themselves? Does the worker perform a substantial amount of the work from their own workspace? Are they responsible for paying their own employees?
If you answered YES to these questions then you may be able to categorize your worker as a sub-contractor, if you answered NO then you guess it, you need to pay them as an employee.
Responsibility for Investment and Management
Does the worker have any capital invested in their business and an established business presence?
If they do then you are pretty safe hiring them as a contractor so long as the also meet majority of the above criteria.
Opportunity for Profit
Can the worker realize a profit or incur a loss? Is the worker paid a flat fee and incurs any expenses as a loss?
If the answer is NO then you need to hire the worker as an employee.
In the end if you are uncertain about your relationship with your new hire or you can’t distinctively answer majority of these questions with a YES or NO response (because the status of your relationship is unclear) then it is best to contact the CRA and get a ruling before you proceed.
This will save you a lot of grey stress hairs, and costs in the long term.
