Is your organization prepared to comply with the Canada Revenue Agency's payroll records retention requirements? To help you make sure that you are prepared, we are going to go over the details of payroll retention below.
What payroll information you must keep records of
The Canada Revenue Agency's payroll records retention regulations require that you keep records of the following information for each employee:
- Taxes withheld
- Number of hours worked
- Employment Insurance (EI) premiums (if you deduct for this)
- Canada Pension Plan contributions (if you deduct for this)
Specific payroll documents you must retain
The Canada Revenue Agency's payroll records retention regulations require that you retain the following specific documents for each employee:
- Form TD1, Personal Tax Credits Return Form
- TP1015.3, Source Deductions Return
- Letters of Authority from the Canada Revenue Agency for any reduction in deduction requests
- All information slips issued
- All tax returns filed
- Registered pension data
You need a solution to keep track of your organization's payroll records
Whether you have five employees or five thousand, the Canada Revenue Agency is asking you to retain a lot of payroll documents. The number of documents for keeping track of the number of hours an employee worked alone is massive. Trying to manage them with a paper filing system is a monumental, time consuming task to say the least. That is why you need an alternative file management solution, starting with converting your paper documents to digital files. Here are the three steps that you need to take in order to make this happen:
1. Convert your current payroll documents to digital files
A huge part of successfully keeping track of your payroll documents is keeping them all together in one place. If half of them are paper and the other half are digital files, however, this is impossible. That is why you need to convert all of your paper payroll documents into digital files.
Fortunately, this isn't as complicated as it may seem at first. All you need to do is contact a professional document scanning service. They will be able to convert as many documents as you need, in no time at all. Also, since you will be converting sensitive payroll documents, make sure that the document scanning service that you hire is federally certified to handle these documents.
2. Integrate a document management system
It is very difficult to try and manage your newly digitized payroll documents as you would a smaller volume of files. You need actual document management software in order to get this right. Here is why it is such a necessity:
- It allows you to add an extra layer of security to your payroll documents
- It automates the management of your payroll documents, so that you do not have to spend time trying to figure out where everything goes
- It makes accessing your payroll documents easy
- Some document management systems will allow you to view and manage access for your payroll documents remotely
3. Create a system for the conversion of future payroll documents
Every minute that an employee works gives cause to develop a new payroll document. You should be able to convert them to digital files immediately. Make sure that you invest in a high-volume document scanner and document scanning software to get the job done efficiently.
Prepare your payroll documents for the Canada Revenue Agency ASAP
You do not want to get caught in noncompliance with the Canada Revenue Agency's payroll records retention requirements. To make sure that you are always compliant, integrate a digital system that makes managing payroll documents easy.
