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Overview of Canadian Payroll
Overview of Canadian Payroll
(Note: SAP usually releases new wage types at the end of the year, via Support Packages, although in some situations
they may be released mid-year. SAP offers educational sessions and updates for companies and also uploads this
information on its SAP Service Marketplace website.)
Every country has its own rules and regulations for personal income tax and statutory contributions. In Canada, a lot of
information about this is provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and other government agencies. Here I show
how to execute these Canadian legislations in the SAP ERP HCM payroll system.
In Canada there are a total of 13 provinces and territories. Apart from Quebec, all the other provinces have similar
statutory contributions and deductions. In this article I cover the details for the most important statutory contributions and
deductions for the 12 provinces and territories, and for Quebec, with special emphasis on how these are configured in the
SAP ERP HCM payroll system.
Before I go into more detail, you first must understand some of the important concepts of wage types, which are
extensively used for payroll configuration.
Base wage types are typically the earnings base on which deductions are done. For most statutory contributions, there is
an earnings base in the SAP system. For example, wage type /120 is the base earning for the CPP, so all the pensionable
earnings or wage types are cumulated into wage type /120. The cumulation classes assist with these calculations.
The configuration for base wage types is done in table v_512W_D (Figure 1).
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Figure 1
In Figure 1, wage type 0001 is a pensionable earning, so it should be added to the CPP base earnings wage type /120.
This is achieved by selecting the wage type for cumulation class 20.
CPP
These are deductions made from employees’ earnings for their pension plans. The amount deducted goes into the
employee’s pension plan and is paid to the employee by the government when the employee retires. The employer also
matches the employee contribution. In the Quebec region this is called the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) instead of CPP.
Method of Calculation
Every year, the Maximum Annual Pensionable Earnings rate is defined by the CRA (e.g., the maximum ceiling amount
on which the CPP/QPP can be calculated). Also an annual basic exemption is defined. So the maximum contributory
earnings that are subject to CPP/QPP is (Maximum Annual Pensionable Earnings) – (Annual Basic Exemption amount).
For example, for the year 2014:
This means that in 2014, the total CPP deduction cannot exceed $2,425.50 for an employee. If an employee reaches this
amount in the middle of the year, then for the rest of the year no CPP deductions are taken for that employee. Table 1 lists
the pension rates by year for the past four years.
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Table 1
CPP slab rates (e.g., CPP rates by year) for 2011–2014 (Source: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/)
(Note: For the purposes of this article, the dollar sign ($) refers to the Canadian dollar, not the US dollar or another
currency.)
Table 2 lists the relevant wage types for CPP/QPP calculations. Base wage types are the wage types that store the
pensionable earnings.
Table 2
(Note: Wage types /118 and /119 are non-exempt wage types (e.g., when calculating CPP/QPP, the basic exemption is not
calculated on these amounts). These earnings can include wages that come from retroactive or bonus payments.)
Table T5KTC stores data such as the maximum CPP or QPP amount, the CPP or QPP rate, and basic exemptions. Figure
2 shows this table with the CPP rates.
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Once the schema is executed, function KATAX in sub-schema KTX1 is called with SI as the first parameter (Par1). It
calculates the CPP/QPP rates (Figure 4).
Figure 4
(Note: SI is a parameter that determines what type of tax is calculated. For example, if you enter ICTX instead of SI, it
calculates the income tax. SI is used for the calculation of CPP/QPP/EI taxes.)
1. Excess CPP deductions: If too much CPP is deducted, employees can claim their refund from the government when
they file their income tax and benefit returns. Employers, however, cannot refund these directly to the employee.
2. Changes in employment status or job: If an employee changes his or her employment status with the company
during the year, the new employer deducts the CPP/QPP payment without considering the amount that has already
been deducted by the previous employer. This can lead to over- or underpayment of the total CPP/QPP amount.
3. Transfers to another province (either to Quebec or from Quebec): If an employee from any other province is
transferred to Quebec, then the CPP deducted up to that day is taken into consideration when calculating the
CPP/QPP, and the maximum amount for the province of Quebec is the amount paid, and vice versa.
4. Mergers and acquisitions: In these cases (as per Canadian tax regulations), the previously deducted CPP/QPP
amount would be considered. In the SAP system, if there is a change in the business numbers (called FEIN in the
US) as a result of a merger or acquisition, then an entry has to be made in table T5KBN for the system to consider
the previously deducted amount.
In this section, I discuss how these CPP/QPP contributions are reported and give a brief overview of the required year-end
forms and their entries. Figure 5 shows Form T4 (Statement of Remuneration). Click here to view an online version.
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Figure 5
The T4 form
Figure 6 shows Form RL1 (which is the same thing as Form T4, but it is only applicable to Quebec). Click here for an
online version.
Figure 6
T4 Form: CPP contributions are shown in box 16 of the T4 form; only the employee contributions are shown. QPP
contributions are shown in box 17; only the employee contributions are shown.
(Note: There are boxes in Form T4 that report earnings or deductions. The actual box names on these forms are not the
same as what is shown in the SAP system. In the SAP system, there is a box 2, which is box B in the T4 form. I have
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RL1 Form: QPP contributions are shown in box B (SAP box 2) of the RL1 form.
(Note: In SAP configurations the box numbers for Form RL1 do not reflect the actual box numbers on the RL and RL2
forms. In cases where they differ, I show the relevant SAP box numbers in brackets.)
If you want to exempt an employee from having to make CPP deductions, then a relevant value has to be entered in
infotype 0464 (additional tax data Canada) in the CPP tax authority (Figure 7). For example, employees who are between
the ages of 65 and 70 and receive pension funds can opt out of contributing. In that case, they would request that the
employer not deduct CPP payments.
Figure 7
An employee would qualify for this type of exemption for a variety of other reasons. In the screen in Figure 7, go to the
CPP line, press F4, and the list of exemptions is displayed (a partial list is shown in Figure 8). Select the desired
exemption and click the save icon (not shown) to save your changes.
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Figure 8
Payments for employment insurance are deducted from the employee’s wages and placed in a fund to cover temporary
financial allowances for employees who are ill, are pregnant or have adopted a child, or lose pay because they’re not
working because of skills training. This would include parents on maternity/paternity leave, employees who are out of
work on disability, and other such payments.
Similar to the way CPP/QPP is calculated, the employer also makes contributions to the employment insurance fund. In
this case, the employer contribution rate is 1.4. That means that for every $1.00 that an employee contributes, the
company contributes an additional $1.40.
Also as with CPP, there is a maximum limit (cap) on earnings on which the employment insurance deduction can be
calculated. Again, as for CPP, there is a separate (different) rate for Quebec. Table 3 shows the various rates by year (for
the most recent four years) for this deduction and the matching employer payments.
Table 3
Table 4 shows a list of the employment insurance-relevant wage types for the Canadian federal SAP payroll system. (The
federal and Quebec wage types are the same; however, the rates are different for Quebec.)
Table 4
This data (e.g., the maximum employment insurance amounts and employment insurance rates) is stored in table T5KTC
(Figure 9). Quebec rates are identified by QC in the second column (Pr...).
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Figure 9
During a payroll run, function KATAX calculates the employment insurance amounts when called with SI as the first
parameter (as shown in Figure 4). These amounts include the employee’s deductions and the employer’s contributions.
Some employers offer a wage-loss replacement plan for short-term disability for their employees. If the plan meets certain
standards (established by Canadian Employment Insurance Regulations), the employer’s employment insurance premiums
could be paid at a reduced rate (e.g., at a rate less than 1.4 times the employee’s premiums).
For example, if an employer provides employees with a short-term disability plan, then the employer may be entitled to
premiums less than 1.4 times the employee’s premium. Again these are subject to certain requirements as defined by
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). For more details click here.
To achieve this constant, Txx has to be maintained in table v_T511K (Figure 10). Txx has a value like 120 (e.g., the
employer employment insurance’s rate is 120 percent of the employee’s employment insurance contribution). The actual
value of the employer employment insurance’s rate is 1.4 times (e.g., 140 percent).
Figure 10
Then, in table V_T5KB1_K, you link this constant value to the Business Number and Account Number to which the
reduced rates apply (Figure 11). Once this is done, the reduced employment insurance rates would apply for all the
employees who have that business number in their tax infotypes.
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Figure 11
This works the same way for employers in Quebec who pay the employer QPIP contributions—the employer employment
insurance rate is reduced.
The process for exempting an employee from having to make employment insurance payments is the same as for
exempting an employee from making CPP payments. However, the value in the employment insurance field has to be
modified with different infotypes and reason codes, as shown in Figures 12 and 13.
Figure 12
Figure 13
The employee employment insurance contributions are shown in box 18 of Form T4 (Figure 5). In Form RL1, the
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employee employment insurance contributions are shown in box C (SAP box 3).
PPIP/QPIP Calculations
The PPIP/QPIP contributions are deducted from employees’ earnings. These amounts are used by the provincial
governments for providing maternity, paternity, and parental and adoption benefits to qualified persons. Currently this
contribution is applicable for the Province of Quebec. The QPIP rates for 2014 are as follows:
The maximum yearly earnings that are subject to QPIP for 2014 are $69,000.
SAP has provided the /1P* series wage types for PPIP/QPIP base earnings. The asterisk (*) is replaced by the province
abbreviation (for example, for Quebec it’s /1PQ and for Ontario it’s /1PO). Employee contributions are stored in wage
type /3P*, and employer contributions are stored in wage type /4P*.
Because the employer is contributing towards QPIP, there is a reduced rate for the employer employment insurance
contribution. This reduced rate is fixed by the Canadian government. For 2014, for example, the employer employment
insurance contribution was reduced by .35 percent of QPIP-eligible earnings, as follows:
The employer employment insurance rate for Quebec for 2014 is 1.53
The employment insurance earnings – wage type /122 = 5000
The QPIP earnings – wage type /1PQ = 4000
In this example, the employer employment insurance wage type /422 should be 76.5 (5000*1.53%).
And the employment insurance contribution is reduced from 76.5 to 62.5, because the employer is contributing to QPIP:
SAP has not provided any cumulation class for PPIP/QPIP. Processing class 84 (value 1) has to be maintained for all the
earnings wage types that are included in the PPIP/QPIP base earnings wage type /1P* (Figure 14), and table T5KVE has
to be maintained (Figure 15).
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Figure 14
Figure 15
Table T5KVE
Operation KADDC reads processing class 84 for any wage type, and then it creates the base wage type /1P*. The
province for which the wage type is created depends on the check boxes selected in table T5KVE.
In Figure 15, the first column is for processing class (PCI). The second column (S…) is the processing value for each
wage type. The third column (P…) is the payroll modifier value set by operation KMODI. The other columns (with check
boxes) are for each of the following Canadian Provinces:
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Nunavut
Nova Scotia
Northwest Territories
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
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Saskatchewan
Yukon
Depending on which province box is selected, the SAP system creates a wage type for that province. So, for example, if
the Quebec Province check box is selected, the system creates wage type /1PQ. This data (e.g., the maximum employment
insurance amounts and employment insurance rates) is stored in table T5KTC (Figure 16).
Figure 16
The code PP in the first column denotes if it’s PPIP or QPIP. QC in the second column means that it’s for Quebec (which
is QPIP). The first row is for employee contribution rate and the maximum contribution amount, and the second row is for
employer rate and maximum employer contribution.
During a payroll run, function KATAX calculates the PPIP/QPIP contributions when called with SI as the first parameter
(as shown in Figure 4).
Healthcare Tax
The Canadian healthcare tax is only paid by the employer—there is no employee contribution. It is called different names
in different provinces. For example, in Ontario, it’s called the Employer Health Tax; in Quebec it’s called the Health
Services Fund; in Manitoba it’s called The Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax Levy; and in Newfoundland and
Labrador it’s called the Health & Post-Secondary Education Tax. For each of these, the employer contribution is
calculated differently.
In Ontario, there is no tax on company base earnings up to $4,000,000. However, companies’ base earnings above
$4,000,000 are taxed at a rate of 1.95 percent.
S = base earnings/1000000 (if base earnings are between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000)
In Manitoba, if the base earnings (payroll) for the company are under $1,250,000, then the company is exempt from the
healthcare tax.
If the base earnings are between $1,250,000 and $2,500,000 then the company is taxed at a rate of 4.3 percent of the
amount in excess of $1,250,000.
If the base earnings are $2,500,000 and above, the tax rate is 2.15 percent of the total amount.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, if the gross earnings (payroll) of the company’s employees are under $1,250,000, then
the company is exempt from the healthcare tax. If the gross earnings (payroll) of the company’s employees are
$1,250,000 and above, the company is taxed at a rate of 2 percent of the total amount.
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Table 5
All the wage types that have to be included in the base earnings (e.g., wage type /1H*) are assigned processing class 65
(Figure 17).
Figure 17
These various tax rates are stored in table V_T511K (Figure 18).
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Figure 18
Employer Tax Levy/Contribution to the Financing of the Commission des Normes du Travail (CNT)
The details for these contributions are as follows. (This section is applicable only for the province of Quebec.)
Effective 01.01.2012, there are a couple of changes with regards to the calculation of tax levies. (For more detail refer to
SAP Note 1605354; log-on required.) They are as follows:
Table 6
Wage types
The rates and maximum limits are stored in table V_T511K (Figure 19).
Figure 19
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In the payroll schema, function KFTAX calculates the employer levy (Figure 20).
Figure 20
Compensation Tax
The compensation tax is a tax on financial institutions that is only applicable in the province of Quebec. There is an
employer contribution, but no employee contribution. Table 7 lists the wage types.
Table 7
There is no separate cumulation class for the compensation tax. The compensation tax is based on the total sum of
earnings in wage types /152, /153. /158, and /160. The rate of contribution is 1.5 percent, and there is no employee
contribution. The rate of the contribution is stored in Table V_T511K (Figure 21).
Figure 21
Table V_T511K
During a payroll run, these calculations are in the payroll schema. Function KFTAX calculates the employer levy (see
Figure 20).
Manpower Levy/Contribution to the Workforce Skills Development and Recognition Fund (WSDRF)
WSDRF is also called the 1-percent law, and it’s applicable to Quebec only. Employers have to contribute 1 percent of
their payroll (e.g., 1 percent of the gross payroll or base earnings) into a fund for the training needs of the workforce.
There is no employee contribution.
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Table 8
There is no separate cumulation class for a manpower levy. The manpower levy is based on the sum of earnings in wage
types /152, /153, /158, and /160. The rate of contribution is 1 percent, and there is no employee contribution. The rate of
contribution is stored in table V_T511K (Figure 22).
Figure 22
Table V_T511K
If the SAP system calculates this tax, then the rate of 1 percent has to be maintained here. The WSDRF levy taxes are
calculated during a payroll run in the payroll schema, with function KFTAX calculating WSDRF (Figure 18).
Canadian Taxes
1. Federal tax
2. Provincial tax
Federal and provincial tax rates are set by the CRA. The federal tax tables are shown in Figures 23 and 24 (for an online
version, click here).
Figure 23
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Figure 24
Figure 25
Option 1: This option determines the federal and provincial or territorial tax deductions on salary, wages, taxable benefits,
pension income, commissions, and other periodic payments. This option can also be used to calculate the tax on a bonus
or other non-periodic payment.
Option 2: The formulas for option 2 are intended for employees whose pay varies considerably from one pay period to the
next. In this option, the amount of tax to be deducted is based on the projected annual taxable income (including bonuses)
compared to the amount of tax already deducted in the year.
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In most cases option 1 is used, as option 2 is only used for employees whose pay fluctuates from one pay period to
another. An example of pay for this second option would be employees who are paid on a commission basis.
By default option 1 is used. To use option 2 you need to activate a Business Add-In (BAdI), as shown in Figures 26 and
27.
Figure 26
Figure 27
BAdI details
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During tax calculations the amounts in wage type /102 are multiplied by the remaining number of pay periods. However,
the amount in wage type /103 is not multiplied (wage types that are used for making one-time payments can be cumulated
here).
The amount in wage type /106 reduces the total annual taxable salary. This amount is multiplied by the total number of
pay periods, similar to wage type /102.
The amount in wage type /108 is also tax exempt, but these are the tax exemptions for one-time payments. Similarly, there
are wage types /152 (equivalent to /102), /153 (equivalent to /103), /156 (equivalent to /106), and /161 (equivalent to
/108) for Quebec.
Function KTAX, with a first parameter of ICTX, calculates the federal and provincial taxes. There are no separate wage
types for federal and provincial taxes except for Quebec.
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Taxes are calculated by function KATAX when called with parameter ICTX in sub-schema KTX1 (Figure 28).
Figure 28
1. Infotype 0461
2. Infotype 0462
3. Infotype 0463
4. Infotype 0464
Infotype 0461 maintains details such as the employee residence, the province of employment, and the employee’s work
number. If the employee is from Quebec, then the Quebec tax ID is also maintained here (Figure 29).
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Figure 29
Infotype 0462 maintains the provincial tax details. These include the total credits for the provincial income tax, any other
credits (like donations), deductions, and additional taxes.
(Note: No wage types are created for credits. These amounts are directly used in the program during tax calculations.)
SAP provides utility programs that update the total credit amounts for all employees. (For more information, refer to SAP
Note 1946608 – released for 2013 year end.)
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Figure 30
Figure 31
In infotype 0463 the calculations that impact federal taxes are maintained (Figure 32).
Figure 32
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Every year the Total credits amount is updated as a part of the year-end exercise. SAP provides utility programs that
update the total credit amounts for all the employees. (Refer to SAP Note 1946608—released for 2013 year end.)
Remuneration and expense details from employees who earn commission with expenses are entered under the
Commission from TD1X section.
Deductions authorized by CRA are entered under the Other Deductions and Credits section. For example, CRA may
authorize the reduction of an employee’s taxable income based on form T1213.
Infotype 0464 can be used to override calculations shown in Figures 33 and 34, in the tax authority column. For example,
you can override CPP and EI (employment insurance) calculations performed by the system here.
Figure 33
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Figure 34
The possible values available depend on the settings in the tax authority (TaxI…) column. In Figures 33 and 34, the
options for each tax authority vary. Figure 35 shows the F4 values for tax authority FIT.
Figure 35
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