Which provincial or territorial tax tables should you use?

Employment income

When you pay employment income such as salaries, wages, or commissions, you have to determine your employee's province or territory of employment. This depends on whether or not you require your employee to report for work at your place of business.

Notes
If an employee works part of a pay period in one province and part in another province, use the tables for the location in which the majority of the work was performed. If the time is equal, for example in a bi-weekly pay period the employee has worked one week in one province and one week in another province use the province of employment for the last location.

Your "place of business" does not have to be a permanent physical location. For example, the place of business for a construction company can include one or more construction sites.

If you do not require your employee to report for work at your place of business, (for example, per the employment contract, the employee works from a home office), the employee's province or territory of employment is the province or territory where your business is located and from where you pay your employee's salary.

Example 1
Your employee does not have to report to any of your places of business, but you pay the employee from your office in Quebec. In this case, use the Quebec Payroll Deductions Tables. The employee is not subject to CPP contributions, but could be subject to Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions.

Example 2
Your head office is in Ontario. Your employee works from a home office in Alberta, but occasionally has to report to your Alberta office. You pay your employee from your head office in Ontario. In this case, use the Alberta Payroll Deductions Tables, if the majority of the employee's time during a pay period is spent at your Alberta office. Otherwise use the Ontario Payroll Deductions Tables.

If you have employees working in Canada but you do not have a permanent or deemed business establishment in Canada, the employees are considered employed in Canada beyond the limits of any province for purposes of tax at source.

Example
Your Canadian resident employees work as salespeople in Ontario and British Columbia. They work from their home offices and report directly to your business located outside Canada. In this case, use the In Canada Beyond the Limits of any Province or Outside Canada Payroll Deductions Tables.

NotesAn employee who lives in one province or territory but works in another one may be subject to excessive tax deductions. If so, he or she can ask for a reduction in tax deductions, by getting a letter of authority from any tax services office. For more information, go to Letter of authority.

An employee who lives in one province or territory but works in another may not have enough tax deducted. If this is the case, the employee should request additional tax deductions at source. Go to Increasing income tax deductions.

Non-employment income

If you paid amounts other than employment income, such as pension income, retiring allowance, or RRSP, use the provincial or territorial table of the recipient's province or territory of residence.

For more information on which tax table to use, see Appendix 1 of Guide T4001 - Employers' Guide - Payroll Deductions and Remittances.