As another year closes and tax season approaches, it’s natural to feel a bit overwhelmed. Employers shoulder the important responsibility of calculating, withholding, and remitting income taxes to the Canadian government, all while ensuring employees receive their T4 slips by the end of February.
From reviewing taxable benefits to reconciling records and generating T4s, payroll administrators manage critical tasks to comply with CRA regulations and provide a smooth tax experience for employees.
We know tax season can feel challenging, even for experienced professionals. That’s why Humi Payroll users can count on the support of our dedicated payroll experts and powerful software to approach tax season with confidence.
Leveraging insights from past tax seasons, our payroll team has compiled answers to your top questions. Let's make this year's filing a stress-free experience!
- What does it mean when I have a +/- on Humi’s PIER Analysis Report, and what should I do now?
Humi’s Pensionable and Insurable Earnings (PIER) Analysis Report is designed to help streamline T4 preparation and quickly identify potential discrepancies in Employee CPP, Employer CPP (including Employee and Employer CPP2), Employee EI, and Employer EI.
You can easily see a discrepancy if there’s an amount other than zero in any of the “variance” fields.
A positive (+) discrepancy means there’s an over-remitted amount, or an “overage”.
A negative (-) discrepancy means there’s an under-remitted amount, or a “deficiency”.
If you see a discrepancy, determine if it is valid, by:
- Totalling the CPP and Employer CPP
- Totalling the CPP2 and Employer CPP2
- Totalling the EI and Employer EI
- Take the totals above and cross-reference them with the Remittance Report to determine if you need to remit more
If you have over-remitted, follow the instructions on the PIER provided by the CRA. If you’ve determined that you need to make additional payments, you can view the process in our year-end guide.
- Why is there a PIER deficiency on Humi’s PIER Analysis Report?
Humi’s PIER Report highlights variances that the CRA might flag, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve over or under remitted.
If the CRA inquires about these variances, you’ll need to provide an explanation. Possible reasons for variances include, but are not limited to:
- If an employee was on payroll, with 0 pay in a pay period
- If an employee turned 18 or 70 and started/stopped contributions
- If an employee was on leave but remained on as an active employee and active on payroll
- If you were granted an EI premium reduction, using a rate that is lower than the standard employer rate of 1.4 times the employees' EI premium
- If your company was implemented mid year.
- If an employee was paid through multiple off-cycles
Smaller variances, such as those involving pennies, are typically not scrutinized by the CRA and are often the result of rounding errors. These usually won’t require further explanation.
Humi’s PIER Report is designed to help you identify and investigate variances, giving you the tools to determine their cause and decide on the appropriate next steps. For compliance and liability reasons, we cannot provide advice on specific employee variances. If you’re new to reconciling a PIER Report, we recommend consulting with an accountant.
Please note, Humi’s PIER Report is intended as a helpful tool and does not replace the CRA’s official PIER Report.
- How do I send my terminated employees T4s?
Once you’ve edited, reviewed, and finalized your T4 package in Humi, you’ll be able to send T4s to all employees via the email associated with their Humi profile. Terminated employees cannot log into their Humi profile anymore to edit their email, so it’s good practice to check if the email on their Humi account is a personal email, and update it if required. You can find the emails on file in the T4 Preview Report.
To update a terminated employee’s email address:
- Go to the “People” module on the left navigation pane.
- Under the "Directory" tab, click on the filter icon next to the "Status" column and select the "Terminated" checkbox.
- Follow the steps in this support article to update an employee’s email.
- What do I need to consider if I joined Humi part way through a calendar year?
We recommend that you follow up with your previous payroll provider to confirm they do not file T4s, as this will overstate actual earnings and will require reconciliation.
Review the company's Year-to-Date (YTD) records to ensure they include all payroll details from the 2024 periods prior to your switch to Humi. If you find any omissions, you can employ Humi's T4 Adjustment Tool to integrate the required YTD information.
Note: Your Humi PIER Report may flag your CPP and Employer CPP as a discrepancy since you’ve joined mid year, due to the CPP per pay period exemption which would not be captured when importing YTDs.
- My previous payroll provider filed 2024 T4s for the first part of the year, what do I do?
Kindly reach out to your former payroll provider to retract the submission. If not addressed, there's a potential for duplicative reporting of your employees' earnings.
- An employee has informed me that there is an error on their T4. How do I revise a T4 that’s been filed already?
If you've submitted your T619 file to the CRA and discovered an error on a T4, the CRA requires that you create and submit an Amended T4, and upload a new, updated T619 on the CRA's website.
Thankfully, you can create T4 amendments in Humi Payroll! Follow these instructions for creating T4 amendments.
- Why can’t I access or make changes in the Year End Adjustment tool?
Once you've produced or completed your T4 package, access to the Year End Adjustment tool will be restricted. To regain access to the Year End Adjustment tool, you must remove the T4 tax package. Be aware that deleting the tax package will result in the removal of any manual modifications made to the T4s within the T4 module. You cannot delete the tax package once it’s finalized.
- Where can I obtain a copy of my T4 summary?
The T4 summary can be found within the T4 module beneath each individual employee's T4s. Additionally, it can be accessed when downloading the tax package.
- Am I required to send my employees a new TD1 form to fill in?
Employers must have new employees fill out federal and provincial TD1 forms at the time of hire. Subsequently, employees should update and submit revised TD1 forms if there are modifications to their tax deductions, place of residence, and/or SIN.
10. What steps should I take if I forgot to add a terminated employee to Humi after finalizing the tax package?
If you forgot to add a terminated employee to Humi after finalizing the tax package, you won’t be able to use Humi to generate, file, or send the employee a T4. Instead, you’ll need to manually prepare their T4 outside of Humi using the CRA Web Forms option.
Want to learn more? We’ve got you covered.
For a comprehensive guide on how to navigate year-end, refer to our 2024 Year-End Guide, which includes a year-end checklist to help you stay on top of critical tax season tasks, and detailed instructions for:
- how to review and adjust records
- how to issue, edit, and file your T4s and RL-1s
- how to set up for the next payroll year
