Question on Record of Employment from US company when working in Canada
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 8:45 AM
To: taxman@centa.com
Subject: Question on Record of Employment from US company
I have worked in BC, for a company based in the USA for the past 5 years. They have their payroll set up through a company for their Canadian Employees and I have been receiving my T4 each Feb. as required. My problem has been that I have been laid off due to restructuring, and they have not sent my Record of Employment (4 weeks later) and they don’t seem to know what it is and they think it doesn’t apply to them. Do you have any suggestions? I believe they must provide me with it, and I am not sure how to get it.
Thanks,
david ingram replies:
Amazing. I find it almost impossible to believe that a Canadian Payroll Company who has paid you for 5 years and issued T4 slips would not automatically issue a Record of Employment when you were laid off.
I wonder if you received a T4A in February of the last 4 years and were actually working as a self-employed contractor.
If there was EI and CPP deducted from your cheques, you were an employee, should have received a Record of Employment and are entitled to Employment Insurance.
If no EI and CPP were deducted, you were being paid as a self-employed contractor and are not entitled to EI.
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If there was EI deducted, put your application for EI in immediately "without" the Record of Employment. Tell the EI people that you tried to get it and the company did not know what it was. The EI people will do an audit and make sure the paperwork is correct.
On the other hand, if you did not have EI deducted, you have no rights to EI and should have known. .
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On another note, you may be in the position where you can claim to be an employee even though you worked as a contractor. Sometimes, the CRA will move in and determine someone who was a contractor to be an employee retroactively. I personally find this abhorrent because invariably the "contractor" wanted to be a contractor so that he or she would get better tax breaks and then cries foul when something goes wrong (like a lay-off). Be aware that if you have been claiming expenses as a self-employed person, trying to become an employee can backfire on you retroactively with your tax returns. Better to use your energies to find another job.
To: taxman@centa.com
Subject: Question on Record of Employment from US company
I have worked in BC, for a company based in the USA for the past 5 years. They have their payroll set up through a company for their Canadian Employees and I have been receiving my T4 each Feb. as required. My problem has been that I have been laid off due to restructuring, and they have not sent my Record of Employment (4 weeks later) and they don’t seem to know what it is and they think it doesn’t apply to them. Do you have any suggestions? I believe they must provide me with it, and I am not sure how to get it.
Thanks,
david ingram replies:
Amazing. I find it almost impossible to believe that a Canadian Payroll Company who has paid you for 5 years and issued T4 slips would not automatically issue a Record of Employment when you were laid off.
I wonder if you received a T4A in February of the last 4 years and were actually working as a self-employed contractor.
If there was EI and CPP deducted from your cheques, you were an employee, should have received a Record of Employment and are entitled to Employment Insurance.
If no EI and CPP were deducted, you were being paid as a self-employed contractor and are not entitled to EI.
-----------
If there was EI deducted, put your application for EI in immediately "without" the Record of Employment. Tell the EI people that you tried to get it and the company did not know what it was. The EI people will do an audit and make sure the paperwork is correct.
On the other hand, if you did not have EI deducted, you have no rights to EI and should have known. .
---------------------------
On another note, you may be in the position where you can claim to be an employee even though you worked as a contractor. Sometimes, the CRA will move in and determine someone who was a contractor to be an employee retroactively. I personally find this abhorrent because invariably the "contractor" wanted to be a contractor so that he or she would get better tax breaks and then cries foul when something goes wrong (like a lay-off). Be aware that if you have been claiming expenses as a self-employed person, trying to become an employee can backfire on you retroactively with your tax returns. Better to use your energies to find another job.
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