Payroll System — Setup Questionnaire

Tell us how you pay your team today

Your answers here shape how your new payroll system is built — pay schedules, deductions, approvals, and CRA filings. It takes about 15–20 minutes. Your progress saves automatically on this device, so you can leave and come back. When you're done, use the buttons at the bottom to send us your answers.

Please do not enter any SINs, bank account numbers, or passwords in this form. Employee-level sensitive details will be collected later, directly inside the secure payroll system — never by email or web form.
Part 1

Company & CRA accounts

This goes on every payslip, remittance, and T4 slip, so it must match CRA's records exactly.

How often do you currently send payroll deductions to CRA?

Both locations, and tell us which one is the main employer address for tax slips.

Part 2

Your team

Headcount and roles decide the approval flow and who sees what.

How many people are on payroll?
Do you pay anyone as a contractor — no deductions taken?

These people get a T4A instead of a T4 and are handled differently.

Does anyone work outside Ontario (including remote from another province)?

Provincial tax is based on where the employee works, so this changes their deductions.

Names and roles — e.g. "Owner runs payroll; office manager in Brampton approves that team's hours."

Should office managers be able to see people's pay amounts?

Important: in Ontario, paying someone a salary does not by itself exempt them from overtime. Only certain roles (for example, genuine managerial/supervisory work) qualify. Please list each salaried person and a line about what they actually do — your payroll professional will confirm each one.

Part 3

Pay schedule & earnings

The pay frequency changes the tax calculation itself, so this must be exact.

How often do you pay?
How do hourly staff record their hours today?
How should meal breaks be handled?

Ontario requires a 30-minute unpaid meal break in every 5 hours of work. The system can handle it either way.

When hourly staff clock in, should the system check where they are?

All options still let people clock in — they differ in what gets verified or flagged for the manager.

Would you want a mobile app for employees, or is the phone browser enough?

Everything works from any phone's browser from day one. A dedicated app can come later — it's the best fit if you want location-restricted clock-in.

Does anyone ever work more than 44 hours in a week?

In Ontario, overtime pay (1.5×) starts after 44 hours in a week.

How are they calculated (e.g. per client file closed), how often are they paid, and who reports the amounts each period?

How do you handle vacation pay?

Car or phone allowances, referral bonuses, expense reimbursements — anything else that appears on a cheque.

Part 4

Deductions, benefits & employer accounts

Everything that comes off a cheque besides tax, and the employer accounts we must remit to.

Do you have a group benefits plan (health/dental)?
Any RRSP matching or retirement contributions?

Court-ordered garnishments, pay advances being repaid, uniforms, anything else deducted from a cheque.

Are you registered with WSIB?

Most Ontario businesses with employees must be. Your rate is on your WSIB statement.

Do you currently pay Ontario Employer Health Tax (EHT)?

Most businesses with under $1 million in annual payroll are exempt — but tell us what you do today.

Has anyone claimed dependants on their Ontario TD1 form?

Ontario gives an extra tax reduction for disabled dependants or dependants under 19. If nobody has claimed any, we use zero — which is safe (it just gets sorted out on their personal tax return).

Part 5

How payroll works today

Before going live, the new system runs alongside your current process for two pay cycles — every number must match. These records make that possible.

How is payroll done right now?
Can you share your last two pay runs with us?

Pay stubs or a payroll register — we use them to verify the new system matches to the penny.

Do you have signed TD1 forms (federal and Ontario) for every employee?

These are the "personal tax credits" forms employees sign when hired. They set each person's tax deductions.

Can we get year-to-date totals for each employee?

Since we're switching mid-year, we need each person's totals so far (gross pay, CPP, EI, tax) so deductions stop at the right yearly limits and T4s are correct.

Part 6

Paying employees

The system calculates everything; here we plan how the money actually moves. Remember — no account numbers here.

Just the bank's name — RBC, TD, Scotiabank, etc. No account numbers.

How does pay reach employees today?
Later on, would you be open to a Canadian payments provider for automated direct deposit?

Services like VoPay or Rotessa send the deposits automatically after you approve each pay run. There's a small per-payment fee.

Are you set up with your bank for direct-deposit (EFT) files?

If you upload payroll files to your bank, they assign you an originator ID and expect your exact registered name in the file. If you're not set up yet, your account manager can start it — it usually takes a couple of weeks, so it's worth asking early.

Part 7

Preferences & timeline

Should employees get their own login from day one?

A portal where they see payslips, submit hours, and download tax slips themselves.

e.g. payroll.yourcompany.ca — or tell us if you'd like us to arrange one.

Keep in mind we run two practice cycles alongside your current process first.

This name appears on payslips and at the top of the portal your staff log into. Your company name works fine, or something simple like "Payroll".

Pain points with how payroll works today, must-haves, worries — anything at all.

Submit your answers

Submit your completed answers when you're ready. It's fine if some questions are blank or marked "not sure" — we'll go through them together.

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