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Payroll reporting FAQs
- General payroll reporting
- Classification
- Wages, salaries, and shareholders’ earnings
- Subcontractors’ payments
- Personal Optional Protection
- Excess payroll
Please note that these questions and answers cannot apply to every fact and circumstance. They are intended as guidelines and are subject to change. Please refer to the Workers Compensation Act and WorkSafeBC’s Assessment Manual (PDF 1.7mb) for complete details.
Many of the terms referenced below are defined in the Workers Compensation Act and WorkSafeBC policy, and may not have the same meaning as in another statute or as used by another agency or tribunal.
General payroll reporting
My firm has lost its reporting form, the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report. How can I get a new one?
Please contact the Employer Service Centre to request a duplicate form.
When are the report and premiums due?
The Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report notes the due date in the top right-hand corner.
Does my firm still have to report payroll even if it doesn’t owe any premiums?
Yes. Your firm is required to report its payroll even if the payroll is zero.
Does my firm still have to report payroll (on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report) even if it already completed a quarterly report?
Yes. Even if your firm reports and pays premiums quarterly, it still needs to fill out the annual reconciliation. Click here to do this step online.
Does my firm still have to send in the form if it has already reported payroll online or over the phone?
No. Don’t send in the paper form if your firm has given its payroll information to a WorkSafeBC agent, reported online, or reported through our automated phone system. But, please keep any transaction reference numbers for your firm’s records.
How do I contact the Employer Service Centre?
Find our contact information and hours of operation here.
Classification
(Marked line A on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report)
How is my firm classified?
Your firm is classified — and assigned to a classification unit (CU) — based on the industry in which the firm is operating in B.C., and not on an occupation or risk basis. Since it is the responsibility of each firm to ensure it is correctly classified, you must ensure the classification unit assigned to your firm is accurate. Please refer to the classification-by-sector section of our web site to learn more about the different classification units.
Does this apply to all my firm’s workers?
Yes. Unless your firm is assigned to more than one classification unit, its classification includes all occupations within your firm, including sales, office, management, and clerical staff.
Aren’t my firm’s office workers at less risk than my field staff?
Your firm is classified based on the type of business it operates, not on the occupations of staff or their risk levels. To maintain fairness, the administrative payroll is assessed in the industry in which the firm is registered, and not by assigning a separate classification. If an administrative classification were assigned with a low assessment rate, the result would be a higher assessment rate for the field staff.
What is a special hazard industry?
WorkSafeBC has defined certain industries as special hazard industries. If your firm’s activities in a special hazard industry generate a payroll of greater than four times the annual maximum wage rate, your firm must report that part of its payroll in the special hazard industry classification.
WorkSafeBC annually publishes a list of special hazard industries (which may change from year to year). You can view the current special hazard classifications in the Classification and rate list.
How can I get more information on classification in general?
Visit the Classification section for more information.
Wages, salaries, and shareholders’ earnings
(Marked line B on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report)
General
What is my firm’s assessable payroll?
Your assessable payroll is the total remuneration (cash or a benefit that may be easily converted into cash) paid by your firm to all of its workers, including any active shareholders. Please review the Shareholders’ earnings section for more information about active shareholders.
Are there different categories for my firm’s assessable payroll?
Yes. There are four categories of payroll: (1) Wages and salaries, which are payments paid to individuals who provide labour services; (2) Shareholder earnings, which are payments paid (by incorporated firms) to shareholders; (3) Contractor earnings, which are payments to non-registered labour contractors; and (4) Personal Optional Protection (POP), which is optional coverage available to a firm’s sole proprietor or partners.
If my firm has paid severance or termination wages during a year, is this amount assessable?
No. WorkSafeBC doesn’t assess your firm for these types of payments.
Are living-out allowances assessable?
Generally, yes; if they are included as part of gross wages and salary.
What is my firm’s assessable payroll if the firm works in multiple provinces?
If your firm is a B.C. employer temporarily working in another Canadian province, it only reports that portion of its payroll for work undertaken in B.C.
Please note: Your firm may be required to register with the workers’ compensation authority in the other province.
Wages and salaries
What should my firm include and report in the “wages and salaries” category?
All remuneration (cash or a benefit that may be easily converted into cash) paid by your firm to all of its workers, including active shareholders.
Remuneration includes wages, salaries, commissions, holiday pay, bonuses, and piecework, as well as any other payments made to workers for services provided.
Does my firm include wages paid to casual and part-time workers, such as those paid to janitorial staff?
Yes. Include all remuneration (cash or a benefit that may be easily converted into cash) for all your firm’s casual and part-time workers.
Does my firm include allowances?
Yes. Paid allowances are assessable as part of remuneration. For instance, your firm must include car and entertainment allowances paid to workers.
Does my firm include honorariums?
Generally, yes. Honorariums are considered to be payments for services rendered and should be included. However, in cases where a small honorarium is paid as a token of appreciation, and not payment for services, that amount may not need to be included.
Does my firm include “top-up” amounts paid to workers?
Yes. Top-up amounts paid to workers are to be included in your firm’s assessable earnings. Examples of such top-ups are payments made to workers while off work on WorkSafeBC claims or on maternity/paternity leaves.
I am a partner in my firm. Does my firm have to report the wages that its pays my spouse?
Yes. Your spouse is a worker of your firm, and your firm is required to report and remit on the remuneration paid to your spouse.
I am a sole proprietor. Do I have to report the wages I pay my spouse?
No. Your spouse is not a worker unless you or your spouse applies for Voluntary Spousal Coverage.
How do I apply for Voluntary Spousal Coverage?
Voluntary Spousal Coverage is optional so a proprietor or the proprietor’s spouse must apply for coverage using the written (PDF 408 kb) or online application. (The application form is the same as that for POP coverage).
Shareholders’ earnings
As a shareholder, does my company need to report and pay premiums on my remuneration?
Yes, if you are active in the company. An active shareholder is a worker of a company, and the Workers Compensation Act requires a firm to report its payroll and pay premiums for all workers. Generally, activity in a company is evidenced by T4 slips, management fees, stock options, dividends, or executive, management, or signing authority.
Why must my company report and pay premiums on shareholder earnings?
All company shareholders who are active in its business are workers under the Workers Compensation Act and are covered under the company’s WorkSafeBC account.
I am the principal shareholder of my truck driving company. My spouse does the books for the company. Does the company have to report my spouse’s remuneration?
Yes. All remuneration reported to Canada Revenue Agency for a spouse or other family member is included in the company’s payroll and is assessable.
As a shareholder I receive dividends. When should they be reported and when shouldn’t they be?
Include dividends if they were paid as remuneration for company activity. To determine whether they were paid as remuneration, consider the nature and extent of the work the shareholders performed and whether they received a salary for the work. If the salary does not correspond with the work, then the dividend is assessable.
Taxable benefits
Are taxable benefits assessable?
Taxable benefits is a term used by Canada Revenue Agency. To find out if a taxable benefit is included for WorkSafeBC purposes, please check our Assessable Earnings Guide (PDF 61kb).
Examples of non-cash taxable benefits received by workers — which are not assessable for WorkSafeBC purposes — are MSP, extended healthcare, life insurance, and dental insurance.
Common payroll
What is common payroll?
Common payroll is only applicable to a firm that has more than one classification unit. It includes payroll for all positions that support more than one classification. For instance, common payroll may include accounting, payroll, human resources, administrative, and management staff whose work directly relates to more than one classification.
How does my firm report common payroll?
The common payroll — unlike the rest of the payroll — must be pro-rated across each of the classifications.
For example, if a company operates separate construction and manufacturing businesses with a construction payroll of $600,000 and a manufacturing payroll of $400,000 and a common payroll of $200,000, then $120,000 of common payroll (60%) would be allocated to construction and $80,000 (40%) to manufacturing. The total reported payroll would be $720,000 in construction and $480,000 in manufacturing.
Instead of pro-rating common payroll, can my firm pro-rate earnings between industry classifications based on time spent working in each industry?
Not generally. However, if your firm maintains formal cost accounting procedures that allocate the overhead payrolls to cost or profit centres, and WorkSafeBC considers the allocation reasonable, it may be allowed. For more information on pro-ration of common payroll please contact the Employer Service Centre.
Subcontractors’ payments
(Marked line C on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report)
General
Why does my firm have to pay premiums for my subcontractors?
A subcontractor who is not registered with WorkSafeBC and who only provides labour services (but may also provide minor materials or hand tools) is a worker of your firm. Firms are required to report and remit on all worker payroll.
Please note: The term subcontractor — along with many others — may not have the same meaning for other organizations, including Canada Revenue Agency.
How will my firm know if a contractor or subcontractor is registered?
To find out if a contractor or subcontractor is registered with WorkSafeBC, please request a clearance letter.
How does my firm calculate equipment allowances for subcontractors?
Please see page 6 in the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report guide (PDF 314kb) for a worksheet and instructions for calculating equipment allowances.
What if the subcontractor provides his or her own materials?
A subcontractor who provides the major materials for a job in a fixed price contract is likely an independent operator and, therefore, responsible for his or her own workers’ compensation coverage. For example, if your construction firm hired a roofer who provided duroid or cedar shingles; an installer who provided all the plasterboard sheets; or a stucco contractor who provided all the stucco, they would be considered independent operators.
However, if your construction firm hired a framer who provided the nails; a drywaller who provided the drywall tape; or a finishing carpenter who provides screws, nails, and sundry bolts, they would be your firm’s workers.
Unregistered labour contractors
My firm only hires casual or contract labour and pays by the hour or some other means. Does my firm need to report this?
These casual and contract labourers are your firm’s workers and their remuneration must be included in your firm’s payroll report.
A contractor indicated he called WorkSafeBC and was told he didn’t have to register (often phrased as “he told me he was exempt from registering”). Does my firm need to pay premiums for him?
When WorkSafeBC informs a contractor that he or she isn’t required to register, it usually means the individual is either an independent operator or a labour contractor. In either case, the individual may register, but isn’t required to do so. If an independent operator elects not to register, then he or she isn’t a worker under the Workers Compensation Act, and your firm isn’t responsible for premiums. However, if a labour contractor elects not to register, he or she is your firm’s worker and your firm is responsible for premiums.
Please note: The terms independent operator and labour contractor are described in WorkSafeBC’s Assessment Manual (PDF 1.7mb) as Item: AP1-1-3 and Item: AP1-1-7, respectively.
WorkSafeBC can only determine a contractor’s status on the basis of the information provided. If this information was incomplete or inaccurate, or if the relationship changes after the date of the decision, the contractor’s status may be incorrect.
A contractor indicated he called WorkSafeBC and was told he wasn’t allowed to register (often phrased as “he told me he is my worker”). Does my firm need to pay premiums for him?
When WorkSafeBC informs an individual that he or she isn’t permitted to register, it usually means that the individual is a worker. A worker isn’t allowed to register with WorkSafeBC. Your firm must report payroll and pay premiums for all its workers.
What does my firm report for earnings paid to a non-registered contractor, if the contractor provides minor materials?
Unless minor materials are separately identified in your firm’s records, your firm must include the gross value of the amount paid to the contractor (net of applicable equipment allowances and taxes).
What is my firm’s liability for a non-registered contractor’s workers?
Generally, the workers of a non-registered labour contractor are considered to be workers of your firm; and your firm is required to report payroll and pay premiums for those workers.
Personal Optional Protection
(Marked line D on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report)
What is Personal Optional Protection (POP)?
POP is WorkSafeBC coverage available to a proprietor or partner of an unincorporated firm. Coverage is optional and by written (PDF 408kb) or online application. For more information, review the Personal Optional Protection section or contact the Employer Service Centre.
Can I get POP if my firm is incorporated?
No. POP isn’t available to shareholders of incorporated companies. If you are an active shareholder, you are covered as a worker and your firm must report your earnings on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report.
If I am a proprietor or a partner of an unincorporated firm, am I automatically covered by POP?
No. A proprietor or partner must apply for POP coverage using a written (PDF 408kb) or online application.
How do I apply for optional Voluntary Spousal Coverage?
Voluntary Spousal Coverage — for a proprietor or the proprietor’s spouse — may be applied for using the written (PDF 408kb) or online application. (The application form is the same as that for POP coverage).
How do I apply for Personal Optional Protection?
Apply online or print the Personal Optional Protection insurance application package, (PDF 1.67mb) which includes the POP and the Registration applications, and send it to the WorkSafeBC Assessment Department, P.O. Box 5350, Station Terminal, Vancouver, BC V6B 5L5 or fax it to 604 244-6490.
Excess payroll
(Marked line F on the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report)
What is the maximum wage rate?
The maximum wage rate is the maximum payroll amount WorkSafeBC insures and pays wage-loss benefits on, per worker (including active shareholders), for the year.
For an employer, this amount is the maximum WorkSafeBC assesses for the year.
Does the maximum wage rate change each year?
Yes. These yearly increases are governed by the Workers Compensation Act. WorkSafeBC uses data published by Statistics Canada on average earnings of B.C. workers to calculate each year’s maximum wage rate.
What is my firm’s excess payroll?
It is the total amount each of your worker’s remuneration exceeds the maximum wage rate for a particular year. This total is deducted from your firm’s total payroll to arrive at assessable payroll.
To see an example and a worksheet to assist you, please see page 5 in the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report guide (PDF 314kb).
How does my firm calculate and claim excess payroll?
Please see page 5 in the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report guide (PDF 314kb) for a worksheet and instructions for calculating excess payroll.