What is payroll management?
Payroll management is everything between hours worked and money in an employee's account: gross pay, income tax, CPP and EI withheld, staff paid, deductions sent to the CRA, and slips issued at year-end or when someone leaves. The employer also contributes an amount equal to the CPP it deducts, and pays EI premiums at 1.4 times the employee's amount.
We run each cycle on your schedule, and you approve the register before it goes out. Most small employers are regular remitters, so the CRA must receive their deductions by the 15th of the month after payday. T4 slips go to staff, and the T4 return to the CRA, by the last day of February (the next business day if that falls on a weekend or holiday).
What does Coquitlam Bookkeeping include in payroll management?
- Pay runs for salaried, hourly and shift staff, with overtime, vacation pay and statutory holiday pay worked out
- Income tax, CPP and EI withheld and remitted to the CRA by the due date
- Tips paid through payroll the right way, with controlled and direct tips treated separately
- Records of Employment filed when someone quits, is let go or goes on leave
- T4 slips and the T4 summary filed each winter, and payroll reconciled to the ledger every month
What payroll software do you use?
Wagepoint or QuickBooks Online Payroll for most teams, and Payworks where a client already has it. Each connects to the general ledger, so wages and remittances post without being typed twice, and staff see their own stubs and T4s online.
For restaurants and clinics, we pull hours from the scheduling app or POS export you already use, so nobody retypes timesheets at midnight.
Should a small business run payroll in-house, use software alone, or outsource it?
For most small Coquitlam employers, the real choice is who catches mistakes before staff do. All three use similar software; they differ in who knows the BC and CRA rules, and whether payroll is ever checked against the books.
| Approach | Who does the work | Typical cost (CAD) | Where it tends to go wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house | An office manager or admin, using payroll software | Part of a salary, plus the software fee | The knowledge sits with one person, and remittances slip when they are away |
| Software alone | The owner runs each cycle | Software from about $20 to $80 a month base, plus $4 to $10 per employee (Wagepoint's plans) | Tips, stat pay and ROEs set up wrong; payroll never reconciled to the ledger |
| Outsourced to us | Your bookkeeper, inside the monthly engagement | Part of the Considered tier, $800 to $1,200 per month CAD | You still supply hours and approve each run, so a late approval can push a payday close |
What is not included in payroll management?
Payroll here means administration only, not HR or employment law. Left out:
- Employment contracts, workplace policies, discipline or terminations
- Deciding whether a worker is an employee or a contractor (a question for the CRA, your CPA or a lawyer)
- Designing group benefits (we set up and record the deductions you choose)
- WorkSafeBC claims, or Employment Standards complaints and disputes
If something looks like an employment standards problem, we'll say so and suggest an HR adviser or employment lawyer.
What does payroll management cost in Coquitlam?
Payroll is priced inside your monthly bookkeeping engagement, not per cheque. It comes included from the Considered tier up, at $800 to $1,200 per month CAD; on Steady it is an add-on, quoted with the monthly fee. Multi-location groups usually sit on Bespoke.
| Tier | Monthly transactions | Monthly fee (CAD) | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steady | 0 to 50 | $500 to $750 | Monthly bookkeeping for single-entity businesses with straightforward transaction volume. |
| Considered | 50 to 150 | $800 to $1,200 | Monthly bookkeeping with payroll, AP, and quarterly review calls for businesses with more moving parts. |
| Bespoke | 150 or more | $1,250 to $2,000 | Holding companies, multi-entity structures, and fractional controller engagements. |
What moves the quote: headcount, pay frequency, tipped staff, locations, and how hours reach us. We confirm the fee after a 20-minute call. Fees are plus applicable taxes. If the books are behind as well, catch-up work comes first.
How do Coquitlam restaurants and clinics handle tips, shifts and part-time staff?
They keep three questions apart: who gets the tips, how the tips are taxed, and what part-time staff are owed. A kitchen on North Road and a dental clinic near Coquitlam Centre or in Austin Heights share the same problem: hours that vary, staff on two or three shifts a week, and pay that changes every cycle.
Who gets the tips (BC rules). Under BC's Employment Standards Act, an employer cannot withhold tips or make staff give them up, except through a tip pool or where the law requires it, such as a garnishment order. The employer can run a pool and decide who shares and how much, but can only take a share if they do similar work to the staff who earned the tips. Business costs can't be deducted from a pool, or from card tips the employer holds.
How the tips are taxed (CRA rules). The CRA sorts tips into two kinds:
- Controlled tips are treated as paid by the employer: a mandatory service charge, a pool split by a formula the employer sets, or card tips deposited to the business account and paid out with wages. Income tax, CPP and EI are withheld, and the tips go on the T4.
- Direct tips go from customer to employee: cash left on the table, card tips handed back in full in cash at the end of the shift, or a pool the staff run themselves. Nothing is withheld and nothing goes on the T4. The employee reports them and can choose to pay CPP on them using Form CPT20.
So how card tips are paid out changes the payroll. We set pay codes to match how your floor actually handles tips, and check POS tips collected against tips paid out every cycle.
What shift and part-time staff are owed (BC rules).
- Paydays: at least twice a month, with all wages paid within 8 days after the pay period ends.
- Short shifts: an employee who reports for work is paid for at least 2 hours, or 4 hours if they were scheduled for more than 8.
- Statutory holidays: staff qualify once employed for 30 calendar days and having worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday. Many part-timers do. The pay is an average day's pay.
- Leaving: an electronic ROE is generally due within 5 calendar days once the pay period holding the employee's last day of earnings closes.
For clinics, associates who invoice the clinic stay out of the pay run and are tracked as contractor payments, with the classification confirmed by your CPA.
Further reading
For how payroll fits with the monthly close, GST and year-end, start with The Coquitlam owner-operator's guide to bookkeeping.
- Daily sales, tips and delivery apps: restaurant bookkeeping in BC: daily reconciliation, tips through payroll, and delivery-platform settlements.
- Bookkeeping for Tri-Cities dental and medical clinics: associate payments, and insurer and MSP reconciliations.
- A year-end checklist for Tri-Cities owner-operators: the eight-week run-up to year-end, T4 preparation included.
A good fit if
- You employ a small team in the Tri-Cities, including part-time, shift or tipped staff
- One bookkeeper on both payroll and the ledger, reconciled to each other monthly, suits you
- You would rather approve a pay run than build one
Probably not the right fit if
- Your headcount calls for a dedicated in-house payroll department
- You need payroll outside Canada, or a PEO or employer-of-record arrangement
- You are looking for HR advice, employment contracts or help with a dispute