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Supported payroll situations

Updated July 11, 2026 · Plain answers about what PayNorth handles, what it handles with care, and what belongs with a professional.

PayNorth supports the common payroll of an Ontario hourly or salaried team — including controlled tips, overtime, vacation, statutory-holiday-pay lines, bonuses and pre-tax deductions — and tells you plainly when a situation belongs with a payroll professional. It provides calculations and records, not tax, legal or accounting advice.

Fully supported

• Pay frequencies: weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly
• Hourly and salaried employees (rate and hours shown on hourly statements)
• Federal & Ontario TD1 claim amounts, plus extra tax an employee asks to have withheld
• Controlled tips — tips you collect and distribute: taxable, pensionable, insurable; excluded from vacation-pay calculations (Ontario law says tips aren't wages)
• Overtime at 1.5× on the hours you enter (Ontario's general rule: after 44 hours/week; special rules and averaging agreements exist)
• Vacation pay on each cheque (reported separately, as the ESA requires) or accrued — ESA minimums 4%, 6% after five years
• Bonuses (CRA non-periodic bonus method)
• CPP, CPP2 and EI annual maximums — deductions stop automatically, with a notice
• CPP/EI exemption flags (e.g., under-18 CPP, CPT30 elections, EI-exempt major shareholders) — you set the flag; see "professional" notes below on who qualifies
• Mid-year switch from another system — enter opening year-to-date totals so caps behave
• Multiple businesses / locations, each with its own roster and remittance summary

Supported with your judgment (read the hint in the app)

• Statutory holiday pay: PayNorth gives it its own earnings line and taxes it correctly — you determine the entitlement amount. Ontario's formula: regular wages earned in the 4 work weeks before the holiday ÷ 20. See the ESA public-holidays guide.
• Other deductions: only court-ordered or employee-written-authorized deductions are lawful — never deductions for faulty work, breakage or cash shortages. Label the purpose; it prints on the statement.
• Pre-tax deductions (RPP, union dues): the field works; whether a specific deduction is properly pre-tax is a setup question for your accountant — set it once, run it forever.
• Cash taxable benefits / taxable allowances: can be entered as other earnings, but pensionable/insurable treatment varies by benefit — confirm with a professional first.
• Incorporated owner-managers paying themselves a wage: mechanically fine; salary-vs-dividend planning and family-member EI insurability are advisor questions.
• Under-18 or 65+ employees: CPP must not be deducted before 18; from 65–70 it continues unless a CPT30 election is filed; it always stops at 70. Use the CPP-exempt flag accordingly.

Not supported — use a payroll professional or full-service payroll

• Commission employees with expense claims (TD1X method)
• Non-cash taxable benefits (group insurance, housing) and automobile benefits
• Termination pay, severance / retiring allowances
• Retroactive pay corrections across periods or years
• Reduced tax withholding under a CRA letter of authority (T1213)
• Director's fees
• Employees outside Ontario, non-resident employees, and remote workers not attached to an Ontario establishment
• Tax-exempt employment income (e.g., Status Indian employees working on reserve)
• Contractors — contractors aren't employees; no source deductions apply, and producing employee-style statements for them invites misclassification problems

Never part of PayNorth

Direct deposit or any movement of money · sending CRA remittances · preparing or filing T4s or ROEs · EHT and WSIB premiums · recoverable cloud copies of payroll records (your device, your backups). See PayNorth vs. full-service payroll.

Your responsibilities after creating a wage statement

Three things remain yours: (1) Pay the employee the net amount by your usual method. (2) Remit the withheld amounts plus employer portions to the CRA by your remitter deadline (the Remittance screen totals this for you). (3) Keep records — give the employee their statement, keep your copy, and keep your backups current. At year end, T4s and any EHT/WSIB obligations are handled by you or your accountant — the CSV export gives them everything they need.

If PayNorth and PDOC disagree

Differences of a few cents are normal — the formula method and PDOC can round differently at intermediate steps. A difference of dollars is not normal. Check the inputs match exactly (pay frequency, claim amounts, YTD), then trust PDOC's number for that pay run and email hello@pay-north.ca with both results. Calculation reports get fixed first, ahead of everything else.

When CRA formulas change

The CRA publishes new T4127 editions effective January 1 and July 1, and Ontario's minimum wage typically changes October 1. PayNorth ships updates for each edition, and every statement prints the edition used to calculate it, so your records always show which rules applied.

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