Frequently Asked Questions

A gift card would be considered a "near-cash" gift or award. Near-cash refers to how easily something can be converted to cash. Regardless of the amount, gift cards and gift certificates are considered taxable employment income and are therefore subject to CPP and income tax in all jurisdictions except Quebec.

Revenu Québec (RQ) allows a gift card or gift certificate to be given as a non-taxable gift or award (up to the $500 exemption) as long as the merchant or merchants are clearly identified on the card and the reason for which the employee is receiving the card falls within their gifts and awards policy. (A Quebec employee receiving such a gift or award would have the value of the gift card subject only to federal tax.)

No. Jobs purchased for posting on JobConnect will only be posted on the CPA’s website. While the CPA has partnered with Workopolis Niche Networks to run JobConnect, jobs posted on the CPA’s JobConnect will only be accessible to CPA members and not affiliated with Workopolis.

Only Professional, Associate and certain Organization Members receive membership cards and kits.

For Organization Members, only Payroll Representatives, Second Payroll Representatives and Additional Representatives receive membership cards as well.

If you fall under any of these categories, you will receive your membership kit, which includes your membership card, receipt and information on upcoming seminars and events in the mail 4-6 weeks after your application and payment have been processed.

In the seminar calendar, you can use the search tool to search for upcoming seminars by topic or keyword, or by city or region. You can also view seminar topics for each broad learning category by clicking on the appropriate link from the learning menu or from the learning landing page.   Once you are on the applicable course description page for your selected topic, you may see a list of cities where that seminar will be offered in upcoming months.

The cookies settings on your web browser may be the cause of your problem. Difficulty creating or accessing your account and profile often indicates that cookies are not enabled in your web browser's security settings. Check your browser's online help or other included documentation to configure cookies and Internet security preferences.

If your local network or your internet service provider uses a proxy server, you need to contact your network administrator or internet service provider's helpdesk for assistance.

Should you wish to track your CPE using the online CPE tracking tool to log volunteer hours with the CPA as a SME or hours spent reading DIALOGUE magazine, enter "Subject Matter Expert – CPA" or "DIALOGUE magazine – CPA," respectively, as the provider for your CPE activity.

Yes. If you have less than 2 years of applicable payroll experience in your current or past position, you can combine positions to satisfy the 2-year requirement. You must complete a separate application form for each payroll position being submitted for assessment.

If the course was completed outside of Canada, you must get an educational credential assessment from an accredited assessment agency. You must mail the original assessment and the Transfer Credit Application to the Certification Department.

If you are currently a PCP, you are not affected by the PCP Work Experience Requirement as long as you maintain certification by fulfilling the ongoing requirements. In fact, you may benefit from the enhanced status of the PCP program as a result of the PCP Work Experience Requirement.

A retiring allowance, as defined in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act and part 1 of the Quebec Taxation Act, is an amount received upon or after retirement or termination from an office or employment in recognition of long service. This is often money paid at the discretion of the employer and not required by law. Sometimes this payment is referred to as a termination, lump-sum, or severance payment. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) IT Folio S2-F1-C2, Retiring Allowances provides additional technical interpretations.

The term "retiring allowance" does not necessarily mean that the individual is retiring and is used by the CRA and Revenu Québec (RQ) to describe a payment made to a terminating employee as compensation for loss of office or in recognition of past service.

Before a retiring allowance can qualify as such, the employer must establish the employee-employer relationship has been severed. If the terminated employee is still expected to perform services for the former employer, or is still accruing benefits in the company’s pension plan, an employee-employer relationship is still deemed to exist and the payment would not qualify as a retiring allowance.

Regular employment income, such as bonuses, commission payments, accumulated overtime, legislated pay in lieu of notice and vacation pay, do not qualify as a retiring allowance. However, accumulated sick leave credits paid out on termination, damages awarded to a former employee in a wrongful dismissal case and severance pay required under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000, and the Canada Labour Code, Part III, or a gratuitous severance pay in any jurisdiction, qualify as a retiring allowance. Amounts over and above the legislated minimum lieu of notice periods may qualify as a retiring allowance provided the employee-employer relationship has, in fact, been severed.

As retiring allowances are usually paid at the discretion of the employer, the amount will vary for each employee. The method of payment can vary as well. For example, some employers will pay the retiring allowance as a lump-sum payment on termination, whereas others will choose to spread this payment over a number of months, or even a number of years.

Payments that qualify as a retiring allowance are taxable using the lump-sum tax rates and are not subject to Canada/Quebec Pension Plan contributions, Employment Insurance (EI) premiums, or Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) premiums.

JobConnect accepts all major credit cards for posting jobs. At this time employers cannot be invoiced for jobs. 

If you cannot remember your CPA number, first access the CPA Login page. Once there, click on the latter part of “Forgot my CPA Number.” Enter your email and click on “Submit.” You must enter the preferred email address you have on file with the CPA. Otherwise, you will not receive the email with your CPA number.
           
If you need help, contact membership@payroll.ca.

To paste your resume on the first Professional Profile page, ensure you are cutting and pasting actual formatted TEXT from an open word processor (i.e., Word) or text editor.

Simply open your resume file, choose Select All [Ctrl + A] from the Edit menu. Go to the Edit menu a second time, and select Copy [Ctrl + C]. Then go to your web browser and click into the resume text field. Go to the Edit menu once more and choose "Paste." [Ctrl + V] You should see your resume appear in the text field immediately.

Unfortunately, this is currently the only way to paste a whole file. JobConnect does not support cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop uploads (i.e., moving file items the way you would on your computer's desktop) at this time.

If this does not work as described, you may need to modify some simple settings on your web browser software to enable copy-and-paste support. If you are using MS Internet Explorer, the Copy and Paste features may have been disabled under the Security tab of your Internet Options screen (accessible under the Tools menu of the Internet browser). To re-enable Copy and Paste, navigate through the Internet Options dialog to the Security tab and ensure that Internet (the globe icon) is highlighted at the top of the window. Next, click the Custom Level button to display detailed options: at the fifth heading (Miscellaneous), the radio buttons at the third sub-heading serve to enable or disable (or selectively enable, with user prompts) your ability to copy and paste through web forms such as those on our site. The same option enables/disables drag-and-drop for sites that use this functionality.

If you have difficulty with the formatting of your resume on JobConnect, try saving it from your word processing software in one of the supported formats (plain text or HTML) before posting it. This should ensure it's more easily cut and pasted.

Note: If you have HTML code in your resume that's been generated by a "WYSIWYG" web editor, or an online page-builder site, you may find it conflicts with JobConnect. Try simplifying or use plain text and re-format it with our own in-page HTML editor (supported under MS Internet Explorer 4.0 and up only).

Any courses with a minimum of 30 credit hours in payroll career-related topics like accounting, human resources, interpersonal skills or business communication completed through an accredited public college or university. These hours can be applied to both the current and following year’s annual CPE requirements.  In order for a course to be considered an eligible activity toward fulfilling the CPE requirement, the course must be successfully completed according to the college or university’s passing mark at which the course was completed.

For example, PCP certification holders who complete either the Introduction to Payroll Management or Applied Payroll Management courses in the Certified Payroll Manager (CPM) certification program satisfy both the current and following year's annual CPE requirements. This also includes the CPM transfer credit courses of Organizational Behaviour, Managerial Accounting, and Compensation and Benefits.

If the organization does not have an official job description for the position you would like to submit for the Payroll Experience Prerequisite Application (PEPA) assessment, you must prepare a detailed job description yourself and submit it to your verifier for approval.

To transfer a non-payroll course credit, you must have successfully completed Payroll Compliance Legislation. You must mail an official transcript along with the Transfer Credit Application. Click here to download the form.

Yes. If you have less than one year of applicable payroll experience in your current or past position, you can combine positions to satisfy the one-year requirement. You must complete a separate application form for each payroll position being submitted for assessment.

Employees who transfer from Quebec, while working for the same employer under the same business entity, will require a reconciliation of QPP and CPP contributions. Employers must use the YTD QPP employee contributions when calculating any remaining CPP to be deducted.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has confirmed that Box 26 will be populated by pensionable earnings up to the YMPE, even if the employee has contributed at least $2,564.10 toward QPP before transferring outside of Quebec.

Example:

David earns an annual salary of $58,000 and is paid on a weekly basis. He earned $55,300 in Quebec and contributed $2,797.20 in QPP before transferring to Ontario. He then earned $1,115.38 in each of the two weeks left of the year as an Ontario employee. No CPP contributions are required since he has already contributed at least $2,797.20 in QPP. David’s Ontario T4 slip would be completed as follows:

• Box 16 of T4 = 0
• Box 26 = $0

QPP – EMPLOYEE TRANSFERING TO QUEBEC

For the 2017 tax reporting year if an employee is transferred to Quebec the employer must multiply the total CPP contributions withheld since the beginning of the year by a weighting factor to determine the maximum employee QPP contribution.

Payroll systems should have been programmed with the new weighting factor effective for the first pay period of 2017 to be ready in the event that an employee transfers from another jurisdiction to Quebec.

For the first pay period of 2017, the factor would be calculated as follows:

With a CPP contribution rate of 4.95%, the weighting factor would be 5.40 / 4.95 = 1.0909. (When the CPP and/or QPP contribution rate changes, the weighting factor would require a recalculation.)

Example:
Jacques earned $15,000 in Ontario and paid CPP contributions of $655.88 prior to moving to Quebec.

Jacques year to date contribution will be $655.88 x 1.0909 (Weighting Factor) = $715.50

Jacques will contribute $2,081.70 to QPP until he reaches a combined total of $2,797.20 between CPP and QPP.

An employee who has already contributed $2,564.10 in CPP contributions prior to moving to Quebec will not be required to contribute to the QPP as he attained the maximum for 2017.

Example:
Melanie earned $55,600 in Ontario and paid the maximum CPP contribution of $2,564.10 before moving to Quebec.

Melanie will not contribute to QPP as she reached the maximum yearly contribution for 2017.

You can review and print copies of your invoices and receipts from your account toolbox.

Log in to your JobConnect account and click on the Invoice/Receipt History link near the bottom of the page. Indicate the date range appropriate to your purchase and click Submit. A list of all of the purchases you have made during the period selected will be displayed and available for printing or reviewing in either HTML or PDF format.

To reset or create a password, click on Member Centre (at the top right corner of the website) or click on My Profile (in the Membership menu). Then click on “Forgot password.” Enter your CPA number and click on “Submit.” An email will be sent to the preferred email address you have on file with the CPA providing instructions on how to reset or create our password.
 
If you need help, contact membership@payroll.ca.