What is payroll management?
Payroll management is paying employees correctly and on schedule, then handling everything the government expects afterwards. That covers gross pay, withholding CPP, EI, and income tax, sending those deductions to the CRA, and issuing year-end slips and Records of Employment.
The pay run is the part people see. The remittance calendar, and the paperwork that follows someone out the door, is where most small employers get caught.
What does Langley Bookkeeping include in payroll management?
- Pay runs on your schedule: weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, or monthly
- Withholding CPP, EI, and income tax, and remitting them to the CRA by the due date
- Vacation pay tracked and paid the way each employee's arrangement requires
- T4 slips and the T4 summary filed, and slips in employees' hands, by the last day of February
- Records of Employment issued when someone quits, is laid off, or goes on leave
- Payroll posted to the books every pay period, so labour cost is current at each monthly close
Which payroll software do you use?
We run payroll in Wagepoint or QuickBooks Online Payroll, whichever fits the rest of your setup. Both handle direct deposit and pay stubs and keep the history Records of Employment are built from. Hours from a crew app or a paper timesheet come in before each run and are checked before anyone is paid.
Should a small business run its own payroll or hand it off?
Many small employers can run the pay itself; the risk sits in the remittances, slips, and records that come after it. Which route fits depends on how often your staff list changes.
| Approach | Who does the work | Works well for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner runs it | You, in payroll software | One or two salaried staff who rarely change | Missed remittance dates; ROEs forgotten when someone leaves |
| Payroll provider only | The provider's system; you key in hours | Larger, stable staff lists | Payroll and the books drift apart if no one reconciles the two |
| Your bookkeeper runs it | Your bookkeeper, alongside the monthly books | Crews that grow and shrink through the year | Hours have to arrive on time each pay period |
What is not included in payroll management?
We do not give employment law advice, write employment contracts, or handle disputes over pay. Those belong with an employment lawyer or the BC Employment Standards Branch. Your WorkSafeBC account and any claims stay with you, although we can pull the payroll figures its annual reporting asks for. Benefit plan design stays with your advisor; we record the premiums and deductions.
What does payroll management cost in Langley?
Payroll is part of the Considered tier, $800 to $1,200 per month CAD, which also covers your monthly bookkeeping, payables, and quarterly review calls. If you only need payroll, we quote it on headcount and pay frequency after a short call. Fees are plus applicable taxes.
How do Langley farms and contractors handle seasonal and hourly crews?
They run the same remittance calendar as everyone else, but the records behind each pay run need more care, because farm crews and construction crews are treated differently.
On farms. Under BC Employment Standards, farm workers do not receive overtime or statutory holiday pay. Workers who harvest certain crops by hand can be paid by piece rate, and the rate has to meet the minimum set for that crop; for most crops, 4% vacation pay is already built into the piece rate. Farm workers paid by the hour or by salary are owed at least minimum wage and earn vacation pay like any other employee. Workers supplied through a farm labour contractor must be paid by direct deposit. Keep the hours, and for piece work the volumes picked, because Employment Standards can ask to see them.
On job sites. Site crews are usually hourly and change from job to job. Their hours need to be tagged to the job they worked, so labour shows up in your job costing, and the deductions are still due on the CRA's calendar whether or not the progress draw has arrived. Most small employers are regular remitters, which means the CRA has to receive the month's deductions by the 15th of the following month.
At the end of the season. Every worker whose pay stops gets a Record of Employment. Filed electronically on a weekly, bi-weekly, or semi-monthly payroll, it is due within five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which their earnings stopped. Monthly payrolls have an earlier cut-off.
Further reading
For payroll alongside the rest of the monthly routine, read the Langley owner-operator's guide to bookkeeping.
On narrower questions:
- Bookkeeping for BC farms: seasonal labour, equipment, and the records that support them.
- Job costing for Langley contractors: putting crew hours against the right job.
- A year-end checklist for Langley owner-operators: the run-up to T4s and the fiscal year-end.
A good fit if
- You employ between one and a few dozen people, including staff who come and go with the season
- You pay a mix of hourly, salaried, or piece-rate workers
- You want payroll and the books kept by the same person, so the numbers agree
Probably not the right fit if
- You need a full HR department, including hiring, policies, and benefits administration
- You employ people in several provinces with different rules in each
- You want payroll run without any monthly bookkeeping attached and have no one reconciling it