Glaswegian

We've only been here 3 years - I don't know when they changed the rules.
I've been rolling over RSP contribution space since I arrived.
I assumed it had been like the for "forever".
I'm not a financial adviser, so this an unqualified comment

Glaswegian

How do you know the money isnt reported? Its probably not defined as labor costs - they will be in the accounts as 'carriers' - no rights, benefits etc. A bit like you are as consultants I expect. Do you expect your customers to report your income to the Revenue? Probably not , you do it yourself.

I'm not saying that the black market doesnt exist. I'm just disputing the logic in the fact that a company would fail to report its expenses - the effect of that is to increase its tax bill.

Now if we are talking about teenage newspaper carriers making less than the personal allowance for tax free earnings then the situation could be different. It is possible that it is not reported by the individual - technically wrong but the Revenue are unlikely to take the point as no tax is due! But that doesnt mean the company doesnt get its deduction!

Would your company pay a self employed individual and not take the deduction?

Mrs G

KKCDA

Now, what does all this mean? If part-time earnings are not reported by individuals, doesn't it put the company in a spot, in some way or the other?

And, as someone pointed out, so it is possible to work as a PC repair man, albeit at a lower rate! Also, if you are working on your own (let's say, repairing PCs at home during evenings/weekends), do you need to register yourself somewhere? I would want to contribute to the plans from earnings from this kind of a job, i.e, if it leaves me with anything at the end. If it doesn't, well, then maybe I shouldn't be doing this work at all. I'd rather focus on my day job.

willmore

I just know and I'm sure if you ask millions of other Canadians they know as well that there is a huge black market in Canada.

I certainly do...report my income....but I really don't have any choice, as Revenue Canada would certainly not let it go with the amount of income each year - and besides I LOVE those deductions I can use for having an office at home. My my loyal and trustworthy accountant does it for me (it's beyond me)....and she is worth every last penny I pay her to keep me on the straight and narrow. Accountants are worth their weight in gold to people like me.....

However, there is NO comparison between my income and let's say the $3.50 per pizza and tips that a delivery guy gets or the 14 cents per paper that a newpaper carrier gets. There is usually a reason that these people have taken these jobs - to earn extra money without having to report it. the same with the MAC fellow who was working full time at a computer store and doing repair work (on the side) to earn extra money. I know for a fact that the money earned from this job is not declared.

Can a company - let's use the newspaper company as an example - report it's expenses i.e., carriers' pay but made arrangements with Revenue Canada that the money the carriers' earn not be declared by them?





Mrs G[/QUOTE]

Glaswegian

Back in the UK a big cut-price supermarket chain decided that all of their staff were self-employed and that they were responsible for their own taxes and benefits.

If it isn't an employee/employer relationship, there's no need to declare it as one. If they're self-employed carriers, that's what they are.

There is a huge black market in Canada for under the table work - I'm sure that my attempt at self-employment would have worked out better if I hadn't paid the taxes, charged GST and insisted that all the software I installed had a legally valid license.

People are doing it all over the place, stick a sign up. I doubt many of them are declaring the earnings - if Canada Revenue want to find them, they just have to keep their eyes open.

In Calgary you have to get a consultant's home occupation license.

Exactly - if you don't declare it as taxable earnings anywhere, it won't generate contribution room, although it will generate money. I don't agree with the black economy, I never have done.

I found most of the machines I had to look at were disaster zones - multiple viruses, spyware, technical problems - I'd rather walk away from them than spend hours cleaning them up and fixing them, only for them to get trashed again in a few months.

Get a good day job, focus on it and if it doesn't go anywhere, use it as Canadian experience to get something better. I'm a systems engineer - a lot of the guys I work with started as PC repair guys.

Glaswegian

You only know this if the individual has told you so - Mr G did PC repair work - but all of the income was declared and all taxes paid. Now if we had been working for you would you have assumed that it was black market undeclared income? It seems you would!

If this is what you thought I was saying them you misunderstood! The newspaper company pays its self employed carriers and then just doesnt care if the individual reports his income or not! Its the individuals liability and the company has no responsibility to ensure it is paid! Just in the same way your customers dont care if you report your income!

The point is that if the Revenue expect the income to be below the tax free allowance then there is little to gain by asking for a tax return from a teenager - there will probably be no tax due!

willmore

I understand and thank you for clearing this up for me!!!!Well I actually wouldn't have thought it was any of my business