Legislative change to provide electronic T4s rather than paper T4s to employees as the standard practice would save over $100 million annually
Legislative change to provide electronic T4s rather than paper T4s to employees as the standard practice would save over $100 million annually, says Patrick Culhane, President of the Canadian Payroll Association.
This efficiency recommendation marks the CRAs Red Tape Awareness Week.
Presently more than 95 per cent of Canadians are paid using technology and do not require a paper copy of their T4. Furthermore over 80 per cent of Canadians file their taxes online, yet millions of dollars are wasted annually to administer, print, store and distribute some 26 million T4s.
Only about 16 per cent of Canadian employees require a paper copy of their T4. It is estimated that approximately $5 is spent per T4, according to a recent Canadian Payroll Association survey. Reducing the paper burden would save over $100 million and drastically help the environment. This is a sustainable economic step in the right direction, states the 2014 Canada’s Federal Budget.
This all-around good practice could imitate the cost-saving initiative that the Canadian Payroll Association has adopted since the 2010 Budget. The initiative requires that the employers filing more than 50 information slips must provide T4s to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) using the Internet. Needless to say millions of dollars are saved in the process.
With an electronic delivery method as the standard T4 delivery method employees could easily and efficiently obtain their T4 and still have the potential to request a paper copy id needed. "Finance Canada and the CRA have been reviewing this suggestion for four years and it is now time to reduce the paper burden and red tape," says Rachel De Grâce, Manager, Advocacy and Legislative Content with the Canadian Payroll Association.
The common-sense practice was first presented to the Red Tape Commission in 2011, as well as to the CRA officials in 2012 and 2013.
Tony Clement, the President of the Treasury Board marks Red Tape Awareness Week this year by controlling federal regulatory tape on a permanent basis.
It is important to underline that the initiative will be at no cost to the CRA or the Government of Canada.
The Canadian Payroll Association highly recommends this step to reduce paper and the financial burden for employers, government and employees.
