Self Employed

[gnucky]

I have 1 year work experience working 45 hours per week. My boss gave me an HST number with gross pay and no taxes deducted. Can I still apply for the Canadian Experience class as I am not an employee?

 

[samir3132]

No

 

[iam_toby]

Read the instruction guide. As it clearly states, that:

Note: Any periods of self-employment, unauthorized work, work in an ineligible occupation, and periods of employment during which you were engaged in full-time study (e.g. work experience gained on a co-op, off-campus or on-campus work permit) will not be included when calculating the period of qualifying work experience. You must have had temporary resident status during the period of work experience acquired in Canada.

 

[OMNI]

Hi Toby and Forum members,

What if a person is incorporated through Manpower and Working for a client XXXXXX and the person has a payroll running from his own company can apply under CEC ?

Details as folows

Have a T4 not T4 A

Letter from Manpower stating the duties,hours of work , length of work

Letter from his own company signed by the company's Director

Invoices and paystubs



Thank you in advance

--Omini

Read the instruction guide. As it clearly states, that:

 

[canadavisa13]

hi OMNI,

does your employer pay taxes for you or you pay your own taxes?

 

[R0ger]

Hi Omni,

when you write "incorporated through Manpower" do you actually mean "employed by Manpower"? Incorporation means that you have your own company.

I assume that what you have is an employment contract with Manpower (as you got a T4). Now when working for a temp agency, the situation is more complex, as your employer and the entity for whom you did the work are different. The challenge is twofold:

First, you need to prove that the work you did for Manpower's client matches the NOC group under which you are applying. Here, the letters you mention may or may not be sufficient. I suggest to read them against the items cited in the NOC group write-up. If the match is not clear, try to provide additional documentation proving what you actually did.

Second, you need to prove that you have "at least 12 months of full-time, or an equal amount in part-time, skilled work experience. Full-time work means at least 30 hours of paid work per week." (quoting from the CIC web page here). If this is not explicitly clear from the letters, your Manpower time sheets should be able to substantiate this.

 

[canadavisa13]

if the person is paying own taxes then he/she does not qualify under CEC at all.

 

[R0ger]

if the person is paying own taxes then he/she does not qualify under CEC at all.

As an agency worker, I believe that if he gets a T4 he usually is taxed at source. See CRA guidance here: www_cra-arc_gc_ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/pyrll/rtrns/t4/spcl/plcmnt/menu-eng.html (replace _ by .)

That said, you are absolutely correct. CEC is not for self employment.

 

[OMNI]

Thank you Roger and CandaVisa13 for all the replies

I know that a self employed will not be considered as CEC applicant.

But here I am trying to differentiate a Self employed to the one who actually gained experience working with a company

I am assuming Self employed is one who has his own business like a Pizza store, retail store etc

In my case I have a reference letter explaining the details of my work done to the end client which is as follows


On behalf of:
XYZ Company (Which is my Company)

To Whom It May Concern:

Experis engages the services of XYZ (ABC(Which is my Name) – the assigned personnel), on a contract basis starting September 28th, 2012 and ending June 27th, 2014. Mr. ABC is a Field Technician works at the 123(End Client). He works approximately 35 hours per week and is paid at an hourly rate of XXXX/hour (approximately XXXX per annum)

Main Duties:

The main duties are mostly match with NOC 2282


So here the relation ship is Manpower pays to my company for my service ( Have invoices mentioning My name, hours of work)and My Company is running a Payroll for me and Director of my company writing a letter for me.


Experts and Forum members please advise

Thank you in advance

 

[scylla]

OMNI -

As others have said, the most important question is who is collecting taxes for the work you're doing and submitting them to CRA. If Manpower is deducting taxes from your pay (before you are paid) and submitting to CRA - then you should be fine. If your company is doing this, then you are self employed.

 

[scylla]

I am assuming Self employed is one who has his own business like a Pizza store, retail store etc

Unfortunately this is an incorrect assumption. Someone in your situation could certainly be self employed. Again, you need to clarify who is responsible for deducting the taxes on your pay. Manpower or your company.

 

[OMNI]

Hello Scylla,


Thanks for the reply.


If that's the case, it's a bad news for me

My company is paying taxes for me

However I went ahead and applied under CEC with a cover letter explaining the situation and converted myself as a regular employee with Manpower and started gaining my experience freshly

Hope everything goes fine ................

 

[OMNI]

After some research, consultation with my accountant and the immigration lawyers I got a little hope that if one have a Personal service business(Which is in my case) then he will be considered having Employee and employer relationship, called as Incorporated employee and will not be considered as Self employed

The article below explains it clearly

https://www.veritaaq.ca/insights/clarifying-your-status-self-employed-consultant-how-ensure-cra-does-not-consider-you-person

Unfortunately this is an incorrect assumption. Someone in your situation could certainly be self employed. Again, you need to clarify who is responsible for deducting the taxes on your pay. Manpower or your company.

 

[data]

Here's a counter example of what other have said about T4A and paying taxes yourself.

Post-doctoral fellows (people who do research at universities after their PhD) can get T4A and have to pay taxes themselves. Forum posts in the past have shown that these guys are eligible, as long as their reference letter states that they are hired by the university / department.

I think the wording on the reference letter is extremely important. You want to have it states very clearly that you are in fact hired by the company, working more than 40 hours and everything else that makes you eligible for CEC.

 

[OMNI]

Thanks for the positive note "data"

I have a very very clear reference letter from my employer explaining the details, duties and length of work doing and just confirmed with my accountant that I am having a PSB and will be considered as Incorporated employee and not as self employed

Here's a counter example of what other have said about T4A and paying taxes yourself.

Post-doctoral fellows (people who do research at universities after their PhD) can get T4A and have to pay taxes themselves. Forum posts in the past have shown that these guys are eligible, as long as their reference letter states that they are hired by the university / department.

I think the wording on the reference letter is extremely important. You want to have it states very clearly that you are in fact hired by the company, working more than 40 hours and everything else that makes you eligible for CEC.