CRA indicates that qualifying non-resident employers can file T4s for their affected employees without obtaining individual tax numbers

Effective January 1, 2016, Treaty-exempt non-resident employers have been able to apply under s. 153(7) for certification as "qualifying non-resident employers" (QNERs) so as to be exempt from source deduction requirements on remuneration paid to "qualifying non-resident employees" (broadly, Treaty-exempt non-resident employees who work in Canada for less than 45 days in the calendar year of payment or are present in Canada less than 90 days in any 12-month period that includes the payment time).

In early September 2016, CRA started issuing review letters to QNERs, requesting the following particulars:

• the number of employees who have come to Canada during a certain period
• an explanation of what documentation the employer has obtained to support each employee's country of residence
• an explanation on how the employees are expected to be exempt from tax in Canada under a tax treaty
• the number of days each qualifying non-resident employee was either working in Canada, or present in Canada, including arrival and departure dates, and
• the employment income attributable to each employee's workdays in Canada

Although the QNERs must issue T4 slips to qualifying non-resident employees earning more than C$10,000 of remuneration attributable to Canadian workdays during the year, CRA has indicated that a QNER's certification status will not be rescinded if T4 slips for the employees QNEEs are received without individual tax numbers.

Since the QNERs are required to obtain business numbers, their BN applications have been triggering GST/HST reviews to determine whether they are carrying on business in Canada.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of PWC, "Non-Resident Employer Certification Program: Compliance Reviews and other Updates", PWC Tax Insights – Global Mobility Services, Issue 2016-47, 12 October 2016 under s. 153(7).