Updates to T4/T4A - Dental Benefit Access

Completed

What we’re doing:

Updating logic for T4/T4A’s to comply with new legislation requiring employers to report on dental benefits available to each employee.

Why we think you’ll like it:

This enhancement will assist school authorities comply with T4/T4A reporting requirements.

Learn more:

Refer to information published by the National Payroll Institute (NPI) with consultation with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): New Boxes added to the T4 & T4A slips for National Dental Plan. (NPI membership required).

Information published by the CRA is limited to the new XML file specifications.

T4 Profile and Logic

The T4 profile has been enhanced to allow the definition for Box 45. The profile is not global in that users can set this profile differently for different payroll groups.

Users must enter a default for all employees: e.g. DEF=1, to say all employees are given Code 1 on their T4.
User can optionally enter a deduction code to look for on the employee master. E.g. D24=3 to say anyone with deduction code 24 on their master should have Code 3 on their T4.
The default can be combined with deduction codes. E.g. DEF=1,D24=3,D25=3 to say anyone with deduction code 24 or 25 should have Code 3 on their T4, all others should have Code 1.

Further logic:

the system will check pay periods against the deduction code on the employee master. If the employee did not have the defined deduction code as of December 31 pay period, the system will use the default code.
the system will check termination date. If the employee was terminated in a period before December 31 pay period, use the default code defined. The termination date logic will also check pay period start/end on deduction code on the employee master. If this date range extends beyond the termination date, the system will use the code defined for that deduction code. If there are any exceptions, payroll users can use the T4 edit functionality.

Log reports will list employees:

if they do not have Code 1-5 in Box 45.
who have Code 1, unless the profile states DEF=1

T4A Profile and Logic

The T4 profile has been enhanced to allow the definition for Box 015.

Users must enter a default for all employees: e.g. DEF=1, to say all employees are given Code 1 on their T4.
User can optionally enter a deduction code to look for on the employee master. E.g. D24=3 to say anyone with deduction code 24 on their master should have Code 3 on their T4A.
The default can be combined with deduction codes. E.g. DEF=1,D24=3,D25=3 to say anyone with deduction code 24 or 25 should have Code 3 on their T4A, all others should have Code 1.

Further logic:

the system will check pay periods against the deduction code on the employee master. If the employee did not have the defined deduction code as of December 31 pay period, the system will use the default code.
the system will check termination date. If the employee was terminated in a period before December 31 pay period, use the default code defined. The termination date logic will also check pay period start/end on deduction code on the employee master. If this date range extends beyond the termination date, the system will use the code defined for that deduction code. If there are any exceptions, payroll users can use the T4A edit functionality.

Log reports will list employees:

if they do not have Code 1-5 in Box 015.
who have Code 1, unless the profile states DEF=1

Merge Logic

When running T4/T4A merge, priority for dental code is that codes 2-5 will be given priority over Code 1. E.g. if an employee is on TEAC payroll with a Code 1 and ADMN payroll with Code 3, the merge file would use Code 3.

Employee Maintenance Preparation

Employees who have access to benefits, but have waived them must be reported with Code 2-5. These employees can either be identified with a default code from the T4 Profile (e.g. DEF=3) or must have a profile-defined deduction code on their master record with the amount set to zero.

To globally add a deduction code/tables to groups of employees:

Go to deduction code changes for the applicable code
Click Global Add
Save the deduction code
Run the Deduction Change Process. This will add the code to employees who don’t already have this code. Note: be careful not to run this if you have rate changes pending.
Run the deduction table update to select groups of employees to specify which table to add. In the table to be changed, enter NONE if the employees don’t already have a table.
Use the Multiple Date/Period Changes Process to update the pay periods for the deduction code.