Employees of temporary-help service firms

You may be the proprietor of a temporary-help service firm. Temporary-help service firms are service contractors who provide their employees to clients for assignments. The assignments may be temporary, depending on the clients’ needs.

Workers of these firms are usually employees of the firms. As a result, you have to deduct CPP contributions, EI premiums, and income tax from the amounts you pay them. You also have to remit these deductions and report the income and the deductions on a T4 slip.

If you or a person working for you is not sure of the worker’s employment status, either one of you can request a ruling to determine the status. If you are a business owner, you can use the “Request a CPP/EI ruling” service in My Business Account by signing in or registering through Sign in to your CRA account.

A worker can ask for a ruling by using the My Account service at My Account for Individuals and selecting “Submit documents” and then “I do not have a case or reference number."

You can also use Form CPT1, Request for a CPP/EI Ruling – Employee or Self-Employed, and send it to your tax services office.

For more information, see Employment status: Employee or self-employed.