What Is The WSIB?
If you are an employer In the Province of Ontario, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) can visit you at any time during the year. The WSIB is auditing most business organizations to ensure that employees are registered and properly classified
The WSIB is a government agency that promotes workplace health and safety, and provides a no-fault insurance system that compensates workers who are injured on the job. The WSIB administers a fund made up entirely of employer premiums. The premiums are determined based on the classification of the employer. The WSIB will look at the various factors in classifying an employer, in particular, its industry and the business organization’s health and safety records. Upon registration, it is recommended for business organizations to contact their Certified Public Accountant to ensure that the WSIB is provided with the proper information.
What is WSIB Audit?
A WSIB audit is a thorough inspection of an organization’s documents, which includes a review of payroll records, financial statements, minute books, contracts, invoices and records with contractors, to ensure that the WSIB’s registration requirements for employees are being adhered to.
Failure to comply with the WSIB can result in a person or organization facing severe fines and possibly criminal penalties.
In many owner-operated businesses, employees often include family members. One of the most common errors uncovered in WSIB audits, is the organization’s failure to make WSIB contributions on behalf of that family employee. When an employee is hired, the employer is required to submit premiums to the WSIB for an employee, regardless of his or her relation to the employer.
The WSIB has strict rules regarding the classification of a worker, and failing to contribute to the WSIB by an employer is not exclusive to owner-operated businesses. However, there are mechanisms to avoiding the mandatory premium requirement, which all businesses, including owner-operated businesses can rely on. If a business organization is incorporated, premiums are not required for employees on the corporation’s board of directors or officers of the corporation, such as a president, secretary or treasurer.
How can we help ?
During the last years, our firm has developed strategies to maximize the benefits of WSIB coverage to our clients and their employees. In order to minimize the costs of WSIB, we also review the premiums paid by our clients, as there are various interpretations correctly or incorrectly assumed by the WSIB organization when rates are established. If any of our clients are contacted regarding any type of audit, including the WSIB audit, they are to be conducted at our office. Therefore we can “control” the audit process and oversee the audit to minimize the effects if any, to our clients.
RAVINDER MAKKAR CPA, CGA has been advising clients in the area of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board registrations, audits and other related WSIB premiums, by using his extensive knowledge resulting in substantial savings for our clients. Our specialties are Audit of Payroll, HST , WSIB, and Tax Audits .
Ravinder Makkar: Talent & Experience.