QBO Canada payroll - Contractors

Hi there Perfect Balance,

Thanks for joining us and for your interest in QuickBooks Online Payroll for your contractors. Keeping track of those details is just as important as anything else for your business, so I want to make sure you have the information about how QBO and it's Payroll module handle these situations.

QBO Payroll is great for working with employee information and paying them directly through our system using direct deposit. At this time, contractors are not included in the Payroll module, and I don't recommend setting up a contractor as a regular employee because it won't track properly. QBO Payroll isn't designed to handle contractor information, so adding in that kind of information may throw off your calculations for your remittances and otherwise. Additionally, the system will not produce the information you need for forms such as T4As and T5018s.

QBO does have an option for tracking contractor information, though, which is done through Suppliers. When you set up a new supplier profile, it now includes options to indicate that you'd also like to track T4As or T5018s for the supplier, which can then be filed later for the contractors. This article explains: Using T4A and T5018 forms in QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) also tracks contractor information using the Vendors setup and forms and gives you the opportunity to track those same forms I just mentioned: T4A and T5018 forms.

Whether you're using QBO or QBDT, the supplier/vendor option doesn't include the ability to pay your contractors by direct deposit through our system, so it'll mean considering other options for that. 

For QBO, an alternative solution is Wagepoint, like you mentioned. Although Wagepoint is a third-party option, it can still connect with your QuickBooks account to bring in your payroll information. I recommend visiting the Wagepoint website to learn more. You can even check in QBO's Apps section to see if there are any for managing and paying contractors while still filtering the information into QBO for your records. QuickBooks Desktop also has apps that it can connect with, which you can review here: QuickBooks Desktop Apps

I also encourage you to submit feedback about the available options and what you'd like to see in QBO by following the steps outlined here: How do I submit feedback? For QBDT, visit the Help menu in-product and then choose Send Feedback Online. This helps us as we continue to evolve the software to meet the needs of business owners and bookkeepers alike.

I hope this has been helpful. :)