Illustrative scenario: an Edmonton firm running payroll for 70 employers
An Edmonton firm running payroll for about 70 employers manages four different deadline rules at once. The CRA assigns each employer a remitter type from its average monthly withholding amount: quarterly remitters pay by the 15th after quarter-end, regular remitters by the 15th of the following month, and accelerated remitters on faster schedules.
The firm in this scenario
An archetype, not a client. The figures below describe the shape of the practice being modelled — they are inputs to the scenario, never results.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Archetype | Firm with a payroll-bureau service line |
| Location | Edmonton, Alberta |
| Firm size | Six staff |
| Client profile | Payroll for around 70 employers across every CRA remitter type |
- Services cadence
- Recurring projects
- Reminders
- Team assignment
The problem
Remitter type is per client, not per firm, and it changes when the CRA reassesses. A client that moves from regular to accelerated has a new deadline shape that nobody was told about in a form the practice reads.
February stacks slip obligations on top of everything else: T4s are due the last day of February for every one of those employers, in the same weeks the regular remittances keep running.
The workflow, step by step
- 1
Model remitter type as the service cadence
The client's payroll service carries its remitter type, so the schedule is data rather than an instruction in someone's notes.
Services catalogue
- 2
Generate remittance projects on the right schedule
Monthly, quarterly and accelerated obligations each produce their own recurring work with correct due dates.
Recurring projects
- 3
Open slip season in January
T4 projects open at the start of January feeding the last-day-of-February deadline, so December payroll data is collected while it is still fresh.
Task Master projects
- 4
Assign per clerk with a workload view
Each payroll clerk carries a visible book of employers, which is what makes February plannable rather than survivable.
Team assignment
What this changes
Payroll-heavy firms typically care most that a cadence change is a one-field edit. When the CRA moves a client between remitter types, next month's dates are already right — which is the whole reason to hold the type as data rather than as habit.
About this scenario
Related reading
Where this applies
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