Boy oh boy was there quite an uproar in our seminar today. Some salon owners and chair renters were very unhappy, confused and scared upon hearing about the Canada Revenue Agency's policies on Employment Insurance regarding hairdressers and barbers. Here's some info from you, kindly provided to us by a participant in the class.Under a special EI regulation, the owner, proprietor, or operator of the barbershop or hairdressing business is considered to be the employer of the individuals who perform services in connection with the establishment, EVEN IF THE INDIVIDUALS ARE NOT EMPLOYED UNDER A CONTRACT OF SERVICE (CHAIR RENTERS).
If you own or operate the business, you have to pay both the worker's share and your share of EI premiums. The worker's insurable earnings are to be calculated based on the net revenue.The worker's insurable earnings are used to determine the worker's share of EI premiums.
Now, as the owner of a chair rental salon you might be thinking...
"I have no idea what my chair renters make" !
Well don't worry your pretty little head about it, the CRA has thought of that...
There are two ways to determine the insurable earnings for a week, depending on whether or not you know the worker's actual weekly earnings and expenses:
a) If you know how much the worker earned in a pay period and the expenses incurred in generating revenue from the worker's operation in the establishment, the amount of the individuals insurable earnings is the total actual earnings (net revenue) from the individuals employment for the pay period up to the maximum annual insurable earnings.
b) If you do not know how much the worker earned and/or the expenses the worker incurred in generating revenue from the worker's operation in the establishment in a pay period, the amount of insurable earnings is the lesser of:
- the number of days worked in the week multiplies by 1/390 of the maximum of the annual insurable earning; or
- 1/78 of the maximum annual insurable earnings
As the employer, you have to send int he EI premiums that you paid for your workers.
Confusing, isn't it? As a chair renter myself I was under the impression that I was self employed and had the option of whether I wanted to pay into EI or not (this only became an option for self employed individuals in 2010). According to this, as a self employed hairstylist I have NO choice but to pay into EI.
If you are the salon owner of a chair rental salon, you are required to pay both the employee's and the employer's EI contributions, meaning...unless you want to incur these expenses they should be added on to the chair rent you collect each month.
If you'd like more information please visit the CRA website at:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html or speak with your accountant.
And for goodness sakes, DO NOT shoot the messenger!
