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Proposed Amendments to Policy Concerning Principals’ Dividends and Assessable Payroll
Principals of some companies do not pay themselves for labour through the company’s payroll. Instead, they take dividends from the company’s profits as payment for their labour.
Policy provides that WorkSafeBC may include dividends in assessable payroll where they represent payment for services provided by active principals. However, it is difficult to determine what portion of dividends represents payment for a principal’s activity in a company, and policy provides no guidance on how to do so.
At issue is whether to assess dividends, and if so, how to include them in assessable payroll.
At their meeting on March 25, 2009, the Board of Directors approved the release of a discussion paper with options and draft policy amendments for stakeholder consultation. Proposed deletions of policy wording are identified with a strikethrough and additions are identified in bold.
Discussion paper (PDF 104kb)
There are a number of ways for stakeholders to provide feedback on the options and draft policy amendments:
(a) Comment link:
Through the Comment link below, you will be able to provide immediate feedback by completing an online submission form.
Please note: Once you click the “submit” button at the bottom of the form you cannot access it again to make additional comments. Therefore, if you wish to make detailed comments in the feedback section, you may want to draft your comments using a word processing format and then cut and paste them into the submission form.
Alternatively, submissions can be submitted as follows:
| (b) | E-mail: | policy@worksafebc.com |
| (c) | Mail: | Susan Hynes |
| (d) | Fax: | 604 279-7599; or toll-free in B.C. 1 877-279-7599 |
The consultation period will end on June 19, 2009. The Board of Directors will consider stakeholder feedback before making a decision on policy amendments.
Please note that all comments become part of the Policy and Research Division's database and may be published, including the identity of organizations and those participating on behalf of organizations. The identity of those who have participated on their own behalf will be kept confidential according to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.