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Deductions

Last updated: May 23, 2019

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in processing deductions.

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Process description

This process includes starting, stopping or amending deductions. It is triggered either by the notification of a new employee, a new position appointment, or an employee’s decision to change their voluntary deductions.

Phoenix or the compensation advisor automatically processes mandatory deductions.

Tax deductions

Tax-related deductions refer to the standard tax deductions from an employee’s pay and may include:

  • federal tax
  • provincial income tax

An employee may also request that additional tax be withheld.

General deductions

General deductions include both mandatory deductions such as:

  • union dues
  • garnishment

and voluntary deductions such as:

  • charitable donations (Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign)
  • parking

Employee responsibilities

Employees have certain responsibilities in processing deductions.

Tax deductions: additional income tax

If an employee would like additional income tax to be withheld from their pay, they should send the relevant tax forms to either:

  • their human resources department (when you are hired), or
  • the Pay Centre Mail Facility, under cover of a completed pay action request form, by encrypted email, fax or mail

General deductions: other (excluding union dues)

Employees can use Phoenix self-service to start, amend or stop certain voluntary deductions, including deductions for credit unions and fonds de solidarité. This can be done as of the current date, or for a future date. Refer to Phoenix self-service for a list of options.

General deductions: union dues

If an employee objects to the automatic deduction of union dues on grounds of conscience, they should send a completed Affidavit - Objection on grounds of conscience to dues check-off form to their departmental human resources officer.

Other voluntary deductions

Employees should complete and send the relevant forms to the Pay Centre Mail Facility by encrypted email, fax or mail, under cover of a completed pay action request form.

Note

Some departments may have a different process and the employee should check with their departmental human resources before completing the form.

Human resources responsibilities

Human resources is responsible for:

Finance responsibilities

Finance has certain responsibilities in processing deductions.

General deductions: union dues

Finance is responsible for issuing payment or an electronic funds transfer to unions when requisitioned by the Pay Centre for dues payable within 30 days.

Note

The amount owed to unions will be recovered from affected employees until it is paid in full. Refer to Compensation Directive 2012-006 for more information.

Other voluntary deductions: subsidized parking

Finance is responsible for providing the information (parking receipt) through a trusted source to the Pay Centre Mail Facility by encrypted email, fax, or mail, under cover of a pay action request form

Note

Some departments may have a different process and the employee should check with their human resources before completing the form.

Trusted source responsibilities

The trusted source is responsible for authenticating signatures on paper requests before they are sent by their department to the Pay Centre, for example:

Note

The trusted source does not need to authenticate any paper requests that do not require any departmental signatures and that the employee sends directly to the Pay Centre.

Pay Centre responsibilities

The Pay Centre is responsible for validating the trusted source against the trusted source list upon receiving any deductions from human resources.

Tax deductions

Upon receipt of required documentation, the Pay Centre is responsible for:

  • requesting that additional tax be withheld
  • adjusting an employee’s tax-related deductions

General deductions: other (excluding Union dues)

The Pay Centre is responsible for starting, amending or stopping an employee’s deductions that are not available through Phoenix self-service.

General deductions: union dues

The Pay Centre is responsible for:

  • ensuring the employee has paid/is paying the correct union dues to the proper union for the right amount by:
    • requisitioning payments by departmental finance to unions
    • recovering dues paid on the employees’ behalf by the department (if applicable)
  • sending a Requisition for Payment (Canadian Funds) form (accessible only on the Government of Canada network), by encrypted email or fax, to inform finance that they must make a payment to the bargaining unit within 30 days (for arrears owing only)
  • recovers amounts owing from the employee

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) does not follow the GC 80/5F3 process. The Pay Centre recovers PSAC arrears via code 848 with the same restrictions as the 5F3 (monthly recovery deduction amount not to exceed the employee’s current monthly deduction).

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