National Payroll Institute Updated PF1 Exam Questions and Answers by wyatt

In Quebec, employer-paid premiums (contributions) to a group insurance plan, including a private health services plan (which commonly covers items like dental and prescription drugs), are treated as a taxable benefit for the employee for Quebec purposes. Revenu Québec explicitly states that contributions (premiums) an employer pays under a group insurance plan for coverage received by an employee constitute a taxable benefit.

Because the employer is paying the premium directly to the insurer (the employee receives coverage rather than cash), this is treated as a non-cash taxable benefit in payroll classification terms. The payroll impact is that this taxable benefit must be included in the employee’s Quebec taxable income and reported on the RL-1 (and handled according to Quebec source deduction rules).

Outside Quebec, employer-paid health/dental plan premiums are generally not treated the same way for provincial taxable benefit purposes, which is why the correct answer among the options is Quebec.

A hiring authorization package/checklist typically ensures the organization collects the documents needed to onboard the employee and set them up correctly in payroll and HR systems. This often includes items like an offer letter, signed policies, banking details for direct deposit, emergency contacts, and required HR/legal acknowledgements. A confidentiality agreement is a common onboarding document because it protects the employer’s confidential information and can be required regardless of payroll deductions.

The other options are not good examples of “required information” for all new hires. Employees do not give “consent” for statutory deductions—deductions like CPP, EI, and income tax withholding are required by law and employers must withhold them when applicable. A “clearance certificate” is not a standard universal onboarding requirement for payroll in Canada. A T1213 is only completed in special situations where an employee requests CRA authorization to reduce tax withheld at source; it is not something most new hires must provide.

Because the plan is for the president only, it is a non-group insurance plan (a plan offered to an individual employee). The CRA states that when an employer pays premiums or makes contributions to a non-group insurance plan, the amounts paid are a taxable benefit. The CRA explicitly includes sickness or accident, disability, and income maintenance plans in this non-group category.

This benefit is generally treated as a non-cash taxable benefit because the employer is paying the premium directly to the insurer (the employee receives the coverage, not cash). CRA guidance distinguishes cash benefits (paid as money, reimbursements, or allowances) from benefits provided in a manner other than cash.

Payroll must therefore include the value of the employer-paid premium in the employee’s taxable income and report it on the appropriate slip (commonly T4 code 40 for current employees, as noted in CRA instructions for insurance premiums).

For payroll income tax purposes, net taxable income starts with the employee’s gross taxable income and then subtracts only those deductions that are deductible for income tax and can be recognized at source. CRA payroll guidance shows this approach by subtracting items such as RPP contributions and union dues when determining net taxable income for calculating income tax deductions.

Gross taxable income (weekly): $750.00.

RPP contributions are deductible (the amounts reported from box 20 of the T4 are generally deductible).

Regular union dues are deductible; however, the CRA states that deductible annual union/professional dues do not include special assessments or charges for anything other than ordinary operating costs. A levy specifically for constructing a new union hall is a special assessment, so it is not deductible as union dues.

So the deductions that reduce federal taxable income here are: $18.00 (union dues) + $20.00 (RPP) = $38.00.

Net federal taxable income = $750.00 − $38.00 = $712.00.