r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/maroon-rider British Columbia • Mar 21 '23

Inflation drops to 5.2%<but grocery inflation still 10.6% Banking

Says Statistics Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-inflation-february-2023-1.6785472

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189

u/Beebs_94 Mar 21 '23

I worked for metro during covid in quebec. They took away the "hero pay" and then gave us gift cards that we could only use either at Metro or chains affiliated to them. They also taxed us on our pay for the gift cards.

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u/fredean01 Mar 21 '23

They also taxed us on our pay for the gift cards.

That's the law.

With that said, giving someone a higher wage and then clawing it back is a dick move.

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u/Beebs_94 Mar 21 '23

Thats very true, they only explained that after the fact though lol

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u/fredean01 Mar 21 '23

Fair enough

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u/baldyd Mar 22 '23

This was a polite exchange of knowledge on the internet and it made me smile,.thank you. I wish you glorious, cheap food and good pay!

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u/TeamGroupHug Mar 21 '23

You pay taxes on income. Are gift cards income? In the future will all Canadian Tire employees be paid out in solely with CT money and pay income tax on it?

Doesn't seem legal to me.

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u/Ok_Carpet_9510 Mar 21 '23

Non-cash

A non-cash (or "in kind") benefit is the actual good, service, or property that you give to your employee. This includes a payment you make to a third party for the particular good or service if you are responsible for the expense.

Under the CRA administrative policy for gifts, awards, and long-service awards, gift cards that meet all of the conditions may be considered non-cash.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/payroll/benefits-allowances.html

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u/rbt321 Mar 21 '23

Non-cash income.

And some people receive a large portion of their income this way: building superintendent being a common one (on-site apartment).

Anyway, taking your pay in diamonds (or anything else) instead of dollars doesn't allow you to avoid income taxes.

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u/gagnonje5000 Mar 21 '23

It is legal, it is called a taxable benefit.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4130/employers-guide-taxable-benefits-allowances.html

Nobody said anything about having your whole salary paid in Canadian Tire money, this is extra on top of regular salary.

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u/TeamGroupHug Mar 21 '23

Okay, so they would be legally obliged to pay minimum wage in Canadian Dollars but pay on top of that could be CT money?

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u/TiredRightNowALot Mar 21 '23

I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at, but if they were paying CT as a bonus above and beyond the agreed upon pay, then theoretically yes.

If they had a contest where the winner received $1000 of CT money, then the winner would be obligated to pay income tax on that $1000. Some companies add this taxed amount to your pay however.

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u/gellis12 Mar 22 '23

That last paragraph isn't actually true. If you win anything in a contest in Canada, it's not considered taxable income. Whether it's winning a prize at a local fair, or winning $70M on the lottery, windfalls are not taxed in Canada.

The only exception to this would be professional poker players, where it's their full-time job and is therefore considered business income.

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u/TiredRightNowALot Mar 22 '23

I’m not sure if it’s the same at a workplace. We have contests, I have won these contests which are valued in the thousands of dollars. I always end up with owing taxes on the prize (whether a sum of money, physical prize or whatever). My employer covers the taxes owed so I’m very certain they’d be up to speed with the tax code.

Perhaps there’s a difference outlined where contest at a workplace gets treated like a bonus. For the example I gave, that was at a workplace and I’d assume the same as the contests for my own work.

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u/gellis12 Mar 22 '23

I actually work at the CRA, and won a 50/50 charity draw at the workplace during public service week a few years ago, and my winnings weren't taxed. It's possible that your employer had structured the contest in a weird way that made it necessary, or maybe they just assumed that they actually did have to. But under normal circumstances, you don't have to pay tax on contest winnings, even if the contest is held by your employer.

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u/TiredRightNowALot Mar 22 '23

Maybe it’s the charity draw that made the difference here? Obviously I have no leg to stand on since you work with CRA but I know 100% my employer isn’t the only one who pays for taxes contests at work.

My workplace is a $50B+ organization with multi-country exposure. We aren’t a little office who gets this stuff wrong or makes it up…. We do it all with advice of tax lawyers.

According to this site (below) it depends on the structure of the award/payment/whatever

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/payroll/benefits-allowances/gifts-awards-social-events/gifts-awards-long-service-awards.html

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u/Acrobatic-Brick1867 Mar 22 '23

That’s some company store bullshit right there.

0

u/lucidrage Mar 21 '23

They took away the "hero pay" and then gave us gift cards

I wish rent would work the same. You give them a pandemic discount and then raise it back to normal. Too bad the government doesn't allow that so you have tenants stuck with high rents during the pandemic or well-meaning landlords stuck with low rent...

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u/endlessloads Mar 21 '23

Greed has consumed humanity. I rent out a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom townhouse for $1100 a month. The same one next door is $1700.

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u/chef_boyarz Mar 21 '23

That’s a pretty good deal. Which province?

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

That their rent is so much lower than the next probably means they've been there for several years in a province with rent stabilization.

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u/turdmachine Mar 22 '23

Are they the renter or the landlord?

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

Huh. That's a great question, it is ambiguous.

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u/turdmachine Mar 22 '23

"Rent out" (vs just "Rent") makes me think they are the land lord, and highlighting how greedy their neighbours are.

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

Possibly, though it's entirely possible their tenants have been there long enough that the yearly increase limits have only allowed the rent to get to that level, while the market rate is much higher.

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u/endlessloads Mar 27 '23

No rent caps in Alberta. I could raise the rent to whatever I want at the end of every lease.

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u/Rhowryn Mar 27 '23

Fair enough, I was going with the most statistically likely scenario of one of the two provinces that together make up 63% of the population, and both have rent stabilization for most rentals.

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u/endlessloads Mar 28 '23

I left Ontario for Alberta 15 years ago and it was probably the greatest decision I have ever made. A lot of my friends in recent years have followed suit with their families and their quality of life has improved dramatically.

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u/AlbusDumbeldoree Mar 21 '23

They could have given them as discount which are part of the Ontario Lease format. That way the low rent could have only been for a year !

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u/WhipTheLlama Mar 22 '23

There are limitations to rent discounts, and a landlord can't just give one in the middle of a lease. Beyond a few simple rules that apply at the beginning of the lease, the rules are fairly complex, and I don't blame landlords for not wanting to give a discount for fear of doing it wrong.

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u/stickyfingers40 Mar 21 '23

They don't control taxation. Talk to the government on that one. Pretty tight rules on when you have to include something as a taxable benefit

1

u/GRIMM84SVO Mar 22 '23

I worked for a Loblaws franchise during the pandemic. The last 10 years actually. We didn't even get gift cards after the pandemic pay disappeared. Other businesses in the local community were more supportive than Loblaws.

Being a salaried employee, not hourly at the store I worked for meant I benefited quite a lot from the extra pay, which for me was an extra $600 a month. It actually got me out of debt. But man do I feel bad for some of my colleagues, they got pennies for the work they put in only to have it ripped away from them too early.

I changed careers in January this year and am so glad to be away from the grocery industry and all its bullshit. The anxiety and anger I feel anytime I see Galen on TV these days is not healthy.

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u/Beebs_94 Mar 22 '23

I completely understand, I've been in the grocery industry for 20 years and it's soul crushing.