News release

Revenue Canada publishes new guide to help employers and workers determine employment status

OTTAWA, October 26, 1998...The Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of National Revenue and M.P. (Vancouver South-Burnaby), announced today, as part of the Small Business Week, the publication of a new guide to help employers and workers clarify the rules related to determining their employment status.

The easy-to-use, 15-page publication, called Employee or Self-employed?, offers a simple way to determine the kind of relationship that exists between an employer and a worker. It features a questionnaire that allows employers and workers to examine the terms and conditions of employment, and decide whether a worker is in an employer-employee relationship or a business relationship.

"Revenue Canada wants to help its clients avoid problems related to the wrong determination of a worker's status," said the Minister. "More than an information booklet, this new publication is a practical tool that will help employers and workers understand and apply the rules."

It is especially important for employers and workers to know the kind of employment relationship that exists because their responsibilities and entitlements vary according to a worker's status. In cases of a wrong determination, employees may find themselves with unexpected tax bills, and employers may have to pay certain source deductions they should have remitted, plus penalties and interest. Unemployed workers could have to wait longer for employment insurance benefits if they were mistakenly classified as self-employed by their previous employer.

Copies of the guide are available at tax services offices and tax centres, and on the Internet at: (Frequently Requested Publications). The addresses and telephone numbers for the offices are listed under "Revenue Canada" in the Government of Canada section of the telephone book.

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