The following employment categories are deemed excepted employment and are not subject to Québec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions:

• employment in agriculture, an agricultural enterprise, horticulture, fishing, hunting, trapping, forestry, logging or lumbering if:
  • you pay the employee less than $250 cash remuneration during the year, or
  • you hire the employee, in return for cash remuneration, for fewer than 25 working days during the year;
• work performed by your child or dependant, for which no cash remuneration is paid;
• work performed by a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of poverty and whose remuneration is paid to the religious order, either directly or by the member, provided an application was submitted in the prescribed manner before January 1, 1998;
• casual or short-term employment (excluding employment as an entertainer or performer) in a circus, show, exhibition or similar activity, where the employee:
  • is not regularly employed by you, and
  • is employed by you for fewer than seven days in the year;
• casual or short-term employment by the Government of Canada, the government of a province, a municipality or a school board in connection with a referendum or election, where the employee:
  • is not regularly employed by you, and
  • is employed by you for fewer than 35 hours in the year, in order to work on the referendum or election;
• casual or short-term employment in a disaster relief or rescue operation, if the employee is not regularly employed by you;
• employment of a person from a country other than Canada in a teaching position, further to an exchange;
• employment conferring the right to a pension plan established by the Courts of Justice Act or the Judges Act (federal statute);
• employment as a member of the Canadian Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;
• employment in Québec by an employer that, under a social security agreement, is exempt from paying QPP contributions;
• employment in Québec by another government or by an international government organization, other than employment covered by an agreement between Retraite Québec and the other government or organization, or between the Québec government and the organization;
• employment of an Indian, if the income gives entitlement to a deduction for employment income situated on a reserve or premises and you have not made the irrevocable election to have the Act respecting the Québec Pension Plan apply to this employment;
• employment in Québec by an employer that does not have an establishment in Québec, unless the employer has made an arrangement with Retraite Québec regarding the payment of contributions in respect of the employment for its employees resident in Canada who receive their remuneration from an establishment of the employer outside Canada.

Employment in a transport business may also, in some cases, be considered excepted employment, if the work is performed partly in Québec and partly outside Canada. Contact us for more information.