Under the Act respecting the Québec Pension Plan, you must ask every employee who works in Québec to show you their social insurance card or confirmation of social insurance number (SIN) letter within 30 days after they take up employment. If an employee is under 18, you must ask to see one of these documents in the month following their 18th birthday.

Every employee who contributes to the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) must have a SIN. This number ensures that the employee's contributions and pensionable salary or wages are correctly entered each year in the Record of Contributors kept by Retraite Québec (formerly kept by the Régie des rentes du Québec). The benefits to which the employee may be entitled are based on the data entered in this record.

The SIN is shown on an employee's social insurance card or in an employee's confirmation of SIN letter. An employee should contact Service Canada to obtain a SIN or request a change to personal information (for example, a name change).

You must enter the employee's first name, last name and SIN exactly as they appear on their social insurance card or in the confirmation of SIN letter, particularly on the RL-1 slip (see courtesy translation RL-1-T), and in your records and in all correspondence with us. You are responsible for providing a new employee who does not have a SIN with information on how they can get one. The information is available from Service Canada.

You have to withhold and pay QPP contributions and Québec parental insurance plan (QPIP) premiums even if the employee does not have a SIN or refuses to provide one.