An employer must generally make source deductions and pay the employer contributions specified under Québec legislation regarding the salaries or wages it pays an employee if either of the following conditions is met:

• The employee reports for work at an establishment of the employer located in Québec.
• The employee is not required to report for work at an establishment of their employer (in Québec or elsewhere), and their salary or wages are paid from an establishment of the employer located in Québec.

As of January 1, 2024, if an employee does not physically report for work at an establishment of their employer, we consider that they are reporting for work at an establishment of their employer if they are “attached” to the establishment. An employee is attached to an establishment if both of the following conditions are met:

• A temporary or permanent work agreement allows the employee to work full-time remotely from a location that is not an establishment of the employer (the employer and employee must be able to justify that such an agreement was made).
• The employee is reasonably considered to be attached to an establishment of the employer (see indicators below).

This administrative policy applies to source deductions of Québec income tax, employee Québec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions and Québec parental insurance plan (QPIP) premiums as well as to employer contributions to the QPP, the QPIP, the health services fund, the Workforce Skills Development and Recognition Fund (WSDRF), and to the contribution related to labour standards.

For the purposes of this policy, “employee” means teleworkers as well as employees who never have to report for work at an establishment of their employer, such as travelling representatives.

This policy does not apply if the employee is not considered to be working full-time remotely or if they are not considered to be attached to an establishment of their employer.

Indicators for determining whether an employee can reasonably be considered to be attached to an establishment of their employer

The following indicators must be used to determine whether an employee can reasonably be considered to be attached to an establishment of their employer.

Primary indicator

If there is no full-time remote work agreement and the employee would have to physically report to work to carry out their employment duties at an establishment of their employer, we consider the employee to be attached to that establishment.

If an employee physically reported to an establishment of the employer immediately before entering a full-time remote work agreement, we consider them to be attached to that establishment, unless the employee's circumstances or the nature of their duties have changed.

Secondary indicators

If the primary indicator is not useful for determining whether an employee is attached to an establishment of their employer, the following indicators must be used to determine whether they can reasonably be considered to be attached to that establishment:

• The employee attends or would attend in-person meetings at the establishment, through any type of communication.
• The employee receives or would receive work-related material or equipment or associated instructions and assistance at the establishment.
• The employee comes or would go in-person to the establishment to receive instructions from their employer regarding their duties, through any type of communication.
• The employee is supervised from the establishment, as indicated in their employment contract.
• The employee would report for work at the establishment based on the nature of their duties.

Generally, all the indicators need to be reviewed together in order to determine whether the employee is reasonably considered to be “attached to an establishment of the employer.” This determination cannot be used to avoid making Québec source deductions and paying Québec employer contributions.

More than one establishment of the employer

If an employee can be reasonably considered attached to more than one establishment of the employer, the same indicators should be used to determine to which establishment of the employer the employee can be reasonably considered as more closely attached to.

Example

An employee works as a systems analyst for an employer. The employer and employee have an agreement authorizing the employee to work from their residence in Ontario 100% of the time. We must determine whether the employee can reasonably be considered to be attached to an establishment of their employer.

Had there been no agreement authorizing full-time remote work, the employee would have to physically report for work at the establishment of their employer located in Québec to carry out their duties. We therefore consider that the employee is attached to that establishment. As a result, we consider that the employee reports for work at their employer's establishment in Québec. The employer must therefore make Québec source deductions and pay Québec employer contributions on the salary or wages paid to the employee.