Effective: April 1, 2019
Applicable FAM Policies: 740 - Honoraria
Applicability: GNWT Departments and Public Boards

This interpretation provides guidance for Board Honoraria payments.  Board Honoraria payments are subject to the Income Tax Act and the NWT Payroll Tax Act. 

Utilizing Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) criteria each member who services on a board and issued Honoraria Payments is assessed to determine the applicability of Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI), Income Tax (IT) source deductions and the NWT Payroll Tax deduction.

INTERPRETATION

1. Honoraria Payments

All newly appointed/elected/contracted board members and upon re-appointment/re-election/re-contracting existing members are subject to the rules below:

• All payments are to be paid through the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) or another Comptroller General (CG) approved system to facilitate member and employer share of deductions and T4 and T4A production.
• EI, CPP, IT and NWT Payroll Tax will be deducted from all honoraria payments, at time of payment, unless the board member provides information to demonstrate that deductions are not required by CRA.

• All Board member contracts are to be issued to an individual and not to a corporation.  A corporation does not sit as a board member.