I apologize for keeping you waiting, but I had to enlist a payroll expert on this one. And here’s his reply. Great questions, BTW; try to be a bit faster the next time. . .
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To answer your specific questions.
- My suggestion is that there be a flat dollar amount, payable at the start of every month, as a retainer. For this, I would promise to reply to questions asked within 12 hours of receiving them, barring unforeseen circumstances. Since the volume will vary from time to time, my suggestion is $200/month Canadian, plus GST. If there was some large, significant increase in the volume of questions, that might indicate this dollar amount would have to be reviewed.
- There seems to be some confusion around the status of a travel allowance that would be reportable in T4 box 14 and code 32. I assume by “allowance”, they mean “non-accountable allowance”, in other words a pre-determined cash payment that does not directly reflect the actual travel expenses incurred. If this assumption holds, the allowance is a cash payment, an earning that falls into the definition of salary and wages. There is no GST on salary and wages paid to employees. Questions about GST, including any possible employer remittance or Input Tax Credits do not apply. Page 38 of T4130-20 (right hand column) says no GST is deemed to have been collected on the payment of allowances. At the same time, page 41 of the same guide says you can’t claim an ITC if the benefit provided was exclusively for the employee’s personal use.