Providing Employer with Physical Address – Ask The Expert

Are Canadian employees legally required to provide their employer with a physical address?

In the United States, employees must provide their home address for tax reasons – but what must you provide your employer as a Canadian worker?

QUESTION

I am an employer with employees in the United States and Canada. Recently, a team member supplied me with his PO Box address instead of a home address. Is the team member allowed to do this, and, if not, am I allowed to request a home address?

ANSWER

A PO Box is adequate for your employee to provide when you request a physical address. You do not need to know their specific place of residence, just their jurisdiction for tax purposes and a form of address (whether it be PO Box or home) in case you need to send the employee anything, like their paycheque or work equipment.

EXPLANATION

For tax purposes, you are required to obtain the jurisdiction of your employee’s primary residence (so whichever Canadian province they reside in), unless you employ only remote employees. You can learn more about what you must provide remote employees with (and what information they must provide you with) on HR Insider here.

A PO Box is adequate in lieu of a home address and qualifies as a physical address for your employee, in this case.

If you need your employee’s home address for any other reason, you are within your rights to ask for it, but they are within their rights to not provide it, as well.

According to the CRA website, it is also important to note that “While your employer will tax according to the rules of their home province, you are required to pay provincial/territorial taxes where you reside. If there is a discrepancy between what your employer has remitted and what you owe, this will be reconciled with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) when you file for taxes.”

Learn more about legal considerations you need to take when hiring remote workers in other provinces here.