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FEATURE ARTICLE
• Foreign employees of international organizations
or members of their family.
Spreading out the payment through payroll
deductions
In general, the contribution will be payable no later
than April 30 of the year following the year for
which it is payable. Quebecers pay the sum when
they file their Québec income tax, on line 448.
Employees can spread out the payment of the
health contribution using source deductions. The
new Source Deduction Tables for Québec Income
Tax were adjusted on July 1, 2016, to take this
reduction into account.
Personal bankruptcy
When a taxpayer declares bankruptcy in a given
calendar year, only the income determined for the
tax year that is deemed to have started on the
date of the taxpayer's bankruptcy will be taken
into consideration to determine the amount of the
health contribution that is payable.
This is great news that supports requests that have
been made to Revenu Québec for years to calculate
social charges only on income earned after the
bankruptcy date.
Quarterly accounts
Revenu Québec will adjust the payment of quarterly
accounts after March 31, 2016, to reflect the new
health contribution payment.
Remember that taxpayers are expected to make
quaterly payments if they do not have amounts
deducted at source or if these amounts are
insufficient and if their estimated net income tax
for the year is higher than $1,800 and in either
of the two preceding years, their net income tax
payable also exceeded $1,800. In addition to the
health contribution and income taxes, the following
contributions are included in the $1,800 threshold:
• Contributions to the Québec Pension Plan.
• Contributions to the Health Services Fund.
• Contributions to the Québec drug insurance plan.
• Contributions to the Québec Parental Insurance
Plan.
Increase in available net income
The total abolition of the health contribution will
increase the available net income of all taxpayers
by about $759 million. On an individual basis, the
maximum savings for people at the highest income
levels will be $1,000 a year when this tax measure
is completely abolished.
The health contribution has been the subject of
many debates since it came into effect, but in a
few short years, it will be nothing more than a bad
memory for Québec taxpayers.
