- Calgary & Alberta Payroll
Payroll Services Calgary.
Pay Day Stays Yours. The Due Dates Become Ours.
Pay runs on time, source deductions remitted on schedule, and year-end slips filed, so payroll stops being a job you chase.
Radiant Skies runs your payroll on QuickBooks® Online Payroll. We keep it accurate, current, and onside with the CRA and Alberta’s employment standards:
- Pay runs: your people paid right, on the day you set, with overtime and holiday pay at Alberta’s rates.
- Source deductions: CPP, EI, and income tax remitted on the due date, with a record of each one.
- Year-end: T4s and ROEs prepared and filed where they need to go.
Payroll comes off your desk, for owner-managed businesses across Calgary and Alberta.
Flat monthly base plus a set per-employee fee. No hourly surprises. See our pricing.
Start with a free, no-obligation discussion.
- Online Payroll - Calgary, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, and Airdrie
Where Payroll Quietly Goes Wrong
As a business grows, payroll by spreadsheet or across disconnected tools gets risky. Most of the trouble shows up in the same four places:
- The remittance you find out about too late. A missed or miscalculated source-deduction deadline often announces itself when the CRA penalty arrives. The penalty grows the longer it sits.
- The compliance you cannot easily prove. Alberta’s rules on holiday pay, overtime, and termination need records that hold up. A spreadsheet rarely does when it matters.
- The hours that disappear into admin. Onboarding hires, tracking vacation pay, issuing Records of Employment: the three pull you off the business to handle paperwork.
- The job costs you cannot see. When payroll is not tied to your jobs, you are billing without knowing your real labour cost on each one. As a result, you lose money on some and strain trust on others.
- The Radiant Skies Online Payroll Management Difference
How We Run Your Payroll:
We replace the manual back-and-forth with managed payroll services in Calgary. We run them on QuickBooks® Online Payroll, under CPA oversight. Here is what that covers:
| Core Payroll Function | What We Do | What It Means for You |
| Source Deductions | Calculate, reconcile, and remit CPP, EI, and income tax to the CRA on your schedule. | Deadlines met, so a penalty letter is not how you find out. |
| Pay Cycle Administration | Direct deposits, vacation-pay tracking, and TD1 for new hires. | Your people paid right and on time, with fewer payroll questions coming back to you. |
| Job-Costing Integration | Map labour to specific customers, jobs, or projects so each hour lands in the right place. | Accurate labour costs tied to each job, so you bill from real numbers. |
| Year-End & Compliance | Prepare and file T4s and T4As, and issue ROEs. | Year-end filings done and on time, with no year-end scramble. |
The table shows the pay run. Your trade decides what goes into it.
Areas and Industries We Serve
Areas We Serve
Calgary, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, and Airdrie.
Member of the Calgary, Cochrane & District, Airdrie, Chestermere, and Okotoks & District chambers of commerce.
Industries We Serve
A site crew, a route of technicians, a fleet of drivers, a clinic team, and a brokerage office draw pay on different terms. Hourly, salaried, by the load, on a split, or on commission, the deductions still have to land on the right pay. We run the payroll in your trade’s terms.
A framer’s hours land on the project they framed, so your labour cost sits inside the job. A long weekend on site brings statutory holiday pay and overtime at the rate Alberta sets. At year-end the T4 shows the crew’s pay, and the subcontractor’s slip shows theirs.
On a job site, our payroll pays the crew by the hour and the long weekend at the rate Alberta sets. Turn to our construction and trades page for the crew’s full year.
A seasonal crew starts in April and leaves in October, and an ROE goes out for that departure. A technician’s vacation pay accrues on the route, pay by pay. A part-timer on two days a week carries the same deductions as a full-timer.
Seasonal crews come and go, and our payroll settles the vacation pay and the ROE when they leave. Head to our home and field services page for the season’s full run.
A company driver draws pay by the kilometre or the load, and the deductions come off that pay. An owner-operator invoices you instead, and their fees go on a year-end slip, not a T4. We keep the two apart on the run and at year-end.
Company drivers draw by the kilometre, and our payroll remits the deductions on that pay, run by run. Our oilfield services and trucking page holds the detail.
An associate takes a split, the hygienist and the receptionist take a wage, and the practitioner takes a salary from the corporation. Three kinds of pay run through one clinic. The practitioner’s salary carries its own deductions, and a benefit paid by the practice lands on the T4.
Associates, hygienists, and the practitioner take three kinds of pay, and our payroll slips the three at year-end. Find the rest on our professional practices page.
A PREC pays its agent a salary, and the licensed assistant draws a wage from the same corporation. A commission bonus on a closed deal takes deductions like any pay. The brokerage statement and the payroll stay separate, and the agent sees both.
An agent’s salary from the PREC and an assistant’s wage clear through one payroll, and our payroll clears both. Continue on our realtors, mortgage brokers, and insurance agents page for the agent’s year.
CPA-Overseen, and Connected to the Rest of Your Books:
Waheed Khan, CPA, CFA, sets up your payroll and oversees every run. His background runs deepest where payroll gets complicated:
Crews costed to jobs, owner-manager salary and dividends, and taxable benefits on the T4.
The same person manages the payroll reconciliation, so the remittance matches the ledger.
Our About Us page gives his full background.
Pay day lands on the same day every month, and so does our fee. One base, one rate per employee, both in writing before the first run.
Payroll
- Starting from $150 per month, plus one rate per employee.
- The base covers bi-weekly pay runs, the remittances to the CRA, and the T4s and T4As at year-end.
- The rate per employee covers that person’s pay, deductions, vacation pay, and the ROE when they leave.
- A new hire adds one line at the employee rate, and the base rate stays the same.
- You pay the QuickBooks® Online Payroll subscription to Intuit; it is not part of our fee.
Frequently Asked Payroll Services Calgary Questions
Can I run payroll myself with software, or should my accountant do it?
Yes, you can run it yourself. Software calculates the deductions and prints the stubs. What it does not do, however, is decide. For example, it cannot tell you whether a new hire is an employee or a contractor. Nor does it notice a missed remittance until the CRA letter arrives.
Therefore, the question is who carries the judgment and the deadlines. Our payroll services in Calgary carry both, with the same person who does your bookkeeping and year-end. Either way, the choice is yours.
I am the only person in my company. Do I have to set up payroll to pay myself?
Only if you pay yourself a salary. Dividends, by contrast, need no payroll account. Once you choose salary, however, you become an employer of one. As a result, you need a payroll account, deductions on each pay, and remittances on time.
In practice, many owners run one monthly pay and remit once a month. Skipping a slow month is fine, provided remittances for pays already run still go in. In short, small business payroll in Calgary for an owner of one is a brief monthly task. Our article Salary vs Dividends for Canadian Business Owners explains the trade-offs behind it.
I am hiring my first employee. What do I need to set up before their first pay?
Four things, in order. First, a payroll account with the CRA, which takes a few days. Second, a signed TD1 form from the employee, federal and Alberta. Third, their pay rate, pay frequency, and start date. Fourth, a place to record it, either software or a provider.
After that, the first pay run sets the deductions, and the first remittance date follows. In addition, Alberta’s employment standards set vacation pay and holiday rules from the first day of work. Our payroll services in Calgary set all four up ahead of the first pay day. Consequently, the setup is in place when that day arrives.
What happens if I miss a payroll remittance or send it late?
The CRA charges a penalty on the late amount, and interest runs from the due date. Moreover, the penalty rate rises with repeated lateness. Consequently, one miss costs little; a pattern costs more.
The fix is simple: remit the outstanding amount at once, then get the next one in on time. Above all, do not wait for a notice. With payroll outsourcing in Calgary, the remittance goes out on a calendar, not on memory. In addition, the record of each one sits in your file.
What do I take off an employee's pay, and how do I know the amounts are right?
Usually three deductions come off every pay: income tax, CPP, and EI. The amounts depend on the pay, the pay frequency, and the employee’s TD1 forms.
Then comes the part owners miss: the employer’s own share. Specifically, the employer’s share of CPP and EI. As a result, the remittance is larger than what you took off from the employee’s pay.
For one pay, the CRA’s payroll deductions calculator gives the right figures. Our accounting and payroll services, however, apply them on every run. Then we reconcile the totals to the remittance, so the amounts stay right all year.
Is a payroll service worth it when I only have one or two staff, or someone part-time?
Headcount does not change the obligations. For example, one part-time employee still needs a payroll account, deductions, remittances, a T4, and an ROE when they leave. What headcount changes, however, is the time you spend and the deadlines you carry.
Consequently, some owners run payroll themselves; others hand it to a provider and stop tracking the deadlines. Small business payroll in Calgary on a fixed fee turns those deadlines into our calendar. Either way, the obligations stay the same; only who carries them changes.
How much does payroll cost per month for a small business?
Our payroll services in Calgary bill as a flat monthly base fee plus a set fee per employee. There is no hourly billing. Your active headcount and your pay frequency set the quote. We confirm it in writing after the free discussion, before the first pay run. The fee covers the pay runs, the remittances, the year-end slips, and the ROEs. Our pricing section above states the two parts, starting from $150 a month, and what each covers.
Do you handle year-end filings like T4s?
Yes. T4 preparation, filing, and distribution by the end-of-February deadline are part of the service. Because we build the totals through the year rather than reconstruct them each spring, year-end stays organised.
- Contact Us
Hand Off Payroll. Keep Pay Day.
Pay day comes around whether the books are ready or not, and right now it comes to you. The hours, the deductions, and the remittance date wait for your evening. So does the ROE for the hire who left on Tuesday. Hand it to us. Pay day still comes to your crew on the same day, with the remittance behind it.
You speak with Waheed Khan, CPA, CFA, from the first call. Bring your headcount, your pay frequency, and your last remittance. A fixed monthly fee, in writing, follows within the week. Our How We Work page shows the first month, from that call to your first pay run with us.
Start with a free, no-obligation discussion:
Radiant Skies provides bookkeeping, tax, payroll, accounting, and fractional CFO services to small and medium-sized businesses across Calgary, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, Airdrie, and surrounding communities.
Scope, Regulatory & Legal Disclaimers
- General Information Disclaimer: The financial, compliance, and tax information provided on this page is designed strictly for general educational purposes. It does not constitute, and must not be used as a substitute for, personalized professional accounting, legal, or tax advice tailored to your specific corporate structure or personal financial situation.
- Scope Note: Radiant Skies Advisory & Accounting is a professional CPA practice registered with CPA Alberta, providing accounting, tax, and advisory services — not assurance.
- Trademark Note: QuickBooks® Online and QuickBooks® Online Payroll are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc. Radiant Skies Advisory & Accounting is an independent professional services practice and is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with Intuit Inc.