You may have noticed some temp agencies offer slightly higher pay by not putting you on their payroll. The extra dollars may sound tempting, but they hide some serious costs that are easy to overlook — time, stress, & risk.
Today, we want to break down how tax season works for dental temps, and why it’s extremely important that you pay careful attention to how the people you work with are handling your taxes.
Time
When you work with temp agencies that don’t put you on payroll, you’ll end up with multiple T4s/W2s to collect at the end of the year. One of our candidates recently shared her experience at a conference, saying she had to track down nearly 30 T4s last year! She missed one, and the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) came knocking, auditing her entire financial life. Needless to say, it was a nightmare.
Each T4 you collect represents more paperwork and more time spent managing your taxes. If you’re juggling 30 forms, that’s 30 different companies you need to chase for accurate documentation. And if you forget to submit one or make a mistake, you could end up facing an audit or penalties.
Stress
Agencies that don’t provide payroll often leave the burden of getting paid on you. That means you’re not only responsible for submitting your timesheet on time, but you also need to chase down payments when they’re late. Imagine becoming your own accounts receivable department, spending hours tracking down missing payments. If a company loses your timesheet or payment is delayed, guess who has to deal with it? You.
Risk
Is it worth becoming a part-time accountant and payroll specialist just to make a little extra? The time you spend managing these tasks could be spent doing something far more valuable. If you forget to submit a T4, face an audit, or need to chase down payments, you’re not saving money—you’re losing time and peace of mind.
Every new administrative task you have to deal with increases your risk. And small mistakes add up.
The office(s) you worked with will certainly be filing you under their tax umbrella. And, if their numbers don’t match yours (or you didn’t submit a form and they did), it’s easy to get flagged for discrepancies. Suddenly, you have the tax body pouring through your life. As Warren Buffet once said “If a cop follows you for 500 miles, you’re going to get a ticket.” Audits often lead to extra charges.
At WORKFORCE, we believe your time should be valued. Payroll should be seamless, and you shouldn’t have to worry about missing paperwork or payments. Your focus should be on your work, not on chasing down administrative tasks. Every new administrative task you have to deal with increases your risk.
Your not earning more; they’re saving more.
While some basement agencies might dangle the promise of slightly higher pay, the cost in time, effort, and risk is far greater. They’re saving more money than they’re passing on to you. It’s a rip-off. You get loaded with all of the risk and administrative burdens. And, as an temping agency that understands what it costs to manage the administrative tasks for all of our temps, we know how expensive and time-consuming it is. Don’t get tricked.
Let us handle the paperwork and payments, so you can focus on what really matters — your work.