Employees Profit Sharing Plans

Employees Profit Sharing Plans – The Unknown Benefit

An Employees Profit Sharing Plan (“E.P.S.P.”) is a trust that allows an employer to share business profits with some or all of its employees. The E.P.S.P. does not require registration.

Amounts are paid to a trustee to be held and invested for the benefit of the employees who are members of the plan.

Trust Not Taxed

No tax is payable by a trust governed by an E.P.S.P. on its taxable income. This means that like registered pension plans or R.R.S.P.’s, the income of the trust accumulates on an untaxed basis.

Taxation of Employees

The trust must make an annual allocation, either contingently or absolutely, amongst all of the E.P.S.P. members. The allocation includes the following:

• Contributions received from the employer
• Profits of the trust
• Capital gains and losses of the trust

This means that an employee pays tax annually on the activities of the trust on the amount alocated to him.

Payments to Employees

Since the employee is taxed on allocations, receipts from the E.P.S.P. are not taxable. In addition, if specific assets are paid by the trust to an employee the assets roll out at their cost base.

Deduction to Employer

The employer is entitled to deduct all amounts paid to the E.P.S.P. within 120 days of its year end. Furthermore, any amounts paid as administration fees to the trustee of the E.P.S.P. will be considered to be contributions to the E.P.S.P. which are deductible to the employer and must be allocated to the employees.

Vesting

Benefits need not vest in employees immediately. The vesting period can vary in order to ensure employee loyalty.

If amounts have been allocated and have been taxed in the hands of an employee who subsequently leaves prior to the benefits vesting, the employee is entitled to a deduction for the unreceived amounts.

Required contribution by Employer

One of the fundamental requirements of the E.P.S.P. is that payments from the employer to the trust must be computed by reference to profits. A formula must be put in place which governs what the annual contributions will be.

There is also a provision for an election which permits formulae based on factors other than profits to be used.

Employee Contributions

The rules of the plan may also permit employees to make contributions to the E.P.S.P. These contributions are not deductible to the employee nor are they taxable when returned.

General Benefits of Plan

The following benefits make E.P.S.P.’s attractive for a company to consider:

• Tax free compounding in plan
• Deductions to employers
• Opportunity to reward employees
• Opportunity to help ensure employee loyalty
• No impact on R.R.S.P. or R.P.P contributions

About the Author

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David J. Rotfleisch

David J. Rotfleisch, a leading Canadian tax lawyer, is not only a certified specialist in taxation but also a chartered professional accountant. Most recently, David is a pioneer in Canadian crypto taxation.

As of April 2020, he was one of 12 Ontario Certified Specialists In Taxation™.

Learn more about David J. Rotfleisch