- The CRA has sent your employer a legal notice — a Requirement to Pay — directing them to redirect some or all of the wages they would otherwise pay you straight to the CRA, to be applied…
- - [ ] Comply with the notice as written — your employer can't simply ignore it or decide on their own not to withhold the specified funds.
- Ask your employer for a copy of the notice, if you haven't already seen it.
Finding out your employer CRA requirement to pay notice has arrived — usually because your paycheque suddenly looks different — can be alarming, especially if you didn't know you owed the CRA anything, or thought a debt had already been resolved. Here's what's actually happening, what your employer legally has to do, and what options remain available to you.
What Just Happened
The CRA has sent your employer a legal notice — a Requirement to Pay — directing them to redirect some or all of the wages they would otherwise pay you straight to the CRA, to be applied against a tax debt in your name. Your employer didn't choose to do this; it's a legal obligation once a valid notice arrives.
What Your Employer Must Do
- [ ] Comply with the notice as written — your employer can't simply ignore it or decide on their own not to withhold the specified funds.
- [ ] Continue paying you whatever wages the notice doesn't require to be redirected.
- [ ] Administer the arrangement through ordinary payroll processes — receiving a Requirement to Pay for an employee is an uncomfortable but routine payroll matter for the employer.
Your employer faces personal exposure of their own if they fail to comply with a valid Requirement to Pay — which is exactly why most employers act on one immediately once received, without waiting to hear from you first.
What You Should Do
- Ask your employer for a copy of the notice, if you haven't already seen it. You're entitled to understand what's being redirected and why.
- Confirm the debt is actually yours and the amount is accurate. Tax debts are sometimes the result of an old reassessment you may not have fully resolved, or in rare cases, a data-matching error.
- Check whether you still have live objection or appeal rights. If the underlying assessment is one you genuinely disagree with, and applicable deadlines haven't passed, disputing it is a separate track from resolving the Requirement to Pay itself.
- Contact the CRA about a payment arrangement. In many cases, arranging to pay the debt directly is the clearest path to having the Requirement to Pay lifted.
- Get legal advice if the amount being redirected is causing real hardship. A taxpayer relief request is a discretionary option worth discussing with a lawyer in genuine hardship situations, though it isn't guaranteed and CRA decides case by case.
Common Misconceptions
- "My employer can refuse if I ask them to." Employers can't lawfully ignore a valid Requirement to Pay just because an employee objects — doing so exposes the employer, not you, to liability for the amount.
- "This means I'm in trouble with the law." A Requirement to Pay is a civil debt-collection step, not a criminal matter. It reflects an unresolved tax debt, not an accusation of wrongdoing.
- "There's nothing I can do now." Even after a Requirement to Pay has been issued, resolving or disputing the underlying debt can still lead to it being reduced or lifted.
If You Believe the Amount Is Wrong
Sometimes the amount an employer is told to redirect doesn't match what you expect, or the redirection continues even after you believe the underlying debt has been resolved. If that happens, the fastest fix is usually a call to the CRA to confirm the current balance and whether the Requirement to Pay has been updated or should be released — your employer has no independent ability to verify or adjust that balance on your behalf.
Frequently asked questions
Can I ask my employer to fight the Requirement to Pay on my behalf?
Your employer generally has no legal basis to refuse or contest a valid Requirement to Pay — their obligation is to comply, not to advocate for you. Any dispute about the underlying debt needs to go through you directly with the CRA or through the objection and appeal process.
Will this show up on my credit report or affect my job?
A Requirement to Pay itself is a matter between you, your employer, and the CRA — it isn't the same as a credit report entry. How your employer handles the administrative side of payroll compliance is between you and them, but the notice itself doesn't constitute a report to a credit bureau.
What if I think the tax debt isn't mine, or has already been paid?
Raise it with the CRA immediately and ask your employer for a copy of the notice to confirm the details. If CRA's records are wrong, resolving that directly with them is the fastest way to stop an incorrect redirection.
Is there a way to negotiate how much comes off each paycheque?
The scope of a Requirement to Pay is set by the notice CRA sends to your employer, not something your employer can adjust informally. If the amount is causing genuine hardship, that's a conversation to have directly with the CRA or with a lawyer about your options, not with your employer's payroll department.
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