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Caregiver payroll for Canadian household employers

Caregiver payroll means treating the person you hire at home the way the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) expects: register a payroll account, calculate CPP, EI, and income tax, pay vacation and other employment standards amounts, keep records, and file year-end slips.

RoostPay is household payroll software that calculates those amounts, produces pay stubs, T4s, and ROEs, and shows you what to remit to the CRA. You still pay your caregiver and remit to the CRA yourself. This page is for families who pay the caregiver themselves, whether you hire directly or through a placement agency, and whether you pay privately for a parent or senior or you hire your own attendant or support worker, not for families who pay an agency to employ the worker and handle payroll.

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Man reviewing a caregiver payroll dashboard on a laptop at a wooden kitchen table, with a house visible through the window

Who are you paying for?

The rules are the same underneath, but the details you need depend on who you’re hiring for. Pick the page that matches your situation.

A parent or senior

You hire and pay a caregiver or PSW (personal support worker) so a parent or older relative can stay at home.

Senior caregiver payroll →

Yourself or a family member with a disability

You hire your own attendant or support worker, paid privately or through a program like CSIL or Alberta Self-Managed Care.

Attendant and support worker payroll →

Five Steps to Payroll for Domestic Employers

Every household employer works through roughly the same list. Open a step for how to do it.

1 Confirm you’re the employer under CRA rules
  • You hired the caregiver.
  • You set their regular working hours.
  • You assign and supervise the work.
  • If all three apply, the CRA generally treats you as the employer, including when a placement agency introduced them and you pay the caregiver yourself.
  • If you are unsure, you or your caregiver can ask the CRA for a CPP/EI ruling.
2 Register a CRA payroll account
  • Register a payroll program account under a CRA Business Number once you know you are the employer.
  • Use that account to remit CPP, EI, and income tax instead of paying only in cash with no records.
  • Walk through registration in our guide on getting a CRA Business Number for a caregiver .
3 Withhold and remit CPP, EI, and income tax
  • Calculate employee withholdings and your employer share when the pay is pensionable and insurable.
  • Outside Quebec in 2026, CPP is 5.95% each (yearly maximum pensionable earnings $74,600; basic exemption $3,500).
  • CPP2 is 4% each on earnings above that yearly maximum, up to $85,000.
  • Federal EI is 1.63% for the employee and 2.28% for the employer (1.4 times the employee rate), on insurable earnings up to $68,900.
  • Quebec uses reduced EI rates and QPIP. Confirm the current figures with the CRA before you remit.
  • RoostPay calculates the amounts each pay run. You still remit to the CRA yourself.
4 Track vacation pay and issue a T4 and ROE
  • Follow your province’s employment standards for vacation pay and statutory holidays.
  • Put the required details on each pay stub, and keep records from the first pay period.
  • Issue a T4 at year-end.
  • When the job ends and the work was insurable, issue a Record of Employment so your caregiver can apply for EI.
5 Check whether you need workers’ comp coverage
  • In Ontario, a domestic employee averaging more than 24 hours a week needs WSIB coverage. Register within 10 calendar days of hiring.
  • A private attendant who provides personal care, such as bathing or grooming, generally does not have to register with WSIB. Optional coverage is available.
  • If the role mixes housework and personal care, ask WSIB rather than guessing.
  • In BC, WorkSafeBC generally requires coverage for a home health worker at 8 or more hours a week.
  • In other provinces, check your workers’ compensation board. Our guide covers domestic employer registration in BC, Ontario, and Quebec .

This is not tax or legal advice. Confirm your situation with the CRA and your province.

How RoostPay Helps with Caregiver Payroll

RoostPay is built for Canadian household employers, the same payroll math families already use for nanny payroll , adapted here for caregiver and support-worker arrangements.

  • RoostPay handles

    Payroll calculations (CPP, CPP2, EI, income tax, vacation pay)

    You stay in charge

    Pay your caregiver from your own bank account

  • RoostPay handles

    Deduction and remittance amounts

    You stay in charge

    Remit those amounts to the CRA yourself

  • RoostPay handles

    Pay stubs, T4s, and ROEs

    You stay in charge

    Any funding-program report your situation requires

  • RoostPay handles

    One flat plan for multiple caregivers

    You stay in charge

    Workers’ comp registration, if your province requires it

RoostPay calculates each pay run, shows you what to remit, and prepares the pay stubs, T4s, and ROEs so you can pay your caregiver and send the CRA what is owed.

RoostPay app on two phones showing the home dashboard with the current pay period and gross salary cost, and the Payroll screen with past pay runs and paystubs
Your pay period, hours, and gross cost on the home screen, with every pay run and paystub one tap away.

Flat pricing for one caregiver, or several

Families covering longer hours or overnight care often employ more than one caregiver. RoostPay’s Full Access plan is one price with unlimited employees: $24/month or $228/year (shown as $19/month when billed annually), with no setup fee. This means you will save the extra fees a per-employee product charges once you’re paying three or four caregivers.

Compare Full Access for one caregiver or several.

Caregiver payroll pricing

Multiple employer access for caregiver payroll

An adult child often ends up running caregiver payroll for a parent, sometimes from another city. RoostPay lets you give a second family member or a power of attorney the same access as the household employer, so the person on the account isn’t stuck doing every pay run alone.

That second person can do every task the first person can, including scheduling, running caregiver payroll, calculating CPP, EI, and income tax remittances, and adding a new caregiver.

Caregiver Payroll Guides

Paying for a parent or senior

Attendant or support worker

Start caregiver payroll with RoostPay

One plan, unlimited employees. $24/month or $228/year.

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Frequently asked questions

What does caregiver payroll actually mean?

It means treating the person you hire at home as an employee: registering a CRA payroll account, calculating CPP, EI, and income tax, keeping records, and issuing year-end slips, instead of just handing over cash.

Do I have to treat my caregiver as an employee?

Usually yes, if you hire them, set their hours, and supervise the work. The CRA calls this the employer test. If you are unsure, either you or your caregiver can ask the CRA for a ruling.

Can I pay a caregiver in cash?

You can pay a caregiver in cash, but you still need to withhold and remit when the rules say you are the employer, and you still need to keep records. Undocumented cash pay is what gets families into trouble, not cash itself. We recommend an e-transfer or a cheque, so you have a paper trail for each payment.

Is this the same as buying hours from a home-care agency?

No. An agency employs the caregiver and sends you an invoice. RoostPay is designed for families who hire directly, set the schedule, and are the legal employer. It calculates each pay run and prepares the pay stubs, T4s, and ROEs so you can pay your caregiver and remit to the CRA.

How is this different from nanny payroll?

Caregiver payroll and nanny payroll run on the same RoostPay tools. CPP, EI, and income tax are calculated the same way for both. What differs is the type of work, and the workers’ compensation and program rules that come with it. For childcare, see nanny payroll in Canada.

Sources

Last updated: 2026-09-25. This page is general information for Canadian household employers. It is not tax, legal, insurance, or employment advice. Rules change; confirm with the CRA, your provincial workers’ compensation board, employment standards office, and, if applicable, your funding program or case manager.