Who this guide is for

You run a small Canadian business, you keep your books in Wave (or are about to), and you are about to hire your first employee or start paying contractors through payroll. This guide covers what Wave Payroll costs in Canada, where it works, what it does for you with the CRA, and the jobs you handle yourself.

If you are still deciding between payroll tools in general, start with our best payroll software in Canada roundup. If you are deciding whether Wave is the right accounting software at all, read our Wave review.

How we researched this

This is a research-only guide. We did not run payroll in Wave. Everything below comes from Wave's payroll and pricing pages, Wave's help centre articles on Canadian payroll, and the CRA's payroll pages, all checked October 2026. Wave updates its help centre often, and several of the articles we used were revised in the last few weeks before we checked them. Confirm anything you rely on in your own Wave account before you run your first payroll.

What Wave Payroll costs in Canada

Wave Payroll is a monthly add-on with one Canadian price. Wave's payroll page and its help centre list the same fees:

  • Base fee: CAD $25 a month
  • Employees: $6 per active employee per month
  • Contractors: $6 per independent contractor paid

Wave counts an employee as active if they currently work for you and are not on leave, even if you leave them out of a pay period. There are no setup fees, and there is a 30-day free trial that starts the day you approve your first payroll.

Billing has two details worth knowing. Wave bills on the first of each month: the bill covers that month's base fee plus the previous month's employee and contractor fees. Your first bill is just the base fee, and if you start in the last 10 days of a month, the first base fee is pro-rated. Wave also charges sales tax based on the work address in your business profile, so the amounts below are before tax.

FeatureMonthly costYearly cost
1 employee$31$372
3 employees$43$516
5 employees$55$660
3 employees + 2 contractors paid$55$660
10 employees$85$1,020
Our arithmetic from Wave's Canadian payroll pricing (CAD $25 base + $6 per active employee + $6 per contractor paid), before sales tax, checked October 2026.

The contractor fee is worth noting. Many payroll tools charge only for employees. Wave charges $6 for each contractor you pay, so a business that pays several contractors through Wave can pay as much per contractor as per employee.

Wave says you can pay for the subscription with a Visa or debit card, and recommends a credit card because some debit cards may not be supported.

Starter or Pro: does your Wave plan matter?

Not for access. Wave's pricing page lists payroll as an add-on "from $25/month" on both the free Starter plan and Pro, so you do not need Pro to run payroll. Wave's user roles article also lists the Payroll Manager role as available on all plans. That role can run and manage payroll but has no access to your sales, purchases, accounting or reports.

Pro matters for bookkeeping. Automatic bank imports are a Pro feature, and Wave's payroll bookkeeping article says that when you import transactions automatically, the payroll withdrawal from your bank is categorized as a transfer that clears Wave's payroll holding account. On Starter, you would upload or enter those bank transactions yourself. Our Wave review covers what else Pro adds.

See Wave's current payroll pricing (opens NorthVetted redirect)

Which provinces and territories Wave Payroll supports

Wave's payroll page says Canadian payroll is "available in all provinces and territories, except Quebec." That covers British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The Quebec exclusion covers businesses, employees and contractors. Wave's subscription article says it does not support payroll for businesses or employees located in Quebec, because Quebec employers must remit to Revenu Québec and Wave only calculates and remits taxes for the CRA. Its contractor article says Wave does not currently support contractors located in Quebec either. So an Ontario business with one employee or contractor in Quebec cannot run that person through Wave.

One more detail for businesses near a provincial border or with remote staff. Wave's help centre says that for Canadian employers, "taxes are calculated based on the province the business is located in, not where the employee lives." The CRA's rule is based on the employer's establishment where the employee reports for work, and the CRA says an employee's home office is generally not an establishment of the employer. For a business with one location, those usually point to the same province. If you have locations in more than one province, check each employee's province of employment against what Wave will calculate before you approve a payroll.

What Wave Payroll includes

CRA remittances (with direct deposit approval)

Wave's payroll page lists automatic tax payments to the CRA, and the help centre sets out how they work:

  • Direct deposit approval comes first. Wave says your business is automatically active for CRA remittances once it is active on Wave's payroll direct deposit. Its setup guide says: "Without direct deposit authorization, Wave cannot remit taxes to the CRA on your behalf."
  • You need a CRA payroll account number. You can run payrolls while you wait for your RP number, but Wave says it cannot remit or process an ROE for you until you add it.
  • How the money moves. When you pay by direct deposit, Wave withdraws the CPP, EI and income tax amounts with the wages and holds them in trust until the CRA due date. If you are on direct deposit but pay a particular payroll by cheque, Wave withdraws the tax amounts three days before payday.
  • Monthly remittances only. Wave's due-dates article says it "currently supports monthly remittances only," and that a quarterly remitter can still use Wave's tax service and remit monthly without CRA penalties. The CRA accepts early payments but does not change your remitter type because of them. If the CRA has made you an accelerated remitter (average monthly withholding of $25,000 or more), confirm with Wave how it handles your schedule before relying on its tax service.

You can end Wave's tax service and remit to the CRA yourself, but Wave says you do that by contacting support, and any payments due for payrolls run while the service was off have to be paid to the CRA directly.

The direct deposit application asks for photo ID and company signatory details, and Wave says the review can take up to 6 business days. Until you are approved, you can approve payroll and pay by cheque.

Direct deposit and pay schedules

Direct deposits are unlimited and included in the price. Wave offers four pay schedules:

  • Every week or every other week, on the days you choose at setup
  • Twice a month, fixed at the 1st to 15th and the 16th to the end of the month
  • Once a month, fixed at the 1st to the end of the month

If you pay by direct deposit, Wave says you must approve payroll at least 3 business days before payday, and earlier around bank holidays. You can also pay some employees by cheque printed from Wave in the same pay period.

T4 and T4A slips (generated, not filed)

Wave creates a T4 for each eligible employee and a T4A for each eligible contractor. It does not file them. Its T4 article says "Wave does not file T4 slips with the CRA for you": you download an XML file from Wave and upload it to the CRA with your payroll business number and web access code. The CRA's filing deadline for T4 and T4A returns is the last day of February after the calendar year, and Wave's year-end checklist uses the same date for giving slips to employees and contractors.

Two details on contractor slips are worth knowing. Wave generates T4A slips for fees for services (box 48) only, and it does not generate the T5018 that construction businesses file for subcontractors. Our T4A vs T5018 guide explains which one you need.

To generate or download tax forms, you need an active or limited-access payroll subscription. Wave says it cannot create forms for years in which you did not have a payroll subscription.

Records of Employment

Wave can submit ROEs for you after you authorize it by signing an addendum in your account. Wave says an ROE issued through Wave takes 1 to 3 business days to be submitted. If you do not authorize it, you file ROEs outside Wave. Wave also cannot submit ROEs for periods before you started using its payroll, so if you are switching from another provider, Wave tells you to issue ROEs with code K17 (change of service provider) first.

Contractors

You add T4A contractors as vendors in Wave, then pay their bills through payroll by direct deposit, using the same pay schedule as your employees. Wave books those payments automatically. You can also mark a contractor bill as paid if you paid outside Wave, but you cannot print a cheque for a contractor payment.

Employee portal

Employees you invite can log in to Wave to view and download pay stubs and tax forms, update their personal and direct deposit details, and see their salary and vacation history. Wave says the employee profile is only available in a web browser.

Timesheets, vacation and deductions

Wave has timesheets for regular hours, overtime, double time, vacation and sick time, but the employer fills them in. Wave says "employees cannot fill out their own timesheet." You can set a vacation accrual rate per employee (Wave's examples: 4% for two weeks, 6% for three) and opt in to a sick leave policy.

Wave's Canadian list of deductions includes RRSP contributions, union dues, health insurance and dental insurance. It says amounts you deduct "must be deposited into applicable accounts outside of Wave," so Wave withholds them from pay but you send them to the RRSP provider, union or insurer yourself.

Bookkeeping in Wave

Each approved payroll creates a journal entry in your Wave books automatically, using a Payroll Liabilities account and a Wave Payroll Clearing account to track money in transit. This is the main reason to pick Wave Payroll: if your books are already in Wave, payroll lands in them without an export or a sync.

Payroll itself only runs in a web browser, not in the Wave mobile app.

Pausing or cancelling

If you do not need to run payroll for a month or more, you can switch to a limited-access subscription for CAD $10 a month in Canada, for up to 6 months at a time. You keep support, payroll reports, employee access to past pay stubs and tax forms, year-end slips, ROEs and outstanding CRA remittances. You cannot approve payrolls, edit timesheets or add payroll history. If you are not paying anyone, the CRA may still expect a nil remittance, which you report to the CRA directly.

If you cancel, you keep payroll access until the end of the month, then lose access to your payroll data. Download your tax forms and employee data before that. Your last bill arrives the following month for that final month's employee and contractor fees.

What you handle outside Wave Payroll

Based on Wave's own help centre, as of October 2026:

  • Quebec: businesses, employees and contractors located in Quebec are not supported
  • CRA remittances start once direct deposit is approved and a CRA payroll account number is in your profile
  • Monthly remittances, per Wave's due-dates article
  • T4 and T4A filing: you upload the XML file to the CRA yourself
  • T5018 slips for construction subcontractors are prepared outside Wave, and T4A slips cover box 48 fees
  • Timesheets are filled in by the employer
  • Voluntary deductions such as RRSP contributions, union dues or insurance premiums are forwarded by you
  • ROEs for periods before you joined Wave are issued outside Wave

Wave Payroll

3.5
Try Wave Payroll free (opens NorthVetted redirect)

When another payroll tool fits better

Wave Payroll fits a small business outside Quebec that already keeps its books in Wave, pays a few people on a regular schedule, and is comfortable uploading its own T4 file each February. Another tool may suit you better if:

  1. You have anyone in Quebec. Wave Payroll does not cover Quebec, so that person needs another provider. Our Wagepoint review covers a Canadian provider that added Quebec support in September 2026.
  2. Your books are not in Wave. The automatic journal entries are Wave Payroll's main advantage. If you use QuickBooks Online, Xero or FreshBooks, compare tools that sync with them in our best payroll software in Canada roundup, or see Wagepoint vs QuickBooks Payroll if you are choosing between those two.
  3. You pay a lot of contractors. Wave charges $6 for each contractor paid in addition to employees.
  4. You are an accelerated remitter or expect to become one. Wave says it supports monthly remittances only, so check with Wave first.
  5. You run a construction business with subcontractors. Wave does not generate T5018 slips, so you will be preparing those outside Wave.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Wave Payroll cost in Canada?

CAD $25 a month, plus $6 for each active employee and $6 for each independent contractor you pay. Five employees and no contractors works out to $55 a month. Wave bills the base fee for the current month and the per-person fees for the previous month, and charges sales tax based on your business address.

Is Wave Payroll available in every province?

No. Wave says payroll is available in all provinces and territories except Quebec. Its help centre adds that it does not support payroll for businesses or employees located in Quebec, or contractors located in Quebec, because Quebec employers also remit to Revenu Québec and Wave only remits to the CRA.

Does Wave remit payroll taxes to the CRA for me?

Yes, once your business is approved for Wave's payroll direct deposit. Wave withdraws the tax amounts with each payroll, holds them in trust and pays the CRA by the due date. Without direct deposit authorization, or without a CRA payroll account number in your profile, Wave cannot remit for you.

Does Wave file T4 slips with the CRA?

No. Wave generates T4 slips for employees and T4A slips for contractors and gives you an XML file to upload to the CRA. You file the slips and give copies to employees and contractors by the last day of February.

Do I need Wave Pro to use Wave Payroll?

No. Wave's pricing page lists payroll as an add-on from $25 a month on both the free Starter plan and Pro. The payroll manager user role is also available on all plans. Pro adds automatic bank imports, which help match payroll withdrawals in your books.

Can I pause Wave Payroll in the off-season?

Yes. A limited-access payroll subscription costs CAD $10 a month in Canada and can run for up to 6 months at a time. Your employees keep access to past pay stubs and tax forms, but you cannot approve payrolls, edit timesheets or add payroll history until you resume.

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