Nova Scotia Payroll Instructions

Nova Scotia uses a 'step' tax table to calculate income tax withholding for each employee. The tax tables and tax withholding formulas did not change in 2021 (they last changed in 2012).

Click here for more about Goldenseal payroll accounting software.
Click here for Canada Federal withholding instructions.
Click here for help with importing the latest withholding tax tables into Goldenseal payroll software.

HINT-- Turtle Creek Software provides free annual updates for Canadian federal and Nova Scotia provincial tax withholding rates.

Nova Scotia Provincial LCP

The LCP program has been restored, although most employees probably will not use it.

If one of your employees takes a deduction for the provincial labour-sponsored funds credit (LCP), create a tax item to calculate their LCP credit. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, then choose Tax Items from the submenu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Call the Tax Item "Nova Scotia LCP" plus the employee's name.
  4. Click on the Calculation Method popup field and choose Direct Dollars.
  5. Type in the amount of the credit-- take the smaller of $525 or 15% of the value of labour-sponsored venture capital corporation shares purchased by the employee, and divide it by the number of pay periods in the year.
  6. Click on the Tax Type popup field and choose Employee Credit.
  7. Click OK.

To assign the LCP credit to the employee, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Tax Packages from the submenu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Put a checkmark next to each item that applies to this employee (including the LCP).
  4. Click OK.
  5. Choose Employees from the Accounts menu.
  6. Locate the employee's record.
  7. Click the Payroll Setup button.
  8. Click in the Tax Package field and enter the tax package that you just created.
  9. Click OK.

If several employees take a different LCP credit, each one will require a separate tax item, and a separate tax package that includes their deduction.

HINT-- Use the Duplicate button in the Tax Item window to duplicate the first LCP credit, and edit the amount. Then, create tax packages for each employee (use the Duplicate command) and select the appropriate LCP Tax Item for each employee's package.

Contact Info

GST/HST Credit (780) 495-3500

Ralston Building
1557 Hollis Street
PO Box 638
Halifax NS
B3J 2T5

Hours of service at the counter:
8:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (mid-February to April 30)
8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (May 1 to mid-February)

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