Social insurance number requirement for employers

If a buyer takes over staff and their payroll records, a missing or wrong SIN shows up there. The CRA says that when you hire a new employee, you are responsible for getting the SIN from the employee and making sure the employee is legally allowed to work in Canada. Its page lists the Employment Insurance Regulations and a Canada Pension Plan provision on the employer keeping a record of the SIN. These are federal rules.

What Employment and Social Development Canada says

• Under the Employment Insurance Regulations, employees are required to provide their SIN to their employer.
• The department tells employers to request each new employee’s SIN within three days after the day employment begins.
• The employee does not need to show a SIN card or confirmation letter, and neither is an identity document.
• The department says an employee eligible to work who has no SIN yet can keep working in insurable employment while waiting, and must pass the SIN on within three days of receiving the confirmation letter.

What a buyer can ask

Ask whether the seller holds a SIN for every person on payroll, who keeps those records, and how they are stored, since the department calls employee SINs confidential and says they should be used only for income-related information. For staff with a SIN starting with 9, see the 900 series. The CRA also notes that an incorrect SIN can affect an employee’s future Canada Pension Plan benefits if their record of earnings is not accurate. Add this to your employment records review.