Who We Help · Solar & EV Charger Installers · Payroll
Solar & EV installer payroll: the electrician may not be on your payroll
A solar and EV charger crew usually has two very different working relationships on the same roof. The mounting and racking labour is often yours to direct, insure and pay through payroll. The electrical hookup is frequently done by a separately licensed electrical contractor who works for other installers too and answers to nobody's schedule but their own. Payroll for this niche starts with telling those two roles apart, then layers on mandatory WSIB coverage for work that carries real fall risk.
By the AnalytIQ Accounting team · Last reviewed: September 12, 2026
At a glance · solar and EV charger installers
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The licence decides who has to sign off, not who swings the hammer
Connecting a solar array or an EV charger to a home's electrical system is licensed work in Ontario, and the contracting business needs an Electrical Contractor Licence naming a Master Electrician of record who takes responsibility for the electrical portion of every job. Many installers employ their own mounting and racking crew to carry panels, build the array and run conduit, then bring in a licensed electrical contractor, sometimes a separate company entirely, to make the final connection and sign off the permit. That split is not a bookkeeping convenience; it reflects two genuinely different working relationships, and the CRA's employee-versus-contractor test usually lands where the facts suggest: a mounting crew using your tools, your trucks and your schedule looks like employees, while an electrical contractor who owns the licence, sets their own rate and works other installers' jobs the same week looks like a subcontractor.
Getting this wrong runs both ways. Treating a genuinely independent electrical contractor as an employee adds unnecessary CPP and EI withholding and payroll administration; treating a controlled mounting crew as subcontractors risks a CRA reassessment for both halves of CPP and EI going back years, plus penalties. How the CRA decides between employee and contractor sets out the factors we walk through for every name on the crew list.
WSIB coverage is mandatory before anyone climbs a ladder
Ontario has required WSIB coverage in construction since 2013 for independent operators, sole proprietors, partners and executive officers, not only for employees, and installing on a roof sits squarely inside that industry. A licensed electrical subcontractor should carry their own WSIB account and a current clearance certificate; if they do not, WSIB can assess premiums on the labour portion of what you paid them as if they were your own crew. Roof-mounted work also draws a meaningfully higher premium rate than office or sales work, so classifying labour correctly across rate groups matters to the bill as well as to the reassessment risk. Whether you need WSIB coverage for your Ontario business covers registration and the clearance process.
| On the crew | Usual status | What has to happen |
|---|---|---|
| Mounting and racking crew | Employee, hourly | T4, CPP and EI, WSIB at the roofing-work rate |
| Apprentice electrician on staff | Employee, indentured | T4, plus the federal apprenticeship credit some Red Seal electrical apprentices qualify for in their early levels |
| Licensed electrical contractor doing hookups | Subcontractor | T5018 slip, own WSIB clearance, own liability insurance on file |
| Sales staff on commission | Employee, salary plus commission | T4 with commission tracked separately for the Employer Health Tax base |
| Owner or director | Salary, dividends or both | Executive-officer WSIB coverage unless the single non-working-officer exemption applies |
Rooftop work is seasonal; the payroll should say so honestly
Residential rooftop installs slow sharply once snow sits on a roof, while EV charger and indoor panel work carries on closer to year-round, so a crew built for peak solar season is often oversized by winter. We run a Record of Employment for a genuine shortage of work rather than stretch a payroll through a quiet stretch on hope, and rehire cleanly in spring. Vacation pay, overtime after 44 hours where construction industry rules apply, and the second CPP contribution tier on higher-paid electricians all belong in the pay run from the first cheque rather than reconciled at year-end.
Payroll that costs back to the job
Hours captured through a field tool like Jobber and coded to the job flow into Wagepoint or Payworks for the pay run, then back into the job-cost ledger as a burdened labour cost: wages plus the employer's CPP and EI, WSIB and vacation pay. That is the only way a commission-heavy sale, a discounted rebate job and a straightforward cash install show their real installed cost against each other, rather than a payroll total that looks the same no matter which jobs actually consumed the hours.
Remittances follow the frequency CRA assigns based on your average monthly withholding, T4s are due at the end of February, and T5018 slips are due six months after your elected reporting period. The failure we see most is a licensed electrician paid by e-transfer with no invoice on file: no T5018, no WSIB clearance recorded, and a deduction CRA can disallow on review. The fix is a vendor set-up step that takes less time than the transfer itself. Crews who occasionally take a job on the US side of the border raise a different set of questions, covered in our cross-border guide for solar and EV installers; the general payroll engagement is on our payroll services page.
What we take off your plate
Payroll for solar and EV charger installers, handled.
- Mounting crews on T4 and WSIB; licensed electrical hookups on T5018
- Seasonal layoffs handled honestly instead of quietly carried on payroll
- Wagepoint or QuickBooks Payroll set up and run on schedule
- CRA source deductions remitted by the 15th
- T4s, T4As and ROEs filed without a February scramble
- WSIB and Ontario EHT tracked alongside payroll
Mistakes we fix
Three things that go wrong for solar and EV charger installers.
- Booking a signing deposit as revenue instead of holding it as a liability until commissioning
- Recording a customer’s assigned rebate as a cost instead of a contra-revenue credit on the invoice
- Missing that a Master Electrician of record leaving the company puts the contractor licence at risk
Recognise one? Book a call and we will tell you what it is costing you.
Services for solar and EV charger installers
Six services, one team that knows how solar and EV charger installers run.
Start with one. Add the rest when it makes sense; the books, payroll and tax already talk to each other.
Free proposal
A fixed fee for your payroll, in writing.
- Tell us about your business. The form takes about a minute.
- A short discovery call. Fifteen minutes to confirm what you need.
- A fixed fee in writing. We reply within one business day. No hourly surprises.
- Canadian and US filings under one roof
- Cloud-first: QuickBooks Online, Dext, Wagepoint
- Brampton, Ontario, with clients across Canada and the US
Related answers
Browse all 200 answers.
Common questions.
Do I need to put my electrical subcontractor on payroll?
Not if they genuinely run their own business: their own licence, their own WSIB account, their own tools and other clients. If they work only your jobs on your schedule with your equipment, the relationship looks like employment regardless of what the invoice says.
Is WSIB coverage optional for a one-person electrical sub?
No. Ontario has required WSIB coverage for independent operators and sole proprietors in construction since 2013. Without their own clearance certificate, WSIB can assess you on the labour portion of what you paid them.
Can I lay off my mounting crew every winter?
Yes, with a proper Record of Employment for shortage of work, provided the slowdown is real. We set this up as a routine seasonal cycle rather than a workaround, and rehire through the same clean process each spring.
Related reading
Payroll that matches who is actually licensed.
Book a consultation and get a plain answer on exactly what applies to you.