Employee benefits is a constantly
changing landscape of: (1) what benefits to provide and (2) how best to provide
the targeted benefits. Traditional employee benefit plans can be restrictive by
their nature and tend to force employers into a pre-designed (by the carrier)
package that may or may not be right for each employee. In addition, premiums
are constantly increasing especially now after the cut backs in Pharmacare
and the Medical Services Plan of British Columbia in January 2002 plus an
increase in M.S.P. premium on May 1st, 2002.
In reality, most small business owners,
professional corporations, consultants and independent contractors who work on
their own, do not have any health benefits. Generally, they pay for their
health care cost with AFTER TAX personal dollars. However, this can be very
expensive and in fact when properly arranged is not necessary.
In Canada, certain employment benefits
are not taxable (or if you wish, Tax Free) even though many of them are
deductible expenses to the employer. The government is therefore providing an
incentive to employers to provide these benefits since after tax returns are
greater than straight salary. Dental and health benefit plans provided by
an employer to an employee are considered tax-free benefits. Therefore by using Canadian
tax laws small companies can offer health benefits tax-free to their
employees, while deducting the cost as a business expense.
Olympia Trust has designed a cost plus
health/dental plan (in accordance with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency
guidelines) that properly allows pre-tax corporate dollars to pay for its
employee health care costs. Remember that the Olympia Trust Health Plan is
a health/dental plan and a tax plan, not an insurance plan. The Plan maximizes
the opportunity to fully utilize all health and dental services and take
advantage of Canadian tax laws. The purpose of the plan is to enable employers
to (1) provide a benefit to their employees on a tax-free basis and (2) achieve
a wider range of health and dental services more cost effectively than can be
provided through a traditional group employee benefits plan.
The "attachments" as well as the information found on the
website should answer most of your questions regarding P.H.S.P.
However, for additional information with No Obligation contact a member
of The R.I.T.E. Team. Thank you for your interest.
