Can a director be personally assessed for unremitted HST and payroll?

Yes. These are trust amounts. GST/HST the company collected, and income tax, CPP, and EI the company withheld from employees, are not ordinary corporate debt. If the company does not remit them, CRA can assess a director personally. For GST/HST the provision is section 323 of the Excise Tax Act. For payroll source deductions it is section 227.1 of the Income Tax Act. The assessment is not automatic on the day the remittance is missed, but it is a real path, and “the company has no money” is not a defence by itself.

There is a due-diligence defence: a director who exercised the degree of care, diligence, and skill to prevent the failure that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised can resist the assessment. There is also a time limit. CRA generally has to assess the director within two years after the person ceased to be a director. Resigning on paper and continuing to act does not start that clock cleanly. Resigning and hoping is not a plan. Filing and remitting is the plan.

What this does not mean

Ordinary corporate income tax is different. The director-liability provisions people are afraid of are aimed at the trust amounts: HST net tax and source deductions. A late T2 with corporate tax owing is a company debt first. Do not let a blog post blur those into one personal guarantee. Also do not relax: if you took the HST or the payroll and paid yourself, the trust problem and a shareholder problem can both exist.

• HST collected and not remitted: director exposure under ETA s. 323.
• Payroll withheld and not remitted: director exposure under ITA s. 227.1.
• Due diligence is a facts test. Ignoring the mail is a weak fact.
• The two-year limit runs from ceasing to be a director, not from the year of the debt.
• A personal assessment does not appear in every file. It appears often enough that unremitted HST should not sit in a drawer.

The personal exposure shrinks when the returns exist

File the missing GST34s and the missing payroll returns so the number is known, then pay what can be paid against the trust debt first. Tax Everyday prepares those catch-ups and the related T2s. A ready corporate year is $2,000 plus HST including HST support. Payroll catch-up and several years of blank books are quoted.

Bring the articles, the director list, and any resignation. Do not backdate a resignation. We will not do that, and CRA compares it to who was actually signing.