OETC vs TEP
wingfling asked - "Just to confirm, CHC out their overwhelming generosity are going to pay the tax for us? And subsequent years?"
In fact there are Foreign Tax Credits for taxes paid on behalf of each employee working overseas. Part of the agreement is that these will be assigned back to the company for them to claim. The intent, as I see it is to offset the taxes to be paid to the greatest degree that they can.
What is not clear is whether the benefit to CHC is greater to them than the OETC was? Are they doing this out of "...overwhelming generosity..." or because they know that if they don't do something, an awful lot of employees would walk. There has to be a reason for the affected employees to travel overseas and spend time away from family and friends.
However, has CHC simply turned it's back on the OETC because they derive a greater benefit from getting all the FTCs using the TEP?
A few phone calls to the Canadian Revenue Agency might be in order, unfortunately the deadline to sign on is Feb 1st.