CHC employees lose OETC
 

CHC has just announced that the Canadian Government has advised that the OETC (Overseas Employment Tax Credit) has been rescinded retro active to Jan.01, 2009.

CHC is now advising those affected that they will, in essence, pay the Canadian Gov that amount of tax that would still equal the same net pay as we received before.

This is for Canadian residents only.

RETROACTIVE! The cheese eating billy goats!:mad:

SASLESS - dont beat around the bush, I think the word you want is A$$holes. :ok:

Any non-Canadian resident crews (Australians, etc) asking if CHC will pay their home country tax as well?

I wonder if those employees that left CHC in 2009 will get this "benefit"? I doubt it. I guess I will be looking at a tax bill, Merry Christmas!!

Says who? I see nothing in google except for this post.

Send me a PM with your real name and I will forward you the letter.......

Not a big surprise unfortunately. There's not a loop hole anywhere that the gov't here doesn't want to close up.:bored:

I am Canadian and have worked for CHC Global before and possibly will again in the future. So there is no more OETC. But from reading the last post:

"CHC is now advising those affected that they will, in essence, pay the Canadian Gov that amount of tax that would still equal the same net pay as we received before."

Just to confirm, CHC out their overwhelming generosity are going to pay the tax for us? And subsequent years?

Without OETC may as well stay home and work in Canada.

Just to clarify, the Canadian Gov has not abolished the OETC.

It is still available to employees of Canadian companies (Cougar, VIH, Coulson, etc.)

Only those employed by CHC, which is wholly owned by First Reserve, are effected.

Does "they" refer to CHC or the employee? I'd be suprised if the company simply forks out the difference just because the govt changes a tax ruling.

P1

CHC does indeed "fork out” the money to pay the difference that has been lost from this tax ruling.

CHC does this because it promised its Canadian employee, early in 2009, that the sale of CHC to US firm F.R. will not affect the OETC eligibility of CHC. It did. The OETC is only available to Canadian businesses. The Canadian government does not want to subsidize a foreign company.

CHC states that the OZ pilots will not see cents because they lost their tax credit (advantage) as a result of government legislative change, as oppose to a change of ownership for the Canadian pilots.

I think this is unfair and I am convinced that if we, the OZ pilots, made up a majority at CHC they would pay up for us as well. Right now we are too small for CHC to care.

This has got to be one of the quickest ways of driving a division between a workforce ever devised :ouch:

Move on
 

It sure is creating a wedge between crews and YVR must happy to see that but it is a done deal and fair or not it is time to move on.

Getting CHC to drop this advantage to Canadians will not improve anybody else's plight.

Hello guys,

Off topic my apologize for that.

Does anybody know what the starting salary is for a junior first officer with CHC Brazil? And is anybody familair with the selection procedures .

PM are welcome to.

Kind Regards,
HFM

Are you a Brazilian or Portuguese national? Because if you are not, there is no selection process :rolleyes:

Yes I hold the brazilian nationality.

Kind regards,

hfm

I suggest you start here:

BHS

Hello Outwest,

I have been in contact with the HR manager of BHS. I know all the requirements, but I did not ask the starting salary as I don't think it is appropriate to ask that, but correct me if I am wrong. I hope you can help me with finding the anwser.

Already thanks for your time.

Kind regards,

hfm

I just had a conversation with the Tax Equalization Plan information people. As I left in 2009, I am interested in how CHC plans to deal with people who worked for them in 09 and took them at their word when they promised no changes to the OETC status.

The person I talked to would not commit one way or the other on whether CHC will apply their TEP to employees that are no longer with them. I recommend sending in the forms to them anyway prior to 1 February.

They said that their first priority was dealing with their current employees and that people who had left the employ of CHC were low priority. It would be interesting to be one of the many laid-off from CHC right now - now owing a big tax bill.

Reading between the lines - don't hold your breath that you will receive any compensation for this little oversight on their part.

Trying to be pro-active when First Reserve bought out CHC, I enquired with the legal department about the status of the OETC in late 2008. They seemed to think it was a strange question and said that everything was status quo, OETC wise, as CHC was still a Canadian corporation, headquartered in Canada....

Lesson learned, the only way I would work for CHC again would be as a contractor....
I

OETC
 

Hookersandblow: What forms are you referring to (for submission by 1 Feb)?

By the way, I don't think CHC has been all that forthcoming in explaining the reason that Canadian employees are no longer eligible for OETC. Here's how CHC explained the situation in a letter sent to employees. "Contrary to our earlier understanding, subsequent tax advice has revealed that the sale of CHC to a US entity has resulted in the loss of the OETC for employees as of 01 Jan 09". So how could this be?? After the sale of CHC to First Reserve, CHC came out with an official statement to employees in early 2009 confirming that they had conferred with Revenue Canada and there would be no change in OETC eligibility. So what has changed? What 'tax advice' is CHC speaking about? The details are scarce and the 'Tax Equalization" staff at CHC are tight lipped about this and have done nothing but stonewall employees who left in 2009. So I called the Revenue Canada agent that signed my OETC approval letter in Feb 09 and asked him for clarification regarding the lost OETC. He had no idea why CHC was saying that employees were no longer eligible for OETC. He said that there was no ruling/decision made by Revenue Canada that would change our eligibility. Hmmmmm.....

Could it be that CHC has reviewed their corporate tax strategy and determined that there is a more beneficial way to file taxes than originally intended, or perhaps as always intended, but never disclosed to revenue Canada (i.e, Revenue Canada loses out and Uncle Sam gains). This could explain CHC's announcement on OETC reversal, knowing that Revenue Canada will not honor OETC claims for 09 once they realize Uncle Sam is getting all the tax revenue. Yet CHC sent out confirmation to all affected employees early in 09 to reassure us that the OETC was protected. Now this. A loss of $1500 - $2000 for each month that former CHC employees worked for the company in 09. Regardless of whether the above spin proves to be true, CHC assured employees that the OETC would be in place for 09. Despite this reassurance, it looks like they will screw all the employees who left or were laid off in 09. A little short-sighted perhaps, especially when the offshore market ramps up a notch and CHC goes looking for talent. Good luck with that!

The plot thickens :suspect:

TEP Forms
 

Autorowtate - PM me your email address and I will send them to you.

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.

any news??
 

Anyone heard anything further on whether CHC intends on compensating departed employees for the OETC loss?

A few days ago we received documents regarding this. 29 pages of clauses, terms and conditions. A few former and current colleagues are looking at options.

The TEP program is not performing as well as described and expected for some current employees.

Some very unhappy people in the mix at the moment.

From what I understand about the TEP program for the alumni of CHC is that they will simply submit your 2009 income tax return to CRA on your behalf. They will use foreign tax credits, both federal and provincial, to make up for the loss of the OETC. I had the advantage of looking at a current employees tax return and that is what they did for him. The part I do not understand is that CHC may make up a difference from what they believe you would have received having had the advantage of the OETC and what you will receive from the foreign tax credits. I am not sure how this works other than perhaps Canada does not allow foreign credits for some countries. This would pose a problem and CHC then may compensate you, I don't know. The other is what CHC would calculate for an OETC amount? I have filed on my own, using the foreign tax credits available to me, I am awaiting on what CRA is going to say. The difference in monies is huge if I am not allowed the foreign tax credits.

Am I missing something?
 

Hmm, SARBlade's explanation sounds different from what I understand the process to be. the way I understand it is that CHC gives you the OETC benefit but takes back the foreign tax credit. The way I figure it, if you worked in a country with low taxes and your foreign tax credit isn't much to speak of getting the OETC benfit would be huge. Canada has some pretty massive taxes. So i'm betting those who worked most everywhere else would probably be better off with the OETC than the foreign tax credit. Right?

bb - did you speak with the CHc tep people about this? I called them on a question or two and they didn't sound like they had heard too many negatives on this thing.

Foreign tax credits, when claimed at the same time as the OETC, were greatly reduced. Without an OETC claim they become fully claimable. Unfortunately, for years CHC did not declare the foreign taxes paid as a taxable benefit, which they are, further muddying the tax waters.

Blackshark,

I didn't call as I'm not currently having a large issue with the TEP program.

Some appear to be having some unwanted surprises with their returns.

PWC has told a few of those with returns that they shouldn't spend that money as it may be making it's way back into CHC's pocket via the loan system CHC had us sign on to.

Rumour on the street is also that the cost of PWC will be wrapped up in our TEP program and in effect we will be bearing the cost of their involvement.

Last info I had from CHC with respect to the TEP was on Feb 17th. Lots of time for rumours to build.

Blackshark said:
Sorry, yeah, this is true as well. I'm not sure the law involved with all of this, but the intent is not to penalize the employee for loss of OETC. If that means the benefit of foreign tax credit then it is applied, but if the OETC was beneficial, then CHC will pay you that amount. and they get the benefit of your foreign tax credit, hence the TEP and you signing that over. I, as a CHC Alumni (their words) got the package, but opted not to have them do my taxes as the foreign taxes I paid were enough to cover the OETC. Hope that is a little clearer. BTW, the foreign tax form you fill out, the taxes paid are considered non-business, unless you personally had a business in that country.

Hi Guys,

Are there any global guys here living in the UK/Europe? I was just wondering how it works out with the tax over your pay, working for a Canadian company, any info would be helpful. :ok:

I've dug a little deeper and Global pay your tax to the country you work in for you, but does this mean your pay can't be double taxed if your country of residence has a tax agreement with the country you work in? Anybody?:confused:

You would need to check the tax rules of your own country and see which other countries they have tax agreements with.
Tax rules are very different in different nations, so it would be best if you checked with your home tax department first for clarification. Any advice offered here would be given in good faith, but would only be applicable to the country of the person giving it, and so might be totally incorrect for your situation.
Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thank you i shall be contacting a tax adviser today:ok: I just had visions of a huge tax bill one day:eek: