The monthly CCQ report
If your work falls under the R-20 act — which covers almost all construction in Quebec — every month you have to tell the Commission de la construction du Québec who worked, in what trade, with what status, in what sector and in what region, how many hours and how much they earned.
The date: the 15th
The report is due no later than the 15th of the following month. And it has to be filed even if nobody worked that month — an empty month gets declared empty, it doesn't get skipped.
Late penalties climb, and they can reach 20%. That's a lot of money for a date forgotten during a busy week.
Weeks run Sunday to Saturday
This is the most common and easiest mistake to make: hours aren't declared by month, they're declared by week, Sunday to Saturday. A month starting on a Wednesday has a cut first week, and a weekly payroll that runs on Thursdays doesn't line up with the CCQ's weeks.
Trade and status are not details
The trade (carpenter-joiner, bricklayer-mason…) and the status (apprentice or journeyman) set the rate in the collective agreement. So do the sector (residential, institutional and commercial, industrial, civil engineering) and the region.
Because these change over time — someone becomes a journeyman, a job moves region — they belong to the work agreement for that period, not to the person's record. March's report has to keep saying what was true in March.
What our system does. It prepares the month's report from the hours already clocked, split Sunday to Saturday, with each person's trade, status, sector and region as they were at the time. It also tells you what's missing before the CCQ does.
What it doesn't do. It doesn't file anything with the CCQ. You review the report and submit it yourself on the CCQ's site. The CCQ doesn't publish a format for electronic filing — the day they do, we will.
The 10% contractual holdback
In construction, the client usually holds back 10% of the value of the work until the end, as a guarantee that everything will be finished and corrected. That's normal and it's in the contract.
The mistake that costs the most
Taxes are worked out on the full value of the work, not on the reduced amount. It's the payment that gets reduced by the holdback, not the invoice.
| On a $5,000 invoice | Amount |
|---|---|
| Work performed | $5,000.00 |
| GST 5% — on the full value | $250.00 |
| QST 9.975% — on the full value | $498.75 |
| Holdback 10% — on the work, not on the taxes | −$500.00 |
| To pay now | $5,248.75 |
| To release at the end | $500.00 |
The other mistake, quieter and more expensive: forgetting to claim it. The holdback stays open for months, the job finishes, and nobody goes back for the $500. Across ten jobs in a year, that's a salary.
GST and QST
| Tax | Rate | Remitted to |
|---|---|---|
| GST — goods and services tax | 5% | Revenu Québec (for the federal government) |
| QST — Quebec sales tax | 9.975% | Revenu Québec |
Both are worked out on the same pre-tax amount and rounded separately. QST is not calculated on GST — that stopped in 2013, and it's a mistake you still see in old invoice templates.
On an invoice they have to appear on two separate lines, with your registration numbers. A single "taxes" line is no use to your client or to your bookkeeper.
And the rest: CNESST, HSF, QPP
On payroll, some deductions are the same for everyone in Quebec — QPP, QPIP, employment insurance — and others depend on your company:
- Income tax withheld at source comes from the TP-1015.3-V table and the TD1 each person signs. It changes from one person to the next.
- CNESST depends on your classification unit. Your rate is on your annual assessment notice.
- The health services fund (HSF) depends on your total payroll and your sector.
No software can guess those three for you. With us they arrive at 0% and wait for your figure, with a note saying where it comes from — rather than a made-up number that looks right.
This guide explains how things work, to help you ask the right questions. It is not tax or legal advice. Rates and rules change — the CCQ and Revenu Québec remain the official source, and your accountant remains your accountant.