How to submit payroll contributions to the Employer Dashboard

The Employer Dashboard makes submitting payroll contributions quick and straightforward by centralizing everything you need in one place. You can easily upload payroll files, review contribution details, and ensure that each employee’s contributions are correctly allocated. You can also see a full history of submitted payroll files, their statuses, and download them if needed. With the ability to track employee requests and access detailed reports, the dashboard helps you stay organized and maintain your payroll contributions without adding administrative burden. Once you're familiar with the process, it becomes a seamless part of your payroll routine.

Before you run your payroll internally

Step 1: Log in to the Employer Dashboard and check the 'Employee Requests' tab for any pending requests, such as changes to employee contributions (e.g., RRSP, DPSP, TFSA).

Step 2: Update your payroll system with any new requests, and run your payroll.

Reporting contributions to the Common Wealth Plan (after you run your payroll)

Step 1: Log in to the Employer Dashboard and go to the 'Contributions' tab

Step 2: Insert the 'Pay period start date' and the 'Pay period end date', and the 'pay date'. The pay date must be after start date.

Step 3: Download your payrollregister.xlsx template file and populate it with the contribution information from your payroll system. 

Note: In Column A, enter each employee’s unique identifier.

• If your organization uses Employee ID, enter the correct ID.
• If your organization uses email, enter the employee’s email address instead.

Step 4: Save the file with a clear, organized name to keep your uploads sequential and easy to retrieve, then upload it to the Employer Dashboard using the "Select and upload" button.

Step 5: Before the submission is finalized, you will be able to review the payroll contribution amounts for each employee, and the total contribution amount for that pay period. Once a file is uploaded, you’ll be able to track its status—Submitted, Completed, or Cancelled—directly within the Contributions tab, alongside detailed information like who submitted the file and when.

Note: Be sure to upload your payrollregister.xlsx file (within 3 business days of running your payroll).

If your organization uses email as the unique identifier, your payroll register file might look like this:

If your organization uses employee ID as the unique identifier, your file might look like this:

Completing your update

After you've uploaded your file in the 'Contributions' tab of the Employer Dashboard:

1. Review the on-screen summary of total contributions, the split between employee and employer contributions, and the pay period before uploading the file.
2. Click the green “Submit” button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Make sure you see the Success message before you log out. Each file will remain accessible within the Contributions tab, including download options and account-type-specific line items for RRSP, TFSA, DCPP, or DPSP contributions.

Once your payroll register is uploaded, instructions go to Canadian Western Trust to automatically withdraw funds from your account for contributions and fees owing to Common Wealth.

Note: This step must be performed for every payroll cycle. If there have been no changes since your last payroll upload, you can download the previously submitted file, update the file name if necessary, and submit it on the contributions page, ensuring you use the correct pay period date in the appropriate fields.

Payroll register file dos and don’ts

Do

• Be sure your payroll start and end dates don’t overlap
• Include two decimal points in your contribution columns
• Include both member and employer matching amounts, if applicable

Don’t

• Update or paste over the column headers
• Include formulas or cell references in your file
• Use negative values. If you’ve entered these by mistake, please contact us for help with making corrections.
• Leave any empty rows in your file or include an employee without a contribution