Overview

Since Circus supports onboarding for both Canadian and International Workers as Canadian productions may have a mix of both, the platform offers multi-regional taxpayer options, as well as the ability to connect a bank account for Canadian workers.

Workers who are not volunteers and are being paid on a production will be required to complete this section of their work profile.

🔐 Circus automatically redacts SIN/SSN, all other Taxpayer IDs and bank account numbers to protect your data. It's revealed only to your employers once your Start Pack has been submitted and cannot be shared with other productions without your permission. Learn more about what we do to protect your privacy here.

Canadian Workers

For workers who pay taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), you may onboard as one of two different Taxpayers Entities – Individual or Corporation.

Taxpayer Entities

Skip to Individuals which may be a single person paid as a Contractor or Employee on a production. In the context of business, it might mean a sole proprietorship where a person operates a business on their own and charge tax.
Skip to Corporations which is a separate legal entity from its owners (shareholders) and may be paid as a Contractor or Loan Out on a production. It is created through a legal process and has its own rights and liabilities distinct from those of its owners.

Please note: The production office will deem whether you will be paid through Payroll (Employee or Loan Out) or Accounts Payable (Contractors) on the invite sent to you.

Individuals

After choosing Individual (Canada), enter your Social Security Number (SIN) which must be 9 digits. If you've made a mistake click the clear icon next to the field to input.

It's most common that Workers choose I Don't Charge Tax, however, if you are registered with the CRA to charge tax on all invoices or timesheets (if you are a loan out) for your labor to productions that employ you, select the tax amount, then input your Tax ID which typically starts with 9 digits (ie. 123456789RT0001).

Supporting Documents

As an individual you may be required to upload a few documents:

TD1 Form (Employees Only) - The provincial and federal forms are used to determine the amount of income tax to be deducted from your employment income.

If you do not require any special considerations, you can opt out of uploading the form by clicking or tapping the checkbox to 'Skip TD1 Forms – my deductions will only include the basic personal amount'. This will help Circus determine the witholding amount on your taxes when we process payroll.

To download, fill out, and sign the the form, use the Download link to access it from the Canada Revenue Agency website, or click here. Once completed, click or tap on Upload button to submit it with your Start Pack.

If you do not see the option to upload any TD1 Forms, it is mostly because you are being onboarded as a Contractor. Taxes in this case are not the responsibility of the employer.

Void Cheque or Direct Deposit Document - For Circus to process payroll, a physical document to verify the banking details you either manually entered or connected is required to ensure payment for your services are deposited into the correct account.

Click or tap on the Upload button to submit your void check or direct deposit document that validates your direct deposit details. Either must include:
- Financial Institution Name (ie. Royal Bank of Canada)
- Your Legal Name
- Transit Number (5 digits)
- Institution Number (3 digits)
- Account Number (9 digits)
- Account Type (ie. checking or savings – will not appear on void checks)
Banking details can be obtained via your online bank or by referencing a physical check, as shown below:

Corporations

For workers who are corporations in Canada, productions require more detail and documentation to ensure tax credits can be captured for their labor. This includes:

Corporation Name - Enter the name of your corporation exactly as it appears on corporate notice of assessment.
Shareholder Type - If you're the only shareholder of the corporation, select Single Shareholder, however if you have more than one shareholder for the corporation, choose Multiple Shareholders. This will help productions determine the amount of tax credits that can be claimed on your labor.
Place of Incorporation - Choose either the province where the company is registered, or choose Federal.
Incorporation Number - This is often a 9 digit ID, starting with a two-letter province code (ie. BC123456789). For Federal numbers, it will start with CA.
Social Insurance Number - The SIN is used to verify the shareholders within the corporation and to match what appears on the Schedule 50 Form.
Declarations - There are 2 declarations that a worker is required to answer so productions can maximize their claim for tax credits on your labor:
- Whether you will personally be rendering their services under the corporation to the production.
- Whether more than 50% of your annual revenue will be from the provision of your services.
WorkSafeBC - In BC, all employers are legally required to have WorkSafeBC coverage unless the employer is exempt. An employer is a person or firm that hires workers or unregistered subcontractors and an employer can be a self-employed proprietor, partnership, corporation, society, or any other type of legal entity.

Corporations must provide a WCB ID and a WorkSafeBC Clearance Letter. if no ID is provided, then a WorkSafeBC Exemption Letter must be uploaded.

Corporations commonly are registered with the CRA to charge tax on all invoices or timesheets. Select the tax amount, then input your Tax ID which typically starts with 9 digits (ie. 123456789RT0001). Click or tap on the Trash Can icon to remove the tax status.

Supporting Documents

When a worker onboards as a corporation, certain documents must be provided either for payroll or to prove your residency so productions can claim tax credits on your labor.

All the documents listed below are mandatory. Click Upload to locate the document on your device. To delete or replace the document, click the Trash Icon.

Corporate Notice of Assessment - A Corporation notice of assessment was issued to you because you filed a tax return for a corporation, or a return was filed for you. This documents shows that your return was assessed, and the date it was assessed, but most importantly your residency address can be found on the first page, which is all productions need to verify your residency.

However, If your company is new and haven't filed taxes for it yet, check the box that says My corporation is new, and I haven't filed taxes yet. You'll be able to bypass this upload and provide alternate proof of residency documents.

Schedule 50 Form is a document filed with your corporate tax return. All private corporations must complete this schedule for any shareholder who holds 10% or more of the corporation's common and/or preferred shares. Your accountant will be able to provide this file from your last tax return.
Central Securities Register is a record of who owns shares in the company, and of the details of any new issue or transfer of shares in the company. This document is uncommonly collected but helps productions determine what % of your labour they can claim tax credits on depending on how many people are shareholders within your corporation. Your lawyer will be able to generate or provide this file from the formation of the company.
Certificate of Incorporation is a legal document issued by the government that officially recognizes the establishment of your corporation. Productions require this document to verify your corporation is valid.
WorkSafeBC Clearance or Exemption Letter - Corporations must provide a WCB ID and a WorkSafeBC Clearance Letter. If no ID is provided, then a WorkSafeBC Exemption Letter must be uploaded.
Void Cheque or Direct Deposit Document - See above.

Payment Methods

Direct Deposit

For productions using Circus to process payments in Canada, you can securely connect your bank account once to receive direct deposits on every job going forward.

No connect button: If you do not see a button to connect your bank account, it means the production has not enabled Circus for payments. Please choose the alternate methods available.

How to Connect Your Bank Account:

Click "Connect Bank Account" on the Payments page of your work profile during onboarding.
Select Your Bank from the list. If it’s not listed among the top banks, use the search function to find it by name or institution number (3-digit code).
Choose Your Account Type—either Personal or Business—based on your taxpayer status. Selecting the wrong type may impact the production's tax credits.
Click Continue at the bottom of the screen.
Accept the Terms and Conditions of our secure payment processor to link your bank account to the production.
Enter Your Bank Login Credentials to validate the account and ensure payments are sent to the correct bank account.

You’ll be redirected back to Circus, where you’ll see a “Connected” label along with the last four digits of your bank account and your bank name. If you need to update your bank information, simply click the “Edit Bank Account” button and follow the same steps as before.

Check Payment

For productions where Direct Deposit is not mandatory, Workers have the option to receive payment by check. To opt in, toggle the option on and enter your mailing address in the provided field. Select the correct address from the dropdown menu. To troubleshoot address issues, click here.

International Workers

For workers who are eligible to work in the United States you may onboard via multiple Taxpayer Entities.

Taxpayer Entities

Skip to Indvidual
Skip to LLC Single Ownership
Skip to LLC Partnership
Skip to C-Corp or S-Corp

Pro Tip: The production office will deem whether you will be paid through Payroll (W2 Employee or Loan Out) or Accounts Payable (1099 Contractors) on the invite sent to you, which may trigger certain mandatory documents required to complete or upload.