Your subcontractors’ Revenu Québec attestation

The attestation is required for a construction contract carried out in Quebec, between a contractor and a subcontractor, for work that needs an RBQ licence.

It’s required once the contract, alone or added to the contracts already signed with the same subcontractor in the calendar year, reaches $25,000 before taxes. Once that threshold is reached, the requirement applies to every later contract between the two of you, that year and the years after, whatever their amount.

Example: since January, you’ve given a plumber $23,000 of contracts. A new $4,000 contract in July brings the total to $27,000: that contract and every later one with this plumber require the attestation.

The only exception: a contract signed in an emergency because people’s safety or property is at stake. The rules apply at every tier of subcontracting.

From the bid until the end of the 7th day after work starts, the subcontractor must hold a valid attestation and give you a copy. Within the same period, you must obtain that copy and make sure it’s valid: the name and address are those of the company you’re signing with, and its validity period hasn’t ended.

No later than the 10th day after work starts, you must verify that it’s genuine.

If the subcontractor is a partnership or a consortium, you also need the attestation of each of its members.

The verification is done in Revenu Québec’s My Account for businesses (Mon dossier pour les entreprises), with the details printed on the attestation. It confirms the attestation’s number, the date and time it was issued, the company’s name and NEQ, and that the document really comes from Revenu Québec. A copy that looks right isn’t enough: this verification is what the law requires.

My Account keeps the list and results of your mandatory verifications for the past three years. Keep a copy in the contract file all the same. A business with small-supplier status does the verification by phone with Revenu Québec.

The attestation is valid until the end of the month in which it was issued, then for the three months after. The end date is printed on it.

A contract under way doesn’t need a new attestation when this one ends. For a new contract signed with you while it’s valid, the subcontractor doesn’t have to give it to you again. After its end date, they must get a new one to sign new contracts.

Revenu Québec first sends a notice by registered mail to a business that fails one of these obligations. After that notice, each new failure exposes it to penalties, whether it acts as the contractor or as the subcontractor.

Not obtaining the copy or not making sure it’s valid by the 7th day: the greater of $500 or 1% of the contract’s cost, up to $2,500. Paying the subcontractor without having fixed the situation adds a penalty: the greater of $250 or 2% of the amount paid (up to $2,000) for a contract under $100,000, or 5% (up to $5,000) for a contract of $100,000 or more.

Not verifying that it’s genuine by the 10th day: the greater of $250 or 0.5% of the contract’s cost, up to $1,250. A new failure within three years of a penalty assessment doubles the amount.