Remit Meaning: What It Means to Remit Money in Canada

What does remit mean?

To remit means to send money, goods, or a payment to another party, usually to settle an amount you owe. The word carries a sense of obligation: you remit something because it is due, not as a gift. It belongs to formal, commercial, and legal writing more than to everyday conversation.

The noun form is remittance. A remittance is either the money sent or the act of sending it. In accounting, a remittance advice is the slip or message that tells the recipient who paid, how much, and what the payment covers. In banking, remittance often refers to money sent across a border.

The word has a second, older meaning: to cancel or pardon, as in remitting a debt or a penalty. In finance the sending sense dominates, but the two ideas are connected. Remitting a debt means settling it and letting the obligation go.

Where the word comes from

Remit entered English through Old French, from the Latin remittere, meaning to send back or let go. The same root produced remission, which keeps the sense of release. Because it arrived through legal and commercial writing, the word kept a formal tone that it still carries.

That history explains why banks, tax authorities, and courts prefer it. Saying you will remit a payment signals that an obligation exists and will be discharged. Saying you will pay someone is looser and does not necessarily imply a debt.

Remittance vs payment vs transfer

Payment, remittance, and transfer overlap, and people use them loosely. Payment is the broadest term: anything given in exchange for goods, services, or the settlement of a debt. Remittance is narrower and usually means sending money to settle an obligation, often to a distant party or an authority.

Transfer describes moving funds from one account, person, or country to another. Every remittance involves a transfer, but not every transfer is a remittance. Moving money between your own accounts is a transfer. Paying a supplier in another country is both a transfer and a remittance.

Remit in Canadian payroll and tax

In Canadian payroll, to remit means to send the deductions you withheld from employee pay to the Canada Revenue Agency. This includes income tax, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums. Employers hold this money on behalf of employees and must send it by set deadlines.

The CRA refers to these payments as remittances, and businesses often call the process payroll remitting. The deadline depends on your remitter type, which is based on your average monthly withholding amount. Late or missing remittances can lead to penalties and interest.

Businesses also remit the GST/HST they collect on sales, and corporations remit instalment payments of income tax. In each case the money is not the business's own revenue. It is being passed along to the government on a schedule.

International remittances from Canada

An international remittance is money sent by a person in one country to a recipient in another. Canada both sends and receives these payments. Many newcomers send money to family abroad, and Canadians working overseas may send money home. For many households these flows are a regular expense rather than a one-time event.

Most international remittances from Canada move through banks or through money services businesses. Money services businesses must register with FINTRAC and follow Canadian anti-money-laundering and terrorist-financing rules, which include identity checks and record keeping.

The cost of a remittance usually has two parts: a service fee and the exchange rate applied to the conversion. Providers set both, so the total cost of sending the same amount can differ. The Bank of Canada publishes daily reference exchange rates you can compare against the rate a provider offers.

Delivery time varies by destination, currency, and provider. Some transfers arrive within minutes, while others take a few business days, especially where banking hours or intermediary banks are involved.

Why the meaning matters in practice

Knowing what remit means helps you read your own paperwork. Payslips, invoices, tax notices, and bank statements all use the word, and its meaning shifts slightly with the context. Reading it correctly tells you who owes what, to whom, and by when.

For people sending money abroad, the term also appears in consumer protection rules. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada explains that transfer providers must disclose fees and the exchange rate before you confirm, so you can compare the total cost rather than the headline fee alone.

Common confusions

Several misunderstandings come up again and again. The word is not limited to overseas transfers, it does not always mean the same thing as payment, and the document describing a payment is not the payment itself.

One more confusion is timing. A remittance may be dated when it is sent, received, or processed, depending on the context. For tax purposes, what usually matters is the date the payment reaches the authority, not the day you initiated it.

• Thinking remittance only means money sent abroad. It also covers domestic tax and bill payments.
• Using remittance and payment as exact synonyms. Remittance implies an obligation being settled.
• Confusing a remittance advice with the payment. The advice is a notice; funds move separately.
• Comparing providers on fees alone. A weaker exchange rate can cost more than the fee.
• Assuming all providers are the same. Fees, rates, and delivery times vary.

Remittances and fraud awareness

Because a remittance can involve sending money to someone you have never met, it attracts fraud. Common schemes include fake invoices, romance scams, and urgent requests to send money to release a prize, clear a debt, or help a relative in trouble.

Warning signs include pressure to act immediately, requests to keep the transfer secret, and instructions to send money to an individual rather than a business. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre lists current scam types and explains how to report them.