Owner-manager remuneration refers to how the owner of an incorporated business pays themselves from the corporation — principally through salary, dividends, or a blend of the two. Because the Canadian system aims for integration, the headline tax on the two routes is broadly similar, so the decision usually turns on their differing side-effects.
Salary is deductible to the corporation, builds RRSP contribution room, and requires CPP contributions (and confers CPP entitlement). Dividends are paid from after-tax corporate profits, carry a lower personal rate through the dividend tax credit, attract no CPP, and create no RRSP room. The optimal mix depends on the owner's income level, retirement-savings goals, views on CPP, the corporation's eligible- and non-eligible-dividend pools, the small-business-deduction limit, and family circumstances, and is generally revisited each year as part of year-end planning.