EI premiums calculator: rate, maximum and employer share
Enter your salary to see what you and your employer pay into Employment Insurance this year.
Employment Insurance is funded by premiums deducted from every pay. In 2026 the employee premium rate is 1.63% of insurable earnings, which is $1.63 for every $100, up to the maximum insurable earnings of $68,900. The most an employee can pay in the year is therefore $1,123.07. There is no basic exemption: premiums are due from the first dollar. Employers pay 1.4 times the employee amount, a rate of 2.28% and up to $1,572.30 per employee. In Quebec, where maternity and parental benefits come from the provincial plan, the employee rate is 1.30% and the maximum $895.70. On a salary of $60,000 outside Quebec, the employee pays $978.00 and the employer $1,369.20. The same maximum insurable earnings cap the benefit: 55% of $68,900 gives the maximum weekly benefit of $729.
Your 2026 EI premiums
Your premium for the year
$978.00
| Your rate | 1.63% |
| Employer premium | $1,369.20 |
| Per biweekly pay (26) | $37.62 |
| Maximum for the year | $1,123.07 |
Updated on · Radif Partners · Editorial policy
EI premiums by salary
| Annual salary | Employee premium | Employer premium | Per biweekly pay | Employee premium in Quebec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $489.00 | $684.60 | $18.81 | $390.00 |
| $45,000 | $733.50 | $1,026.90 | $28.21 | $585.00 |
| $60,000 | $978.00 | $1,369.20 | $37.62 | $780.00 |
| $68,900 | $1,123.07 | $1,572.30 | $43.20 | $895.70 |
| $90,000 | $1,123.07 | $1,572.30 | $43.20 | $895.70 |
| $150,000 | $1,123.07 | $1,572.30 | $43.20 | $895.70 |
Above $68,900 the premium stops growing: someone earning $150,000 pays the same $1,123.07 as someone earning $68,900. The biweekly column assumes 26 pays; in practice the deduction is 1.63% of each pay until the yearly maximum is reached, so high earners see it disappear from their pay stub part way through the year.
How the deduction is calculated
Each pay period, the employer multiplies insurable earnings by the rate. Insurable earnings include salary, wages, overtime, commissions, bonuses, vacation pay, most taxable benefits paid in cash and tips controlled by the employer. They exclude non-cash benefits other than board and lodging, and amounts paid after death. The employer stops deducting once the employee's year-to-date premiums reach $1,123.07. A new employer starts again from zero, which is how overpayments arise when you change jobs during the year.
The employer share
For every dollar deducted from the employee, the employer adds $1.40. On a salary of $60,000, that is $1,369.20 on top of the employee's $978.00, for a total of $2,347.20 remitted to the Canada Revenue Agency. Employers who offer a qualifying short-term disability plan can register for the premium reduction program and pay a lower multiple, on condition that part of the saving is returned to employees. Small employers are not exempt; EI applies from the first employee.
Why Quebec pays less
Maternity, paternity, parental and adoption benefits in Quebec are paid by the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, which has its own premiums. Federal EI in Quebec therefore covers only regular, sickness, caregiving and fishing benefits, and its rate is reduced to 1.30% for employees and 1.82% for employers. A Quebec worker pays the reduced EI premium plus the provincial plan premium, shown as a separate line on the pay stub.
How the rate is set
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission sets the rate each September for the following year, on the basis of a forecast by the EI senior actuary. The rule is a seven-year break-even: the rate should balance the EI operating account over seven years, and it cannot move by more than five cents per $100 from one year to the next. The maximum insurable earnings are indexed to the growth of average weekly earnings in Canada. Both figures take effect on January 1.
Premiums and the benefit you can receive
Premiums are not a savings account: what you can receive depends on your insurable hours and earnings in the last 52 weeks, not on the total you have paid in over your career. The link is the cap. Earnings above $68,900 carry no premium and earn no benefit, which is why the weekly benefit tops out at $729. On $60,000, a year of premiums costs $978.00 and insures a benefit of $635 a week. The EI calculator turns your earnings and region into an amount and a number of weeks.
Refund of an overpayment
If your T4 slips together show more than $1,123.07 in EI premiums, the excess is claimed on your tax return as an overpayment and refunded. A refund is also due when your insurable earnings for the year were $2,000 or less. If a single employer deducted too much, ask that employer to correct it. A worker who lived in Quebec at the end of the year but worked elsewhere, or the reverse, has the difference between the two rates adjusted on the return.
Self-employed workers
Self-employed people do not pay EI premiums by default and cannot receive regular benefits. They can register voluntarily for special benefits: maternity, parental, sickness and caregiving. They then pay the employee rate on their self-employment income, with no employer share. Once a benefit has been claimed, the premiums must be paid for as long as the person remains self-employed. The pages on sickness benefits and caregiving benefits describe what is covered.