EI max 2026: $1,123.07 per employee on $68,900 of earnings

The 2026 EI maximums next to 2025

The CRA's rate table has the 2026 figures: maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 and an employee rate of 1.63%, a cent lower per $100 than 2025 canada.ca. The ceiling rose $3,200, so the maximum premium went up even though the rate went down.

Year over year, the employee maximum is up $45.59 and the employer maximum is up $63.83 per employee outside Quebec. In Quebec the increases are $35.03 and $49.04 canada.ca.

The Quebec rate follows where the employee works, not where they live. The CRA applies it to employees working in Quebec whatever their province of residence canada.ca. It's lower because Quebec runs its own parental insurance plan (QPIP), which carries its own premiums on top.

How the $68,900 and the $1,123.07 are built

The ceiling comes from section 4 of the Employment Insurance Act. Each year, last year's unrounded maximum is multiplied by the growth in Statistics Canada's average weekly earnings for the industrial aggregate, comparing the 12 months ending April 30 of the prior year with the 12 months before that, and the result is rounded down to a multiple of $100 laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.

Because the Act carries forward the unrounded amount, you can't rebuild $68,900 exactly from $65,700. On the rounded figures, the 2026 ceiling is up about 4.9%. The Commission's actuarial summary confirms the index is average weekly earnings canada.ca.

The rate is set separately. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission announced $1.63 per $100 on September 12, 2025, as the rate forecast to balance the EI Operating Account by the end of 2032 canada.ca.

Compute the employer share as 1.4 times the employee premium, not as a rate on earnings. The Commission rounds the employer rate to $2.28 per $100, and 2.28% of $68,900 is $1,570.92, which is $1.38 below the true maximum. The T4001 states the employer contributes 1.4 times the premiums it deducts canada.ca.

When an employee has two employers

The $68,900 ceiling applies to each job separately. A new employer deducts from zero, without regard to what the last one took, and once you've deducted the year's maximum you stop canada.ca. The same rules apply to the CPP, covered in CPP max 2026.

Worked example: your client earns $50,000 at one job and $40,000 at another in 2026, both outside Quebec.

The employee paid $1,467.00 against a $1,123.07 maximum, so $343.93 comes back when they file their T1. The two employers paid $2,053.80 between them, $481.50 more than a single employer would have at the maximum, and there is no provision in the Act to refund an employer for this.

If your own payroll deducted too much, for example by missing the stop point, file Form PD24 to ask for the overdeducted EI back canada.ca.

The reduced employer rate through a wage loss plan

An employer whose short term disability plan meets Service Canada's standards can pay less than 1.4 times. The plan has to pay at least 15 weeks of benefits at or above EI levels, start within 8 days of illness or injury, and cover employees within 3 months of hire canada.ca.

For 2026, the best reduced multiple open to all employers is 1.167, for a category 2 enhanced cumulative paid sick leave plan or a category 3 weekly indemnity plan, worth up to $261.68 per employee per year. The employer must return at least five twelfths of the savings to the employees the plan covers canada.ca. Quebec employers use a separate rate table.

Worked example: a client with 20 employees, all earning above $68,900 outside Quebec, at the 1.167 multiple.

Apply on Form NAS5022. A reduction isn't retroactive: the effective date is the application date unless you show good cause to antedate it. An annual rate is granted only when the effective date is January 1, and then you recalculate the employer premiums already paid back to January 1 at the new multiple canada.ca.

EI for sole proprietors: special benefits by opt in

A sole proprietor, or someone controlling more than 40% of a corporation's voting shares, isn't covered by EI unless they sign an agreement with the Commission. The agreement buys special benefits only: maternity, parental, sickness (up to 26 weeks), family caregiver for children or adults, and compassionate care. Quebec residents get maternity, paternity, parental and adoption benefits through QPIP instead canada.ca.

The premium is the employee rate alone, $1.63 per $100 of earnings up to $1,123.07 for 2026, or $1.30 up to $895.70 in Quebec. There's no 1.4 times employer share. It's charged on the full calendar year's business earnings from the year the agreement starts and is paid with the T1 on Schedule 13 canada.ca.

To claim, the agreement must have been in place at least 12 months, your client must have earned at least $9,254 net from the business in 2025 (for claims in 2026), and must have cut time spent on the business by more than 40% for at least a week canada.ca.

The trap is the exit. Your client can withdraw any time before receiving a benefit, and owes nothing if they withdraw within 60 days of signing. After 60 days they pay premiums to December 31 of the year they withdraw. Once they've received a benefit, they pay premiums for as long as they stay in business canada.ca.

Where the premiums go on the T1

An employee claims EI premiums on line 31200: add box 18 from every T4 slip, along with box 55 where it's filled in. It's a tax credit, not a deduction. The CRA page currently shows the 2025 cap, $1,077.48, or $860.67 for a Quebec resident who worked only in Quebec canada.ca.

If insurable earnings are $2,000 or less, claim nothing on line 31200. The premiums go on line 45000 and come back as a refund. Insurable earnings are in box 24, or box 14 when box 24 is blank. Premiums above the maximum, from two jobs for example, also go on line 45000, and the refund must be requested within three years of the end of the year canada.ca.

A sole proprietor in the special benefits program claims line 31217, the amount worked out on Schedule 13, as a credit. Dividends don't count as eligible earnings, so an owner manager paid only dividends has nothing to put on that schedule canada.ca.