EI Premium reduction guide Chapter 3: Receiving the decision on entitlement for an EI premium reduction

What happens if I qualify for an EI premium reduction?

If you qualify for an EI premium reduction, we will contact you to verify if you need an additional payroll account number. Since the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not allow employers to remit at different rates under the same payroll account, you will need more than one payroll account number if the following occurs:

• you have employees who are not covered by an approved plan (for example, students, casual employees). In this case, you will need to make remittances for these employees at the standard rate of 1.4 times the employees’ EI premium;
• you have more than one type of approved plan for which you could be granted a reduced rate; or
• the type of approved plan that you offer is a paid sick leave plan that defers the use of paid sick leave credits for more than three months but not more than 12 months of employment, beginning on the day the employee started working for you or the day the employee joined the plan. (In this case, you will need to make remittances for temporary employees, or employees on probation, at the standard rate of 1.4 times the employees’ EI premium until they become entitled to use their paid sick leave credits).

If we determine you need an additional payroll account number, you will have to contact the CRA office serving your area to request a separate account number. Once you provide us with the additional number, we will send you a notice of entitlement to the EI premium reduction. We will also let you know the applicable reduced EI premium rate(s).

Your EI premium reduction will be specified in cents per $100 of insurable earnings (for example, the premium reduction could be 35 cents ($0.35) for every $100 of insured earnings).

Your reduced EI premium rate will be expressed as a multiple of the employee premiums payable - that is, a premium rate which is less than 1.4 times the employee premiums payable (for example, 1.187).

What happens if I do not qualify for an EI premium reduction?

If you do not qualify for an EI premium reduction, we will send you a notice of non-entitlement.