Insurable Earnings and Collection of Premiums Regulations (SOR/97-33)

Interpretation

• 1 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in these Regulations.

  Act

  Act means the Employment Insurance Act. (Loi)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of National Revenue. (ministre)

  pay period

  pay period means the period in respect of which earnings are paid to or enjoyed by an insured person. (période de paie)

  retiring allowance

  retiring allowance means an amount received by a person

  • (a) on or after retirement of the person from an office or employment in recognition of the person’s long service, or

  • (b) in respect of a loss of an office or employment of the person, whether or not received as, on account or in lieu of payment of, damages or pursuant to an order or judgment of a competent tribunal. (allocation de retraite)

• (2) For the purposes of Part IV of the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations, employer includes a person who pays or has paid earnings of an insured person for services performed in insurable employment.

PART IInsurable Earnings

Earnings from Insurable Employment

• 2 (1) For the purposes of the definition insurable earnings in subsection 2(1) of the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations, the total amount of earnings that an insured person has from insurable employment is

  • (a) the total of all amounts, whether wholly or partly pecuniary, received or enjoyed by the insured person that are paid to the person by the person’s employer in respect of that employment, and

  • (b) the amount of any gratuities that the insured person is required to declare to the person’s employer under provincial legislation.

• (2) For the purposes of this Part, the total amount of earnings that an insured person has from insurable employment includes the portion of any amount of such earnings that remains unpaid because of the employer’s bankruptcy, receivership, impending receivership or non-payment of remuneration for which the person has filed a complaint with the federal or provincial labour authorities, except for any unpaid amount that is in respect of overtime or that would have been paid by reason of termination of the employment.

• (3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), earnings does not include

  • (a) any non-cash benefit, other than the value of either or both of any board or lodging enjoyed by a person in a pay period in respect of their employment if cash remuneration is paid to the person by their employer in respect of the pay period;

  • (a.1) any amount excluded as income under paragraph 6(1)(a) or (b) or subsection 6(6) or (16) of the Income Tax Act;

  • (b) a retiring allowance;

  • (c) a supplement paid to a person by the person’s employer to increase worker’s compensation paid to the person by a provincial authority;

  • (d) a supplement paid to a person by the person’s employer to increase a wage loss indemnity payment made to the person by a party other than the employer under a wage loss indemnity plan;

  • (e) a supplemental unemployment benefit payment made under a supplemental unemployment benefit plan as described in subsection 37(2) of the Employment Insurance Regulations; and

  • (f) a payment made to a person by the person’s employer

    • (i) to cover the waiting period referred to in section 13 of the Act,

    • (ii) to increase the special benefits payable to the person under the Act, except those payable under sections 21 and 152.03 of the Act, to the extent that the payment meets the criteria set out in section 38 of the Employment Insurance Regulations, or

    • (iii) to increase the benefits payable to the person under a provincial plan, as defined in section 76.01 of the Employment Insurance Regulations, to the extent that the payment

      • (A) when combined with the weekly amount of those benefits, does not exceed the person’s normal weekly earnings from employment by that employer, and

      • (B) does not reduce the person’s accumulated sick leave or vacation leave credits, severance pay or any other accumulated credits from that employment.

PART IICalculation and Payment of Premiums

• 3 (1) No employee’s premium is payable in respect of earnings from excluded employment.

• (2) The amount of premiums payable under the Act and these Regulations in respect of insurable earnings shall be determined in accordance with the rules set out in these Regulations.

• (3) Subject to subsection (5), the amount of an employee’s premium to be deducted by an employer from any insurable earnings shall be an amount equal to the greater of

  • (a) $0.01; and

  • (b) the product obtained when the insurable earnings are multiplied by the premium rate for the year.

• (4) Where the product obtained under paragraph (3)(b) contains a fraction of a cent, the product shall be rounded to the nearest whole cent or, if that product is equidistant from two whole cents, to the higher of the two.

• (5) An employee’s premium shall not exceed the premium payable on maximum insurable earnings.

• 4 (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), (3.1), (3.2) and (5), every employer shall remit the employee’s premiums and the employer’s premiums payable under the Act and these Regulations to the Receiver General on or before the 15th day of the month following the month in which the employer paid to the insured person insurable earnings in respect of which those premiums were required to be deducted or paid under the Act and these Regulations.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3),

  • (a) if the average monthly withholding amount of an employer for the second year preceding a particular year is equal to or greater than $25,000 and less than $100,000, the employer shall remit employees’ premiums and the employer’s premiums payable under the Act and these Regulations to the Receiver General

    • (i) in respect of insurable earnings paid before the 16th day of a month in the particular year, on or before the 25th day of that month, and

    • (ii) in respect of insurable earnings paid after the 15th day of a month in the particular year, on or before the 10th day of the following month; and

  • (b) if the average monthly withholding amount of an employer for the second year preceding a particular year is equal to or greater than $100,000, the employer shall remit employees’ premiums and the employer’s premiums payable under the Act and these Regulations to the Receiver General on or before the third day, not including a Saturday or holiday, after the end of each of the following periods in which insurable earnings were paid, namely,

    • (i) the period beginning on the first day and ending on the seventh day of a month in the particular year,

    • (ii) the period beginning on the 8th day and ending on the 14th day of a month in the particular year,

    • (iii) the period beginning on the 15th day and ending on the 21st day of a month in the particular year, and

    • (iv) the period beginning on the 22nd day and ending on the last day of a month in the particular year.

• (3) Where an employer referred to in paragraph (2)(a) or (b) would otherwise be required to remit the employees’ premiums and the employer’s premiums in respect of a particular year in accordance with that paragraph, the employer may elect to remit those premiums to the Receiver General

  • (a) in accordance with subsection (1), if the average monthly withholding amount of the employer for the year preceding the particular year is less than $25,000 and the employer has advised the Minister that the employer has so elected; and

  • (b) if the average monthly withholding amount of the employer for the year preceding the particular year is equal to or greater than $25,000 and less than $100,000 and the employer has advised the Minister that the employer has so elected,

    • (i) in respect of insurable earnings paid before the 16th day of a month in the particular year, on or before the 25th day of that month, and

    • (ii) in respect of insurable earnings paid after the 15th day of a month in the particular year, on or before the 10th day of the following month.

• (3.1) If at any time

  • (a) the average monthly withholding amount in respect of an employer for either the first or the second calendar year before the particular calendar year that includes that time is less than $3,000;

  • (b) throughout the 12-month period before that time, the employer has remitted, on or before the day on or before which the amounts were required to be remitted, all amounts each of which was required to be remitted under subsection 82(1) of the Act, under subsection 21(1) of the Canada Pension Plan, under Part IX of the Excise Tax Act, or under subsection 153(1) of the Income Tax Act; and

  • (c) throughout the 12-month period before that time, the employer has filed all returns each of which was required to be filed under the Income Tax Act or Part IX of the Excise Tax Act on or before the day on or before which those returns were required to be filed under those Acts,

  premiums payable in a month that ends after that time and that is in the particular calendar year may be remitted by the employer to the Receiver General

  • (d) in respect of insurable earnings paid in January, February and March of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of April of the particular year,

  • (e) in respect of insurable earnings paid in April, May and June of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of July of the particular year,

  • (f) in respect of insurable earnings paid in July, August and September of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of October of the particular year, and

  • (g) in respect of insurable earnings paid in October, November and December of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of January of the year the following the particular year.

• (3.2) If an employer is a new employer throughout a particular month in a particular calendar year, premiums payable in the month may be remitted to the Receiver General

  • (a) in respect of insurable earnings paid in January, February and March of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of April of the particular calendar year;

  • (b) in respect of insurable earnings paid in April, May and June of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of July of the particular calendar year;

  • (c) in respect of insurable earnings paid in July, August and September of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of October of the particular calendar year; and

  • (d) in respect of insurable earnings paid in October, November and December of the particular calendar year, on or before the 15th day of January of the year following the particular year.

• (4) For the purpose of this section,

  • (a) the average monthly withholding amount of an employer for a year is determined in accordance with subsections 108(1.2) and (1.3) of the Income Tax Regulations;

  • (b) the determination as to whether an employer is a new employer is made in accordance with subsections 108(1.4) and (1.41) of the Income Tax Regulations; and

  • (c) the monthly withholding amount in respect of a new employer for a month is determined in accordance with subsection 108(1.21) of the Income Tax Regulations.

• (5) Every employer carrying on a business or other activity in respect of which the employer employs one or more insured persons in insurable employment shall, within 7 days after the day the employer ceases to carry on the business or other activity, remit to the Receiver General the employees’ premiums and the employer’s premiums that were required to be deducted or paid in respect of every such person under the Act and these Regulations.

• (6) Every remittance by an employer of employees’ premiums and employer’s premiums to the Receiver General shall be accompanied by a duly completed information return in a form authorized by the Minister.

Security Interests

• 4.1 (1) For the purpose of subsection 86(2.2) of the Act, prescribed security interest, in relation to an amount deemed by subsection 86(2) of the Act to be held in trust by a person, means that part of a mortgage securing the performance of an obligation of the person, that encumbers land or a building, where the mortgage is registered pursuant to the appropriate land registration system before the time the amount is deemed to be held in trust by the person.

• (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), where, at any time after 1999, the person referred to in subsection (1) fails to pay an amount deemed by subsection 86(2) of the Act to be held in trust by the person, as required under the Act, the amount of the prescribed security interest referred to in subsection (1) is deemed not to exceed the amount by which the amount, at that time, of the obligation outstanding secured by the mortgage exceeds the total of

  • (a) all amounts each of which is the value determined at the time of the failure, having regard to all the circumstances including the existence of any deemed trust for the benefit of Her Majesty pursuant to subsection 86(2) of the Act, of all the rights of the secured creditor securing the obligation, whether granted by the person or not, including guarantees or rights of set-off but not including the mortgage referred to in subsection (1), and

  • (b) all amounts applied after the time of the failure on account of the obligation,

  so long as any amount deemed under any enactment administered by the Minister, other than the Excise Tax Act, to be held in trust by the person, remains unpaid.

• (3) For greater certainty, a prescribed security interest includes the amount of insurance or expropriation proceeds relating to land or a building that is the subject of a registered mortgage interest, adjusted after 1999 in accordance with subsection (2), but does not include a lien, a priority or any other security interest created by statute, an assignment or hypothec of rents or leases, or a mortgage interest in any equipment or fixtures that a mortgagee or any other person has the right absolutely or conditionally to remove or dispose of separately from the land or building.

PART IIIDeemed Employers

Employment of Stevedores

5 Where, in a pay period, a person is employed as a stevedore by one or more persons whose payroll records are prepared and maintained by another person (in this section referred to as the “agent employer”) who pays the earnings of the person from that employment, the agent employer shall be deemed, for the purposes of Part IV of the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations, to be the employer of the stevedore for the purpose of calculating the stevedore’s insurable earnings during the pay period in respect of that employment and paying, deducting and remitting the premiums payable on those insurable earnings.

Employment in Lumbering or Logging

• 6 (1) Where a person is employed in insurable employment by an employer for services in or in connection with lumbering or logging, in any logging limit or in any timber or lumber driveway, mill or yard, the owner of that limit, driveway, mill or yard who authorizes the employer to undertake the work shall, in the event of the default of the employer in calculating the insurable earnings of the person and in paying, deducting and remitting the premiums payable on those insurable earnings under the Act and these Regulations, be deemed to be the employer of the person for the purposes of maintaining records, calculating the person’s insurable earnings and paying, deducting and remitting those premiums.

• (2) For the purpose of this section, owner includes any owner other than the Crown, lessee, licensee and permittee but does not include a person who only sells or rents stumpage or cutting rights.