EI Calculator 2026

Your weekly EI benefit after a job loss, and what it adds up to after tax.

✓ 2026 rates · verified Oct 21–22, 2026

Confirmed for 2027: maximum insurable earnings rise from $68,900 to $70,800, and the employee premium rate rises from 1.63% to 1.64% (drops from 1.30% to 1.29% in Quebec). The 2027 maximum weekly benefit isn’t published yet. Source: CRA’s EI rates.

How this is calculated

1. Weekly earnings: your yearly pay ÷ 52, counting no more than the 2026 maximum insurable earnings of $68,900. EI really averages your best 14 to 22 weeks; with steady pay the result is the same.
2. Weekly benefit: 55% of that, up to $729 a week, rounded to the dollar.
3. Tax: EI is taxable, with no CPP or EI taken off. We add it to any job income earlier in the year and work out the extra 2026 federal and provincial tax for the province or territory you choose.
4. Repayment: if your net income for the year goes over $86,125, you repay 30% of the excess or 30% of the regular EI you received, whichever is less. It doesn’t apply if you received less than 1 week of regular benefits in the previous 10 tax years. The repayment is deducted from your income before income tax is worked out.

Weekly EI by salary, 2026

Above $68,900 the benefit stays at $729, so higher earners replace a much smaller share of their pay: about 38% on a $100,000 salary.

Worked example: high earner with a repayment

You earned $90,000 before being laid off, then collected 10 weeks of EI at the $729 maximum ($7,290). You also collected regular EI a few years ago, so the repayment can apply. Your net income for the year is about $96,163: the $97,290 of pay and EI, less the enhanced part of the CPP you paid on your job ($1,127), which is deducted from income rather than claimed as a credit. That’s $10,038 over the repayment threshold.

You repay 30% of the smaller of that $10,038 and the $7,290 of EI you received: 30% × $7,290 = $2,187.00 when you file. If this were your first regular EI claim in 10 years, you’d repay nothing.

The repayment is deducted from your income before tax, so you only pay income tax on the $5,103.00 of EI you keep: about $1,556.42 for an Alberta resident. That leaves $3,546.58 of the $7,290.

Worked example: the same claim in Quebec

You earned $50,000 a year in Quebec and were laid off at the end of June, after $25,000 of pay. You collect 20 weeks of regular EI. Regular EI comes from the federal plan in Quebec too, so the benefit is worked out the same way:

The same claim in Alberta pays the same $529 a week, but the tax on it is $1,481.20 federal and $846.40 Alberta, so you keep $8,252.40: $390.41 more than in Quebec. Every dollar of this EI falls in the lowest brackets, where Quebec’s rate is higher than Alberta’s even after the federal abatement.

On the job, Quebec’s EI premium is lower: 1.3% instead of 1.63%, or $325.00 instead of $407.50 on the $25,000 you earned, because Quebec pays maternity and parental benefits through its own plan (QPIP), with its own premium.

What this calculator assumes

• You qualify for EI regular benefits. Eligibility depends on hours worked and your region. Regular EI is the same in Quebec; only maternity and parental benefits come from Quebec’s own plan (QPIP).
• Your pay was steady, so yearly pay ÷ 52 equals your best-weeks average.
• No waiting week, since it’s waived for claims starting before October 9, 2027.
• Tax is for a resident of the province or territory you choose, with all your EI in one tax year. In Quebec the repayment is deducted on both returns: line 23500 federally and line 250 on the Quebec return.
• It doesn’t include the EI family supplement, money you earn while on claim, or how severance or vacation pay affects when benefits start.

Rates for tax year 2026, verified October 21 to October 22, 2026 · Page updated October 28, 2026