comma,
British Columbia

Employer health tax in British Columbia

British Columbia exempts the first $1,000,000, then applies a 5.85% notch rate: and above $1,500,000 the exemption vanishes and 1.95% applies to total remuneration.

Include the payroll of associated employers: the thresholds apply to the group, not each company.

Employer health tax

Payroll
$2,000,000.00
Exemption
$0.00
Amount taxed
$2,000,000.00
Rate
1.95%
Employer health tax
$39,000.00

Above $1,500,000 there is no exemption and 1.95% applies to total B.C. remuneration, not just the excess.

How this is calculated

Between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 the notch rate of 5.85% applies to the amount over $1,000,000 only.

Above $1,500,000 the calculation changes shape entirely: there is no exemption, and 1.95% applies to TOTAL B.C. remuneration rather than the excess. Crossing that line costs considerably more than the marginal dollar suggests, and treating it as an excess calculation understates the tax badly.

Charitable and non-profit employers are on a separate set of rules with their own thresholds.

The threshold applies to an associated group of employers, not to each corporation separately: splitting payroll across two companies you control does not buy two exemptions.

Comma does not run payroll. It takes the journal your payroll provider produces and keeps the resulting liabilities: including this one: in accounts you can reconcile, so what you owe is a balance rather than something rebuilt at year end.

Where these figures come from

This tool gives an estimate from published rules and rates. It is not accounting, tax or legal advice, and it does not account for every situation: check the source above, or ask your accountant, before you act on it. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.