Employer Health Tax (EHT) in Ontario

Behind the numbers.

The ladder runs from 0.98% on payroll up to $200,000 to 1.95% above $400,000, and it is selected on total Ontario remuneration before the exemption comes off. That ordering is the detail most often reversed, and it changes the answer for every employer in the bands.

Above $5,000,000 of payroll the exemption disappears entirely rather than tapering, so the rate applies to the whole amount.

Monthly instalments start once payroll passes $1,200,000, and the annual return is due 15 March.

Ontario's published guidance is inconsistent at exactly $5,000,000: one section says the exemption applies below $5 million, another that it is lost above it. At that precise figure, confirm with the Ministry of Finance.

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.