Employer payroll cost estimator

How the calculation works

CPP = (pay up to $74,600 − $3,500 basic exemption) × 5.95%, up to $4,230.45. CPP2 = (pay between $74,600 and $85,000) × 4%, up to $416. EI = pay up to $68,900 × 1.63%, up to $1,123.07. The employer matches CPP and CPP2 and pays 1.4 times the employee EI premium, up to $1,572.30. Total employer cost is gross pay plus the employer amounts.

A worked example

At an illustrative $60,000 of gross pay, employee CPP is $3,361.75 and employee EI is $978.00. The employer pays the same CPP, plus EI of $1,369.20 (1.4 × $978.00), so employer contributions are $4,730.95 and the total cost is $64,730.95. CPP2 is zero because pay is below $74,600.

Assumptions and limits

This is contributions only, for a full year of employment outside Quebec, with all pay pensionable and insurable. It excludes income tax withholding, Ontario Employer Health Tax, WSIB premiums, vacation pay, benefits and any employee who is exempt from CPP. Quebec has its own plan and rates. Part-year employment needs a prorated exemption and is not modelled. A payroll provider or the CRA’s payroll deductions tools should be used to calculate actual pay-period amounts.

General educational information. Inputs stay on this device and are not submitted. Confirm the assumptions before using a result in a business decision.

Source and further reading

2026 figures checked October 24, 2026 against the CRA pages: CRA: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions; CRA: CPP2 contribution rates and maximums; CRA: EI premium rates and maximums. The examples above use Sora’s own illustrative figures.

Payroll remittance

Before your first hire, budget for more than wages

First payroll checklist