The maximum Employment Insurance payment in 2026 is $729 per week before tax, and most recipients take home roughly $520 to $600 after federal and provincial income tax is withheld. The exact after-tax amount depends on where you live and what other income you earned during the year. A few other things can shrink the payment further: part-time earnings during your claim, severance pay that delays when benefits start, and a clawback at tax time for higher-income recipients.
Where the $729 Weekly Maximum Comes From
The standard EI benefit rate is 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings.1Justice Laws Website. Employment Insurance Act – Rate of Benefits That percentage is applied to a capped amount of earnings, not your full salary. The cap, called Maximum Insurable Earnings, is $68,900 per year in 2026.2Government of Canada. EI Regular Benefits – How Much You Could Receive
Divide $68,900 by 52 weeks, take 55%, and you land at $729. That is the absolute ceiling. Even if you earned $150,000 before losing your job, your weekly gross benefit tops out at $729.3Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. 2026 Actuarial Report on the Employment Insurance Premium Rate If your average weekly earnings were below the cap, your benefit is simply 55% of what you actually earned. The Maximum Insurable Earnings figure is adjusted annually, so the $729 ceiling is specific to 2026.
What Tax Withholding Does to Your Weekly Deposit
EI payments are taxable income. Federal and provincial taxes come off before the money reaches your account, the same way they come off a regular paycheque.4Government of Canada. EI and Repayment of Benefits at Income Tax Time Service Canada uses standard payroll tax tables, factoring in your province and the personal tax credits on your TD1 form.
Federal tax on the first bracket of income is 15%. Provincial rates vary widely, from around 4% at the lowest provincial brackets to roughly 15% in higher-tax provinces like Quebec and Nova Scotia. For someone whose only income during a stretch of unemployment is EI, the combined federal and provincial rate typically falls in the 20% to 28% range. Applied to $729, that produces a weekly deposit of roughly $525 to $585. Recipients in lower-tax provinces land near the top of that range; those in higher-tax provinces land near the bottom.
These withholdings are estimates, not your final tax bill. When you file your annual return, your actual liability is calculated on everything you earned that year. If Service Canada withheld more than you owed, you get a refund. If employment income earlier in the year pushed you into a higher bracket, you could owe more. The T4E slip issued by Service Canada shows your total gross benefits and the tax already deducted, and both figures feed directly into your return.
The Clawback That Can Erase Your Benefits at Tax Time
This is the piece most people miss. If your net income from all sources exceeds $86,125 in the 2026 tax year, you have to repay 30% of either the amount above that threshold or the total regular benefits you received, whichever is less.4Government of Canada. EI and Repayment of Benefits at Income Tax Time The CRA collects the clawback through your tax assessment.
A concrete example. You lose your job in March after earning $70,000, collect 20 weeks of EI at $729 ($14,580), then start a new position in August and earn another $40,000 by year end. Your total income is roughly $124,580. The amount over $86,125 is about $38,455, and 30% of that ($11,537) is less than the $14,580 in regular benefits you collected, so you repay $11,537. If the 30% figure had exceeded your benefits, the repayment would be capped at the full $14,580, wiping out the year’s EI entirely.
Maternity, parental, sickness, and compassionate care benefits are exempt. The clawback applies only to regular benefits and regular fishing benefits.4Government of Canada. EI and Repayment of Benefits at Income Tax Time If you expect to end the year well above the threshold, plan for the repayment. The effective after-tax value of your EI could be close to zero.
Other Things That Reduce the Amount You Receive
Working part-time during a claim doesn’t cancel your benefits, but it does shrink them. You keep 50 cents of EI for every dollar you earn, up to 90% of the weekly insurable earnings used to calculate your claim. Above that 90% mark, benefits are reduced dollar for dollar.5Government of Canada. EI Regular Benefits – While on EI If your claim is based on weekly earnings of $1,000, the 90% threshold is $900. Earn $500 in a week and your benefit drops by $250. Earn $950 and you lose almost all of it.
Severance pay, termination pay, and unused vacation payouts work differently. These amounts are allocated across weeks starting from your last day of work, based on your normal weekly earnings. During those allocated weeks, no EI is paid. A lump-sum severance equivalent to 10 months of pay pushes your benefit start date out by roughly 10 months.6Government of Canada. Employment Insurance and the Various Types of Earnings Apply as soon as you lose your job anyway so the claim is in the system and payments start the moment the allocation ends.
Service Canada can also deduct money from your payments to recover previous EI overpayments. The standard recovery rate is 50% of your weekly benefit, though you can ask for a different arrangement.7Government of Canada. Employment Insurance and Overpayments Court-ordered obligations like family support can come off before the deposit reaches your account.
Quebec: Same Maximum, Lower Net
Quebec residents don’t receive a lower maximum EI benefit. The $68,900 insurable earnings cap and the $729 weekly ceiling apply equally in every province and territory.8Canada Revenue Agency. EI Premium Rates and Maximums Quebec employees pay a lower EI premium rate (1.30% of insurable earnings) because maternity and parental benefits run through the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan rather than federal EI.9Government of Canada. Quebec Parental Insurance Plan
The difference for Quebec claimants shows up in after-tax take-home. Quebec’s provincial income tax rates are among the highest in the country, so the net from a $729 gross payment is lower than in Alberta or Ontario. A Quebec claimant collecting the maximum can expect weekly deposits closer to $520 after combined deductions, compared with $570 or more in lower-tax provinces.
The Waiting Period, and Why It Matters Right Now
Under normal rules, the first week of an EI claim is unpaid. It works like a deductible: you file, serve seven days with no payment, and benefits begin the following week.
A temporary federal measure has waived that waiting period for all new EI claims filed between March 30, 2025, and April 11, 2026.10Government of Canada. Temporary Employment Insurance Measures to Respond to Major Economic Conditions Claims inside that window start paying from the first week. Claims filed after it closes revert to the standard one-week wait unless the measure is extended. Either way, apply as soon as you lose your job. Delays in filing cost you weeks of benefits you can’t recover later.