Filing instructions for employers for the employer health tax

This guide explains how to complete the employer health tax return for employers who aren’t associated employers or charitable or non-profit employers.

Due date

Your annual employer health tax return is due on March 31 of the following calendar year.

If this is your final taxation year for the employer health tax, your return is due either:

  • 90 days after the date you cease your permanent establishment in B.C.
  • 90 days after the date you become bankrupt

Before you file

Before you file your return, ensure you have the following:

  • Your username and password for your employer health tax account in eTaxBC

    ​If you don’t have an eTaxBC logon set up for your employer health tax account, you will need to:
    • Enrol for access to eTaxBC
    • Log on and add access to your employer health tax account

  • T4 Summary or Summaries from all payroll accounts under the same business number, which is the first nine digits of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) payroll account number

  • The total Non-BC Remuneration from all payroll accounts that were included on Line 14 of the T4 Summary or Summaries

  • If applicable, your T4 Slips from all payroll accounts

  • If applicable, your T4A Slips from all payroll accounts

Once you have all the above, you can begin filing your employer health tax return:

  1. Log on to your eTaxBC account
  2. Select Employer Health Tax under Accounts
  3. Select File Return for the period you wish to file

Step 1: Declarations

Follow the instructions below for the Declarations step.

  1. Period Covered
    Defaults to the taxation year you’re filing for

  2. Date Due
    Defaults to the due date of the return

  3. Did you amalgamate within the calendar year?

  • Select Yes if an amalgamation happened during the taxation year. Then:

    1. Indicate if you’re filing the return as the predecessor or successor

    2. Enter the effective date of the amalgamation

      If you’re filing as the successor corporation, you’re deemed to be a new employer starting on the effective date of the amalgamation. The exemption and notch rate amounts will be prorated accordingly.

      If you’re filing as the predecessor, go to Step 2: BC Remuneration.

  • Otherwise, select No

  1. Were you an associated employer on December 31st?

    • Select No if you weren’t part of an associated group as of December 31 of the taxation year

    • Otherwise, select Yes and refer to the filing instructions for associated employers

  2. Is this the final taxation year for this employer?

  • Select No if you’ll be subject to the employer health tax after this filing

  • Otherwise, select Yes and select the reason for the account closure

  1. Did you have at least one Permanent Establishment in BC on December 31st?

  • Select Yes if you had at least one permanent establishment in B.C. on December 31st of the taxation year

  • Otherwise, select No and enter the date when you cease your permanent establishment in B.C. If you had more than one permanent establishment in B.C., enter the date that your last permanent establishment in B.C. ceased to exist.

Step 2: BC Remuneration

Follow the instructions below for the BC Remuneration step.

  • Line 100 – Total Remuneration
    Enter the total remuneration reported on Line 14 of your CRA T4 Summary for the calendar year

    If you have multiple CRA payroll accounts (e.g. to track employment income from different provinces, employment types, payment types), add the amounts reported on Line 14 of all T4 Summaries from all CRA payroll account(s) of the same business number and enter that amount.

  • Line 110 – Remuneration paid to employees outside BC
    From the amount entered in line 100, enter the amount of remuneration paid to employees who report for work at your permanent establishment(s) outside B.C. for all or substantially all of the calendar year

  • Line 120 – Subtotal
    Shows the difference between lines 100 and 110

  • Line 130 – BC Remuneration not declared on T4 Summary
    Enter the amount that was not included in line 100 but is part of B.C. remuneration (e.g. taxable remuneration reported on T4A or other slips)

  • Line 190 – BC Remuneration
    Shows your B.C. remuneration, the sum of lines 120 and 130

Step 3: Exemption Eligibility

The Exemption Eligibility step shows the following automatically calculated fields:

  • Line 200 – Number of days in your taxation year
    The number of days you’ve had a permanent establishment in B.C. in the current taxation year

  • Line 202 – Exemption threshold: (number of days in the taxation year / number of days in year) x $1,500,000.00
    The calculation of the exemption threshold based on the number of days that you’ve had a permanent establishment in B.C. in a calendar year

  • Line 203 – BC Remuneration
    Your B.C. remuneration from line 190 in Step 2

  • Line 204 – Exemption limit available (number of days in the taxation year/ number of days in year) x $500,000.00
    The calculation of the exemption amounts available based on the number of days that you’ve had a permanent establishment in B.C. in a calendar year

  • Line 205 – Available exemption
    The total exemption amount that is available for you. If you’re not eligible for an exemption, this will be $0.

Step 4: Tax Payable

The Tax Payable step shows the following automatically calculated fields:

  • Line 300 – BC Remuneration
    Your B.C. remuneration from line 190 in Step 2

  • Line 310 – Exemption applied
    Your exemption amount available for you from line 205 in Step 3

  • Line 320 – Taxable BC remuneration
    The difference between line 300 and 310

  • Line 700 – Tax rate
    Your tax rate

  • Line 770 – Tax payable
    The employer health tax payable for the taxation year which is line 320 multiplied by line 700

Step 5: Payments

The Payments step shows the following fields. These fields are automatically calculated except for the last bullet:

  • Line 840 – Instalment payments received
    The total of all instalment payments paid to date

  • Line 842 – Prior year’s overpayment applied
    Any credit balance carried over from the previous year

  • Line 844 – Subtotal
    The total of line 840 and 842

  • Line 846 – Tax due (or overpaid)
    Your account balance, which is the difference between line 770 in Step 4 and line 844. This is your amount payable or overpayment.

  • If applicable, overpayment to be:
    Select one of the following, regardless of whether you’ll have an amount payable or an overpayment:

  • Applied to subsequent year if you want to carry forward your overpayment to the subsequent year

  • Refunded if you want your overpayment amount to be refunded

Step 6: Summary and Certification

The Summary and Certification step allows you to review and make changes to your tax return before submitting it.

To submit your tax return, you must certify it by:

  1. Entering your first name
  2. Entering your last name
  3. Entering your position title
  4. Reading and checking the box beside the certification statement
  5. Selecting Submit

Confirmation

Once the return is submitted, a confirmation number will be issued as proof of your submission. It’s recommended that you print or take a screen shot of the confirmation page for your records.

If your tax return has a balance due, see payment options.