WorkSafeBC Coverage, Payroll Reports and Premiums

Hire one worker in BC, full-time, part-time, casual or on contract, and you have to register with WorkSafeBC. Your premiums are based on what you pay people, and the reporting runs on its own calendar, separate from your CRA payroll remittances.

Who needs coverage

All employers in BC are legally required to have WorkSafeBC coverage unless they're exempt. An employer is anyone who hires workers or unregistered subcontractors, and that can be a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or society. Once you're registered, all your workers are covered, including some contractors who count as your workers and your children if your business pays them. A spouse who's paid in your proprietorship isn't covered, though you can apply for spousal coverage.

If you're self-employed as a proprietor or partner and don't hire any workers or unregistered subcontractors, you don't have to register.

Incorporated companies work differently. Shareholders, directors and officers who are actively involved in the company are generally considered workers, so the corporation has to be registered. If it should have been and wasn't, and a shareholder gets hurt, WorkSafeBC will reject the claim unless that shareholder can show they weren't personally responsible for registering. Skipping registration when you're required to is against the law, and if a worker is injured you could be on the hook for both the claim costs and the unpaid premiums.

Coverage for owners

Personal Coverage is WorkSafeBC's optional insurance for business owners. It used to be called Personal Optional Protection (POP). Only the name changed. Sole proprietors (with or without workers) and partners can apply. If you own shares in an incorporated company and work for it, you can't, because you're already a worker of the company.

It pays health care, wage-loss, vocational rehabilitation and return-to-work benefits if you're hurt at work. Wage-loss is generally based on 90% of the coverage amount you choose, less deductions. The monthly cost is the coverage amount times your premium rate, which depends on your type of business. WorkSafeBC's own example is a courier driver at 3.87% choosing $3,100 a month of coverage, which costs $119.97 a month.

Registering

You apply online, and it takes about 20 minutes. WorkSafeBC recommends applying 30 days before you start the business or hire someone, and it can take about 10 business days to review the application and let you know.

How premiums are worked out

The formula is your industry's base premium rate, plus or minus your experience rating, times your assessable payroll. Your base rate comes from the classification unit you're placed in, based on what your business does. For 2026, the average base rate across BC is $1.55 per $100 of assessable payroll, but yours depends on your classification. Experience rating can earn you a discount of up to 50% over time if your claim costs are lower than average for similar-sized businesses in your rate group, or a surcharge of up to 100% over time if they're higher.

Assessable payroll is the total you paid your workers and active shareholders, counted only up to WorkSafeBC's maximum wage rate for each person. Anything one person earns above that is left out of your assessable payroll. The maximum is $127,500 for 2026, and WorkSafeBC has set it at $130,800 for 2027. When you report, you also include payments to contractors and unregistered subcontractors. If your payroll includes tips, check WorkSafeBC's assessable payroll directive, which was updated effective January 1, 2026 to limit which gratuities and tips are assessable.

Reporting and payment dates

Depending on your payroll and classification, you report and pay once a year or every quarter:

The annual report used to be called the Employer Payroll and Contract Labour Report. You can report and pay through an online services account, or through Fast File & Pay if you or your bookkeeper don't have one.

Clearance letters for contractors

If you hire a registered contractor who isn't paying their WorkSafeBC premiums, you could be liable for premiums on the work they did for you. WorkSafeBC's advice is to get a clearance letter before and after the work. To be clear of that liability, you need a letter addressed to you confirming the contractor was "active and in good standing" for the whole contract period.

Some contractors are really your workers. WorkSafeBC says that's likely when they supply only labour (or labour plus minor materials like nails or drywall tape) or work regular hours for you on an ongoing basis. Proprietors who have workers' coverage but turned down Personal Coverage for themselves aren't covered as workers, which could leave you open to a lawsuit if they're hurt on your job. WorkSafeBC can't tell you whether someone bought Personal Coverage, but you can ask the contractor for proof.

How we help

WorkSafeBC filing is one of the other filings we handle. If you're reporting every quarter, our bookkeeping service covers payroll and WorkSafeBC as part of the regular work. The CRA side of having employees is covered in our posts on payroll remittances and T-slip filing.