Once You Claim, You Can't Opt Out of Premiums

Three stages, three sets of exit rules

The opt-in program is voluntary, but how easily you can leave depends on where you are:

Whatever the stage, remember what's being bought: special benefits only (maternity, parental, sickness, family caregiver and compassionate care). Self-employed EI never pays regular benefits. Staying in the program for decades doesn't change that.

If you cancel within 60 days and sign up again later, you start over with a new 12-month wait from the new agreement date (see the 12-month rule).

What triggers the lock-in

The trigger is payment of any special benefit under your self-employed agreement. One week of sickness benefits locks you in exactly as firmly as a year of maternity and parental leave. The Employment Insurance Act lets you end the agreement by notice only before any benefits have been paid under it, and the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles confirms that once benefits are paid, the agreement stays in force indefinitely.

A claim also overrides a withdrawal already in progress. If you've given notice to leave but then need benefits that same year, you can tell Service Canada in writing before December 31 that you've changed your mind, as long as your agreement has been active for at least 12 months. A claim that starts a benefit period before your agreement ends cancels the withdrawal, and once you're paid, the lifetime rule applies.

The logic is the same as any insurance pool. You decide when to join, so without a commitment people could sign up for one predictable claim and leave straight after. The lock-in makes members who claim keep contributing.

What "lifetime" really means: as long as you're self-employed

The commitment is tied to self-employment income, not to your age. Chapter 24 of the Digest explains how it works when your working life changes:

• You stop being self-employed: you don't have to end the agreement, and no premium is owed for a year in which you report no self-employment income on your tax return.
• You go back to self-employment later: once self-employment income shows up on your return again, so do the premiums.
• You take a job as well: Schedule 13 subtracts your T4 insurable earnings from the yearly maximum, so your combined premiums never go above the cap ($1,123.07 in 2026). If your paycheque deductions reach the cap, there's nothing extra on Schedule 13 that year.

There's an upside to being locked in. Your agreement stays active, so the 12-month wait is already behind you for any later claim, such as a second child or an illness years from now, as long as you meet the earnings minimum and the other conditions at that time. How premiums are worked out each year is covered in Schedule 13, explained.

A break-even way to think about it

Below the cap, both your premium and your benefit scale with your income, so the comparison comes down to one ratio. At 2026 rates outside Quebec, one year of premiums ($1.63 per $100 of income) equals about 1.54 weeks of the weekly benefit that income buys (55% of income ÷ 52). At the cap the ratio is the same: $1,123.07 a year against $729 a week.

Turn it around and a claim "pays for" a fixed number of years of premiums, whatever you earn:

• 15 weeks of maternity: about 9.7 years
• 26 weeks of sickness: about 16.9 years
• 15 weeks of maternity plus 35 weeks of standard parental: about 32.4 years

Worked example. Priya nets $60,000 a year. She signs up in early 2026, aged 33, and claims maternity and standard parental (50 weeks) in 2028.

• Premiums before the claim: $60,000 ÷ 100 × $1.63 = $978 for 2026, and $60,000 ÷ 100 × $1.64 = $984 for 2027 (the announced 2027 rate).
• Benefit: $60,000 ÷ 52 × 55% = about $634.62 a week × 50 = about $31,731, before tax.
• Premiums after: if she stays self-employed for 30 more years (2028 to 2057) at about $984 a year, that's $29,520. A high estimate, since her income dips during the leave.
• Total premiums: $978 + $984 + $29,520 = about $31,482.

She roughly breaks even, about $249 ahead. A second child or a later sickness claim would put her clearly ahead. If she leaves self-employment at 45, her premiums total about $11,802 and she's well ahead. Had her only claim been 4 weeks of sickness (about $2,538), the same 30-year tail would leave her far behind.

The quick test: count the years you expect to stay self-employed after the claim, multiply by 1.54, and compare that with the weeks of benefit you expect to collect. The estimate ignores tax (benefits are taxable, and premiums earn a credit), future rate changes and changes in your income, so treat it as a way to frame the decision, not a forecast. In Quebec, the premium is lower ($1.30 per $100 in 2026, about 1.23 weeks of benefit per year), but federal EI covers only sickness and caregiving there, because maternity and parental come from QPIP.

Before you claim, and before you sign up

• Still inside 60 days and unsure? Cancelling costs nothing now. Waiting until day 61 costs the whole year's premiums.
• Never claimed and want out? Give notice in My Service Canada Account: in the Employment Insurance section, choose the option to view your self-employed agreement status and follow the steps to end it. Budget for that year's premiums.
• About to claim? Look at the whole tail first, with the test above. If you also have a job with 600 insured hours, you may be able to claim as an employee instead; the lock-in comes from benefits paid under the self-employed agreement, and the Digest says the choice between the two is final, so ask Service Canada how your claim would be treated before you apply.

MyEI is an independent estimate tool, not Service Canada, and nothing here is legal or tax advice. For a decision about your own agreement or claim, call Service Canada at 1-800-206-7218; for premiums on your return, contact the CRA.