Is an employer's group RRSP match subject to BC EHT?
Yes. The province's remuneration guidance names employer-paid RRSP contributions as included B.C. remuneration.
Group Retirement · BC EHT
Does BC Employer Health Tax apply to a group RRSP match?
Book a 10-minute callDirect answer
Yes. British Columbia's Employer Health Tax guidance lists "employer-paid contributions to an employee's Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)" among the items an employer must count as B.C. remuneration, and lists "deferred profit sharing plan" contributions among the exclusions, next to registered pension plans (Government of British Columbia, EHT remuneration guidance, updated June 17, 2026). So a group RRSP match raises the payroll the tax is computed on, while the same dollars contributed through a DPSP do not. Whether that costs you anything, and how much, depends entirely on where your total B.C. payroll sits against the $1 million exemption, and the answer is sharpest in the range the province calls the notch.
$1M
current BC EHT exemption
5.85%
tax on remuneration above the exemption in the notch band
$11,700
province's example tax on $1.2 million payroll
$3,510
illustrative tax on a $60,000 match in the notch band
Included
Employer RRSP contributions
Excluded
DPSP and RPP contributions
Source: Government of British Columbia, Determining remuneration, updated June 17, 2026
Who we build for
20 to 1,000+ people
Setup timeline
8 to 10 weeks
typical for a 20 to 200 person setup; larger plans take longer
Three payroll bands, two formulas
BC's EHT has no single rate. The province's current structure, in force for calendar years since 2024:
Payroll of $1,000,000 or less: exempt, no EHT at all.
Payroll between $1,000,000.01 and $1,500,000: tax is "5.85% x (B.C. remuneration - $1,000,000)". The province's own worked example: a $1,200,000 payroll owes 5.85% x ($1,200,000 - $1,000,000) = $11,700.
Payroll above $1,500,000: tax is "1.95% x total B.C. remuneration", on the whole payroll, first dollar included. The province's example: 1.95% x $1,550,000 = $30,225.
Both formulas and both worked examples are quoted from the provincial overview page (updated June 17, 2026). The two bands meet continuously: at exactly $1.5 million, both produce $29,250.
In the notch band, a match dollar is taxed at 5.85 cents, not 1.95
Here is the number this page exists for. Because the notch formula applies its rate to every dollar above the exemption, an employer sitting between $1 million and $1.5 million of payroll pays 5.85 cents of EHT on each additional remuneration dollar, exactly three times the headline 1.95 percent rate everyone quotes.
Illustratively: a company with $1.2 million of B.C. payroll adds a $60,000 annual group RRSP match. Remuneration becomes $1,260,000, and the EHT bill moves from $11,700 to $15,210. The match itself carried $3,510 of tax, 5.85 percent of it. Route the same $60,000 through employer DPSP contributions and the excluded list applies: remuneration stays $1,200,000 and the tax stays $11,700. Above the $1.5 million threshold the arithmetic calms down to the headline rate; there, a $229,500 match carries about $4,475, the same figure our plan-cost calculator shows on its BC line. Every figure here is illustrative, and your payroll sets your number.
Check the date on whatever you read before this
BC's thresholds changed for the 2024 calendar year: the exemption rose to $1 million, and the notch range moved to $1 million through $1.5 million. A large share of what still ranks online, including material search engines quote, describes the old $500,000-era structure. If a page about BC EHT does not show the $1 million exemption, it is describing a tax that no longer exists. The provincial pages this one cites carry their own update dates, and this page shows its dates for the same reason.
What sits outside the tax, precisely
The exclusion list matters as much as the inclusion list. Alongside the DPSP, BC excludes employer contributions to registered pension plans, private health services plans, and supplementary unemployment benefit plans, and it excludes payments like retiring allowances and pensions paid to retired employees. Two cautions from the same guidance: employer contributions to employee profit sharing plans are on the inclusion side, and an EPSP is not a DPSP, one letter and an opposite tax result. Group life insurance premiums the employer pays are included too.
Where this fits in plan design
The RRSP-or-DPSP split is a design decision with more in it than one tax line: DPSP rules exclude 10-percent-plus shareholders, employer DPSP dollars can vest over up to 24 months, and the right structure depends on who the plan is for. We design group RRSP and DPSP structures for BC employers with the EHT line priced in from the start, then review the plan annually. The city-level picture for the Lower Mainland lives at the Vancouver group RRSP page. The same question for Ontario employers: Ontario EHT and group RRSP matching. The federal side of match taxation: the employer tax-advantages guide.
BC EHT questions employers ask
Are employer DPSP contributions subject to BC EHT?
No. Deferred profit sharing plan contributions appear on the exclusion list in the same guidance, alongside registered pension plans.
What is the current BC EHT exemption?
$1 million of B.C. remuneration, in force since the 2024 calendar year. Payroll between $1,000,000.01 and $1,500,000 is taxed at 5.85 percent of the amount above $1 million; above $1.5 million the tax is 1.95 percent of total payroll.
Why does the match cost more than 1.95 percent for mid-sized payrolls?
In the $1 million to $1.5 million notch band, the formula applies 5.85 percent to every dollar above the exemption, so each match dollar carries 5.85 cents of EHT until payroll passes $1.5 million.
Could we avoid EHT by using a registered pension plan instead?
RPP contributions are excluded from EHT remuneration, but a registered pension plan is a different instrument with pension-standards registration and ongoing obligations a group RRSP does not carry. We answer that comparison descriptively in plan design; it is rarely a tax-only decision. Talk it through with your accountant and advisor together.
Does our payroll under $1 million make this moot?
For now, yes: employers at or under the $1 million exemption pay no EHT. The treatment starts to matter as payroll approaches the notch, which is exactly when the match-versus-DPSP design choice is worth pricing.
Prepared by RiskX
Written by Jarod Smith, CEO, RiskX Insurance Brokers Inc. Reviewed by Gordon Smith, RiskX Insurance Brokers Inc.
Published: August 24, 2026. Updated: August 24, 2026.
Group retirement