Surplus rebate for businesses

Our strong financial and investment strategy along with positive operational results has led to a surplus in our insurance fund. A surplus above and beyond our needed reserve allows for a rebate to businesses in 2025.

A rebate of surplus funds credit will be applied to eligible businesses’ accounts by March 13, 2025. Rebates are available exclusively through our online services.

Eligible businesses can apply their surplus rebate credit to future premiums. They can simply report insurable earnings as normal and we’ll automatically apply the credit against premiums owed. Businesses up to date with their premium payment and reporting can also ask to receive a cheque for any credits on their account, to invest in health and safety improvements or fund other needed investments.

In addition to distributing surplus funds, we’ve lowered the average premium rate for businesses in 2025 to $1.25 per $100 of insurable earnings, the lowest it has been in over 50 years. The 2025 decrease means we’ve cut the average premium rate by more than 50 per cent over the last decade, resulting in cumulative savings for businesses of approximately $18.6 billion since 2017.

Compared to 2024 alone, Ontario businesses will save approximately $150 million, which can be invested in new jobs, technology, and health and safety improvements.

Schedule 1 businesses had to have met all the following eligibility requirements to receive a rebate of surplus funds starting in February 2025:

• have an active account and premium payment obligations as of November 1, 2024
• had premium obligations in 2023
• have not been convicted of a Workplace Safety and Insurance Act or an Occupational Health and Safety Act offence in a proceeding under Part III of the Provincial Offences Act, in 2024 or in 2025 up to and including the date the WSIB issues a surplus rebate
• have not been convicted in more than one such proceeding under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, or have not been convicted in more than one such proceeding under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, between 2020 and 2025 up to and including the date the WSIB issues a surplus rebate
• have not had a traumatic workplace fatality attributed to the organization in 2024 or in 2025 up to and including the date the WSIB issues a surplus rebate, or have not had more than one traumatic workplace fatality attributed to the organization between 2020 and 2025, up to and including the date the WSIB issues a surplus rebate
• must not be affiliated through common ownership with a business that:
  • is ineligible to receive a surplus rebate based on the convictions criteria outlined, and 
  • has a traumatic workplace fatality attributed to them between 2020 and 2025, up to and including the date the WSIB issues a surplus rebate

Businesses up to date with their premium payment and reporting can ask to receive a cheque for any credits on their account, to invest in health and safety improvements or fund other needed investments. Please don't complete the rebate cheque request form unless a credit has been applied to your account.

As with our surplus rebate in 2022, we’ve included eligibility criteria related to business affiliation in 2025 to reflect the various ways businesses are structured and register with us to ensure fairness in how surplus rebates are applied for safe businesses.

There’s no cap on a business’s surplus rebate.

Your rebate is 60 per cent of the premiums you reported in 2023.

Our surplus is the result of return on investments in our insurance fund that Schedule 1 businesses prospectively contribute to. Schedule 2 businesses don’t contribute to this fund and, in most cases, are individually responsible for the full cost of the claims filed by people who experience a work-related illness or injury in their workplace.

Our rebate of surplus funds above and beyond our needed reserve recognizes the important role Schedule 1 businesses play in funding our collective liability work-related injury and illness insurance system while protecting our ability to help people who experienced a workplace injury or illness with a safe, timely and lasting recovery and return to work today and into the future.

Our surplus distribution doesn’t impact benefits paid to people with a work-related injury or illness.

We’ll continue to evaluate our financial and investment results to determine if we’re in a position to rebate surplus funds above our needed reserve in future years.

Our eligibility criteria is based on the guiding principle of rewarding only safe businesses with surplus rebates.

If we’re in a position to provide a rebate of surplus funds in the future, we’ll determine eligibility based on our legislative and regulatory requirements and authority at that time.

Please email our Stakeholder Compliance Services team at [email protected] if you have questions about traumatic workplace fatalities and/or convictions under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA) or Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

We use 2023 as the premium review year because it's the most recent year we have complete premium information for.

We use November 1, 2024 as the cut-off date to ensure we're using the most up-to-date business account information possible to distribute surplus rebates starting in February 2025.

Please email [email protected] if you think your business is eligible for a surplus rebate but haven’t received a credit on your account by March 13, 2025. We’ll apply a credit to your account if we determine your business does meet the eligibility criteria. You have until December 31, 2025 to let us know if you think your business should’ve received a rebate.

Businesses must let us know if you think there is an error within six months of receiving a rebate to be eligible for an adjustment. Calculation errors (such as clerical errors, data processing errors, or omissions) identified by us or businesses may result in a debit or credit to an individual business’s surplus rebate amount or correction of a business’s eligibility status.

No. A business can’t appeal WSIB decisions regarding surplus rebates, as outlined in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. This includes decisions related to a business’s eligibility for a rebate or the amount of surplus funds rebated to a business or group of businesses.

Please contact the CRA to confirm how to report your surplus rebate credit amount for tax purposes.