When Do CPP and EI Deductions Stop in 2026?

The short answer

CPP and EI are flat-rate deductions, not progressive ones. Your employer takes them off every paycheque until your year-to-date contributions reach the annual cap, and then the deductions stop for the rest of the calendar year. On January 1 the count resets to zero and they start again.

That is why a lot of higher earners notice their take-home pay jump partway through the year for no obvious reason. Nothing changed on the tax side. CPP, EI, or both simply hit their ceiling and came off the deduction list.

The exact date depends on your gross salary and how often you are paid. The CPP & EI Max-Out Calculator works out the specific pay period for your situation. This guide explains the mechanics behind that date.

The 2026 maximums

There are two separate caps, and they are reached independently.

CPP (base, often called CPP1): The rate is 5.95% on earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings of $74,600. The most an employee contributes to base CPP in 2026 is $4,230.45. A second tier, CPP2, adds 4% on earnings between $74,600 and $85,000, up to a further $416.

EI: The rate is 1.63% on insurable earnings up to $68,900. The most an employee pays in EI premiums for the year is $1,123.07.

Because the EI cap is smaller and reached on a lower earnings ceiling, most people who earn enough to max out both will hit the EI ceiling before the CPP ceiling.

How the cutoff date is set

Your employer deducts a fixed percentage of each cheque, so the date you stop paying is just a matter of how quickly your year-to-date earnings climb to the relevant ceiling.

A worked example for EI. The premium is 1.63% on earnings up to $68,900. Once your year-to-date insurable earnings pass that ceiling, the deduction stops. Someone earning $120,000 crosses it well before someone earning $75,000, so the higher earner finishes paying EI earlier in the year.

CPP works the same way against the $74,600 ceiling for the base tier, plus the $85,000 ceiling for CPP2. Pay frequency matters here too. Two people on the same salary, one paid weekly and one paid monthly, reach the cap on slightly different dates because the contribution is split into different sized pieces.

For most median earners the cutoffs land somewhere between mid-year and the fall. For high earners they can arrive in the first few months. The calculator handles the arithmetic for any salary and pay schedule.

What the contributions look like by income

The table below shows base CPP, CPP2, and EI for the full year at five income levels, computed by the same engine the take-home pay calculator uses. Figures are for Ontario, but CPP and EI are federal, so they are identical in every province except Quebec, which uses QPP and QPIP instead.

Notice that CPP2 stays at zero until income passes $74,600, and that EI flattens out at $1,123.07 once earnings clear the insurable ceiling. Above those points the dollar amounts stop growing, which is the annual cap doing its job. Someone at $90,000 and someone at $120,000 pay the same EI premium of $1,123.07 for the year.

Why your net pay rises mid-year

Income tax is withheld evenly across the year, so it does not cause a sudden change. CPP and EI do, because they switch off the moment you hit the cap.

Take someone earning $120,000 in Ontario. Their EI premium for the year is $1,123.07 and their base CPP is $4,230.45. Both are collected over the early part of the year and then stop. From that point each remaining paycheque is larger by whatever was previously coming off for CPP and EI, even though their salary has not changed.

It is worth planning for that bump rather than letting it disappear into spending. The extra take-home in the back half of the year is a natural amount to redirect into savings or investments.

New job, two employers, and other special cases

You change jobs mid-year. A new employer almost always restarts your CPP and EI deductions from zero, because they have no record of what your previous employer already withheld. You can end up over-paying across the two jobs. CPP over-payments are reconciled on your tax return as a refundable credit, and excess EI premiums are refunded the same way.

You have two employers at once. Same issue. Each one deducts as though it is your only job, so your combined contributions can exceed the annual maximums. The overpayment comes back when you file.

You are self-employed. There is no employer to split CPP with, so you pay both halves, which is double the employee rate, settled through your tax return rather than off a paycheque. EI is different again: self-employed people are not automatically covered and instead opt in to a separate special-benefits program.

You live in Quebec. Quebec runs its own plans. You contribute to QPP instead of CPP, and you pay a lower EI rate plus a separate QPIP premium for provincial parental insurance. The cutoff logic is the same, but the rates and ceilings differ.

Frequently asked questions

Do CPP and EI stop on the same day? Usually not. The EI ceiling is lower and reached first for most people who max out both. CPP, including CPP2, is typically reached later in the year.

Why did my paycheque suddenly get bigger? The most common reason is that your year-to-date CPP, EI, or both reached the annual maximum, so those deductions stopped. Your gross pay is unchanged; you are simply keeping more of it for the rest of the year.

Does everyone max out CPP and EI? No. You only reach the ceilings if your earnings are high enough. Lower earners contribute a percentage of every cheque for the entire year and never hit the cap.

Do the deductions carry over to next year? No. Both counters reset to zero on January 1, and deductions begin again from the first paycheque of the new year.

Where can I see my exact cutoff date? Enter your salary and pay frequency into the CPP & EI Max-Out Calculator. It estimates the pay period when each deduction stops for your specific situation.