Québec Parental Insurance Plan

Québec Parental
Insurance Plan
Evolving with today’s parents!

Declaring Income While You Are Receiving Benefits

If you are receiving parental insurance benefits, some of your income may affect the amount of your benefits. All income earned or received must be declared without delay.

Declarable income that may affect your benefit amount

Certain income may affect the amount of your benefits, including:

  • Employment income, such as wages, amounts paid for days off (including vacation pay, statutory holidays and sick days), performance bonuses, etc.
  • Income replacement indemnities from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, an insurance company, etc.
  • Net business income from self-employment
  • Insurable remuneration under the QPIP for intermediate resources (IR) or a family-type resource (FTR)

To avoid having to reimburse any overpayments, be sure to declare all of your income without delay.

Income that you have the right to earn without any reduction in your benefits

 

You have the right to earn a set amount without any reduction in your benefits, regardless of the type of benefits (maternity benefits or exclusive benefits to the person experiencing pregnancy or childbirth, paternity or exclusive benefits to the parent who did not give birth, parental, adoption or adoption-related welcome and support).

To determine the amount of income you can earn without affecting the amount of your benefits, you must calculate the difference between your average weekly earnings and the benefit amount.

Refer to the Examples of basic plan calculations and Examples of special plan calculations sections.

How to declare your income

You must declare your income while receiving benefits.

There are two ways to declare them, either:

Change in the distribution of your weeks of benefits

Please note that if you earn or receive income while you are receiving benefits, it could be more advantageous for you to change the distribution of your benefit weeks if your income reduces the amount of benefits granted to you.

You can change your benefit weeks by accessing your online file and clicking on the “Benefits” tab or by contacting the Centre de service à la clientèle.

Insurable earnings to be declared by persons responsible for an intermediate resource (IR) or a family-type resource (FTR)

Persons responsible for an intermediate resource (IR) or a family-type resource (FTR) who receive earnings while receiving QPIP benefits must:

  • declare the net earnings shown on the statement of earnings produced by the paying public institution;
  • if applicable, subtract from the net earnings the expenses paid for the services of an assistant or substitute:
    • salaries and employer contributions for the assistant or substitute;
    • fees paid for a payroll processing service;
    • fees paid for the services of a person (other than an employee) or partnership.
  • if both parents are earnings recipients, they are responsible for dividing the net earnings between them according to the share they have allocated to themselves.

Examples of basic plan calculations

Details regarding the income you can earn while receiving benefits if you chose the basic plan:

Example 1: Your average weekly earnings are $1,000.

Benefits at 70% of average weekly earnings: $700

You have the right to earn work income for $300 per week without any reduction in your benefits. That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount. 

All income exceeding $300 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Benefits at 55% of average weekly earnings: $550

You have the right to earn work income for $450 per week without any reduction in your benefits. That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount.

All income exceeding $450 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Example 2: Your average weekly earnings are $600.

Benefits at 70% of average weekly earnings: $420

You have the right to earn work income for $180 per week without any reduction in your benefits.That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount. 

All income exceeding $180 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Benefits at 55% of average weekly earnings: $330

You have the right to earn work income for $270 per week without any reduction in your benefits. That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount.

All income exceeding $270 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Therefore, the greater the difference between your average weekly insurable earnings and your benefit amount, the more you have the possibility to earn high work income while receiving benefits.

Examples of special plan calculations

Details regarding the income you can earn while receiving benefits if you chose the special plan:

Example 1: Your average weekly earnings are $1,000.

Benefits at 75% of average weekly earnings: $750

You have the right to earn work income for $250 per week without any reduction in your benefits. That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount. 

All income exceeding $250 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Example 2: Your average weekly earnings are $600.

Benefits at 75% of average weekly earnings: $450

You have the right to earn work income for $150 per week without any reduction in your benefits. That is the difference between your average weekly earnings and your benefit amount. 

All income exceeding $150 will be deducted from your benefit amount for the week affected by the income.

Last update: November 17, 2023