EI reporting online is done through Service Canada’s Internet Reporting Service, where every two weeks you confirm whether you worked, what you earned, and whether anything else changed that affects your eligibility.1Government of Canada. Employment Insurance Reporting Filing on time keeps your payments moving. Skipping a report stops them.
What to Have Ready Before You Log In
Two pieces of identification get you into the Internet Reporting Service: your nine-digit Social Insurance Number and the four-digit access code Service Canada mailed with your benefit statement.2Employment and Social Development Canada. Internet Reporting Service – Login The access code acts as your electronic signature, so store it somewhere safe. If it’s lost, request a replacement through My Service Canada Account or by calling Service Canada.
Before you start, pull together your work records for the two weeks covered by the report. You need total hours worked and gross earnings for each week. Gross means the amount before any deductions for tax, CPP, or union dues, not what landed in your bank account.3Employment and Social Development Canada. Employment Insurance and the Various Types of Earnings Include wages, tips, commissions, and vacation pay. Each reporting week runs Sunday to Saturday, so organize your numbers by those dates and not by your employer’s pay cycle.1Government of Canada. Employment Insurance Reporting
Report only whole hours, and always round down. If you worked 38.5 hours, enter 38.1Government of Canada. Employment Insurance Reporting Rounding up overstates your hours and can create problems on your file.
Self-employment works differently. If you’re self-employed, report net income (revenue minus allowable business expenses) rather than gross.4Canada.ca. EI Special Benefits for Self-Employed People Many claimants get caught here because employees report gross and self-employed claimants report net.
Filing the Report Online
Go to the Internet Reporting Service login page and enter your SIN and access code. The service walks you through questions covering the two-week period: whether you worked, how much you earned, whether you were available for work each day, and whether you traveled outside Canada or attended training. Answer each screen based on the Sunday-to-Saturday weeks covered by that report.
If you enter something inconsistent, such as earnings with zero hours, the system flags it right away so you can correct it before moving on. At the end you’ll see a declaration confirming the information is truthful. Submitting the declaration sends your report to Service Canada for processing.
Save the confirmation number that appears after submission. It’s the only proof you filed on time, and you’ll want it if a payment question comes up months later. The screen also shows the date your next report is due.
No internet? You can file by phone through the Telephone Reporting Service at 1-800-531-7555, which walks you through the same questions.1Government of Canada. Employment Insurance Reporting If the automated system can’t collect what it needs, it will transfer you to an agent or ask you to call back during business hours.
Reporting Work and Earnings Correctly
Earning money while collecting EI doesn’t automatically disqualify you. You keep 50 cents of your EI benefits for every dollar you earn, up to a cap of 90% of your previous weekly earnings, which is roughly four and a half days of work.5Employment and Social Development Canada. Employment Insurance – Working While on Claim Any earnings above that 90% cap come off your benefits dollar for dollar.
One hard rule: if you work a full week, you receive no EI benefits for that week regardless of what you earned. The upside is that a full week of work doesn’t reduce the total weeks remaining on your claim; those unused weeks stay banked.5Employment and Social Development Canada. Employment Insurance – Working While on Claim
Here’s how the math plays out. If your weekly benefit rate is $500 and you earn $200 in a given week, Service Canada deducts $100 (half of $200) from your $500 benefit. You end up with $400 in EI plus $200 in wages, or $600 total, more than either amount alone. Failing to report the earnings, even small ones, is where people get into real trouble.
Reporting Travel Outside Canada
You’re generally not eligible for regular benefits while outside the country. You can still collect if you show you’re available for work in Canada, which means being reachable for opportunities and able to return within 48 hours.6Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – While on EI Any travel must be reported on your biweekly report or through My Service Canada Account.
Some trips carry automatic exceptions. You can be outside Canada for up to seven consecutive days if you’re attending a family member’s funeral, accompanying a family member to medical treatment unavailable in their area, visiting a seriously ill or injured family member, or attending a genuine job interview. For a legitimate job search, the limit extends to 14 consecutive days.6Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – While on EI
When Payment Arrives After You Submit
Once your report is processed, direct deposit payments generally land within two to three business days. Federal holidays can push that out a day or two. Your first payment on a new claim takes longer, roughly 28 days from when you applied, because Service Canada has to process the initial application before it can act on reports.7Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – After You Apply
Most new claims also carry a one-week waiting period during which no benefits are paid. A temporary measure waives the waiting period for claims established between March 30, 2025 and April 11, 2026.8Canada.ca. Temporary Employment Insurance Measures to Respond to Major Economic Conditions You still need to file the report covering that first week even if the waiting period applies.
Track your report and payment through My Service Canada Account. Under “Employment Insurance benefits,” select “View my payments” to see the gross amount paid, taxes withheld, and weeks remaining on your claim.9Employment and Social Development Canada. Employment Insurance Services in My Service Canada Account If your report is under review, the dashboard will show that status and may include a message explaining the hold.
Fixing a Mistake After You Submit
The Internet Reporting Service doesn’t let you go back and edit a report you’ve already submitted. If you realize the earnings or hours were wrong, call Service Canada at 1-800-206-7218 and press “0” to reach an agent. The line is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time.10Government of Canada. Employment Insurance Contact Information for Individuals To avoid the wait, submit an eServiceCanada request form online and an agent will call you back within two business days.
Have your SIN, access code, and confirmation number ready. The agent can update the report, and the corrected payment amount will show up in your MSCA dashboard once it’s reprocessed. Catching your own error and correcting it promptly looks very different to Service Canada than having an agent find a discrepancy during a later review.
What Happens If You Miss a Report
If you don’t file on time, your payments stop. Service Canada can’t process a payment for a period it hasn’t received a report for, and there’s no grace period. Late reports are accepted, but expect delays while the system catches up. A prolonged gap may require you to reactivate the claim, which involves extra verification.
The system displays your next reporting date right after each submission. A calendar reminder is the simplest guard against missing one. Reporting is mandatory for the entire benefit period, including weeks when you worked full-time and receive no payment.
Penalties for False or Misleading Information
An honest mistake and a deliberate misstatement are treated very differently. Entering last week’s hours by accident can create an overpayment you’ll have to repay, but it won’t trigger a penalty. Knowingly providing false information is another matter.
If Service Canada finds you intentionally misrepresented your situation, the penalty can reach up to three times your weekly benefit rate for each act of misrepresentation.11Justice Laws Website. Employment Insurance Act SC 1996 c 23 – Section 38 That sits on top of repaying any benefits you weren’t entitled to. Repeat violations can also raise the number of insurable hours you need to qualify for future claims.
Overpayments, whether from error or fraud, are collected by the Canada Revenue Agency. Service Canada sends monthly statements showing the balance and any interest, and payments are due when you receive each statement. You can pay through online banking or mail a cheque to the Receiver General for Canada.12Canada.ca. Overpayments and Repayments If you can’t pay in full, contact the CRA at 1-866-864-5823 to arrange a payment plan.
Disputing a Decision Tied to Your Report
If Service Canada reduces or denies benefits based on something in your report, you have 30 days from the date you’re notified to request a reconsideration.13Canada.ca. Request for Reconsideration of an Employment Insurance Decision Late requests are sometimes accepted with a reasonable explanation. Reconsideration is an internal review where a different Service Canada agent looks at your file with fresh eyes.
If the reconsideration doesn’t go your way, the next step is the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal, which took over first-level EI appeals as of April 1, 2026. You have 30 days from the reconsideration decision to file. Hearings are designed to produce same-day decisions.14Canada.ca. Backgrounder – Launch of the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal
A further appeal to the Social Security Tribunal’s Appeal Division remains available if the Board’s decision is still unfavorable. You have 30 days to request permission to appeal, and 45 days after permission is granted to submit your arguments.15Social Security Tribunal of Canada. Employment Insurance Appeal Process at a Glance Most disputes are resolved well before this stage, but the full path matters when a large overpayment or penalty is at stake.