---
title: "Benefits for Servers in Canada: Dental, EI, CWB"
description: "No dental plan at work? The Canadian Dental Care Plan covers families under $90,000. Also check the Canada Workers Benefit, EI, and the groceries benefit."
url: https://www.tipmaxapp.com/ca/answers/benefits-for-servers-canada
language: en
publisher: TipMax (Entermaurs Incorporated)
date_published: 2026-09-23
last_verified: 2026-09-23
---

# What benefits can servers get in Canada? (dental, EI, workers benefit)

**Short answer:** **If your restaurant has no dental plan, look at the Canadian Dental Care Plan first.** It’s for people with no access to dental insurance and adjusted family net income under $90,000. Then file your taxes every year, even in a slow one: that return is how the CRA decides the Canada Workers Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. EI covers job loss and sickness, but tips paid straight to you don’t count as insurable earnings.

## One server, five checks

Say Alex is single, 28, has no kids, works full time on the floor, and had adjusted net income of $30,000 in 2025, wages plus tips (illustrative). The restaurant offers no dental or drug plan.

| Program | The published rule | Alex |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Canadian Dental Care Plan | No access to dental insurance, taxes filed, adjusted family net income under $90,000. Under $70,000, 100% of eligible costs are covered at the CDCP’s set fees. | Qualifies on income, in the 100% tier. |
| Canada Workers Benefit, 2025 tax year | Up to $1,633 for a single person. Reduced above $26,855 of adjusted net income; nothing above $37,742. | Between the two, so a reduced amount. The return works out the exact figure. |
| Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, July 2026 to June 2027 | Up to $679 for a single person, based on the 2025 return. | Filing the return is what puts Alex in line for it. |
| EI regular benefits | 420 to 700 insurable hours in the qualifying period, depending on the regional unemployment rate, and a job lost through no fault of your own. | Depends on the hours on Alex’s pay stubs. Only wages and controlled tips raise the benefit. |
| EI sickness benefits | 600 insured hours in the last 52 weeks, a drop of more than 40% in weekly earnings, and a medical certificate. Up to 26 weeks. | Also counted in hours, so keep the pay stubs. |

1. **File a tax return every spring,** even if the year was slow. The CWB, the groceries benefit and the CDCP income test all run off it.
2. **Report every tip.** The CRA taxes all tips, and your full income is what these programs look at.
3. **Check how your tips are paid.** If your employer controls them, they count toward EI and CPP. If they come straight from the customer, they don’t, unless you choose to pay CPP on them.

**Not tax or legal advice.** Alex and the income are made up. Amounts change every year; check each program’s current numbers on canada.ca.

## Plain English

### Dental: the Canadian Dental Care Plan

If your job has no dental coverage, the CDCP is built for your situation. Canada.ca lists four requirements, and you have to meet all of them: you can’t have access to private dental insurance, including a health spending account that covers dental; you and your spouse or partner must have filed your tax returns in Canada; your adjusted family net income must be less than $90,000; and you must be Canadian residents for tax purposes. Coverage through a government social program doesn’t rule you out.

| Adjusted family net income | Share of eligible costs the CDCP covers (at its set fees) |
| --- | --- |
| Under $70,000 | 100% |
| $70,000 to $79,999 | 60% |
| $80,000 to $89,999 | 40% |

### Money at tax time

**Canada Workers Benefit.** A refundable tax credit for people who are working and earning a low income. For the 2025 tax year the basic amount is up to $1,633 for a single person and up to $2,813 for a family. For a single person it starts shrinking above $26,855 of adjusted net income and ends above $37,742; for a family, $30,639 and $49,393. You need working income, you must be 19 or older on December 31 (or live with a spouse, partner or child), and you can’t claim it if you were a full-time student for more than 13 weeks of the year without an eligible dependant. You claim it on your tax return.

**Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.** This replaced the GST/HST credit in July 2026. It’s a tax-free quarterly payment for people with low and modest incomes. For July 2026 to June 2027 it’s up to $679 for a single person and $890 for a couple, plus $234 per child under 19, based on your 2025 return. You don’t apply separately; you file your return.

**Canada Child Benefit.** If you have kids under 18, the CCB is a tax-free monthly payment, which the CRA pays to eligible families; canada.ca explains how to apply.

### EI: losing hours, getting sick, and your tips

**Regular benefits** are for a job lost through no fault of your own. You need between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment in your qualifying period, usually the 52 weeks before your claim, depending on the unemployment rate where you live. The benefit is up to 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, to a maximum of $729 a week, for 14 to 45 weeks.

**Sickness benefits** pay up to 26 weeks if you can’t work for medical reasons. You need 600 insured hours in the 52 weeks before your claim, your regular weekly earnings must have dropped by more than 40% for at least a week, and you need a medical certificate.

**How tips fit in.** The CRA splits tips into two kinds. **Controlled tips** are ones your employer holds or divides: a mandatory service charge, a tip-share formula the employer sets, or tips that pass through the employer’s bank account. They’re part of your pay, and EI premiums and CPP contributions come off them. **Direct tips** come from the customer to you: cash on the table, a pool the staff decide on themselves, card tips paid out to you in cash. The CRA says direct tips are not subject to CPP contributions or EI premiums. If you get both, only the controlled tips count as insurable and pensionable earnings, so direct tips don’t raise your EI benefit. Quebec works differently: Revenu Québec says the tips you report, other than tips your employer allocates to you, count toward EI and Quebec parental insurance benefits.

### CPP on your tips

Because nothing comes off direct tips, they don’t build your Canada Pension Plan record on their own. The CRA says you can choose to pay CPP contributions on tips from pensionable employment that weren’t subject to CPP at source, by filling out Form CPT20. See [Do servers pay tax on tips in Canada?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/ca/answers/canada-tips-and-tax) for how each kind of tip gets reported.

### Prescriptions: national pharmacare so far

Health Canada lists four places that have signed national pharmacare agreements, which cover a range of contraception and diabetes medications: British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Yukon. Everywhere else, Health Canada says to contact your provincial or territorial health ministry about public drug coverage. Your province’s health plan and drug plan are where most of your coverage comes from, so check those next.

## Common mistakes

- Skipping the tax return in a low-income year. The CWB, the groceries benefit and the CDCP all need it.
- Assuming you can’t get the CDCP because you work. It’s based on income and dental coverage, not on whether you have a job.
- Not reporting cash tips, which leaves your income on record lower than what you actually earn.
- Expecting cash tips to raise your EI benefit. Only wages and controlled tips are insurable earnings.

## Official sources

- [Canada.ca: Canadian Dental Care Plan, do you qualify](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/dental/dental-care-plan/qualify.html)
- [Canada.ca: Canadian Dental Care Plan, what’s covered and co-payments](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/dental/dental-care-plan/coverage.html)
- [CRA: Canada workers benefit, how much you can get](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-45300-canada-workers-benefit-cwb/how-much-you-can-get.html)
- [CRA: Canada workers benefit, who is eligible](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-45300-canada-workers-benefit-cwb/who-is-eligible.html)
- [CRA: Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-groceries-essentials-benefit.html)
- [CRA: Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, how much you can get](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-groceries-essentials-benefit/how-much.html)
- [CRA: Canada child benefit](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-child-benefit-overview.html)
- [Canada.ca: EI regular benefits, eligibility](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/eligibility.html)
- [Canada.ca: EI regular benefits, how much you could receive](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/benefit-amount.html)
- [Canada.ca: EI sickness benefits, do you qualify](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-sickness/qualify.html)
- [CRA: CPP/EI explained, tips and gratuities](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/canada-pension-plan-cpp-employment-insurance-ei-rulings/cpp-ei-explained/tips-gratuities.html)
- [Revenu Québec: Employees who receive tips](https://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/citizens/your-situation/employees-who-receive-tips-benefits-and-obligations/)
- [Health Canada: How to access national pharmacare](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/national-pharmacare/how-access.html)

## Last verified

September 23, 2026. Checked the CDCP eligibility and co-payment pages, the CRA’s Canada workers benefit, Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and Canada child benefit pages, Service Canada’s EI regular and sickness pages, the CRA’s CPP/EI explanation of tips, and Health Canada’s national pharmacare access page.

**Still open:** CWB amounts are for the 2025 tax year and groceries-benefit amounts for July 2026 to June 2027; both change yearly. The EI hours you need depend on your region’s unemployment rate. Only four provinces and territories had national pharmacare agreements listed when we checked.

## Related

- [Do servers pay tax on tips in Canada?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/ca/answers/canada-tips-and-tax)
- [How do I prove my income as a server?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/how-to-prove-income-as-a-server)
- [Calling in sick as a server: what to say](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/calling-in-sick-as-a-server)
- [What benefits can servers get in the US?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/benefits-for-servers)

## How TipMax helps with this

Direct tips never show up on a T4, so your own record is what proves the income your tax return, and every benefit tied to it, is based on.

TipMax is an iPhone app for servers and bartenders that tracks tips and tip-outs and turns a restaurant menu into study flashcards.

- Log cash and card tips per shift in seconds.
- Weekly, monthly, and pay-period totals.
- Download all your data as a CSV any time.

Download TipMax free: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tipmax-study-track-earn/id6744850146

---

TipMax Answers explains public government guidance on pay and workplace rules in plain English for tipped workers. It is **not legal, tax, or accounting advice**. Rules change and local rules can add to them. Confirm with the agency linked on this page or a qualified professional. TipMax the app helps you track tips and pay; it doesn’t enforce wage law or decide disputes.