Earnings and Contributions
- Sushan Ma (Deactivated)
This section highlights considerations for incorporated physicians regarding earnings, service, and contributions.
Employment earnings
An incorporated physician’s employment earnings impact the contributions they make to the Plan as well as the pension benefits that can be accumulated for retirement. It starts with setting baseline earnings for their first year of membership through their MPC’s HOOPP participation agreement. Every year, they’ll contribute on their employment earnings, subject to their upper and lower earnings limits, and their baseline earnings will change every year based on their annualized earnings from the year before.
Remember: Contributions can only be made on employment earnings that incorporated physicians draw as salary from their MPC. Dividends are not considered employment earnings.
While not required, incorporated physicians are encouraged to draw enough employment earnings to take advantage of their upper earnings limit each year. Doing so means that their baseline earnings steadily increase, so the annualized earnings used to calculate their pension will continue to grow, and that leads to a bigger pension in retirement. This is an important way to maximize the HOOPP pension.
Provided that they have employment earnings between their upper and lower earnings limits, a full year of service can be credited for the calendar year. If earnings fall below their lower earnings limit in a year, their service will be adjusted proportionally.
For more details about these aspects and calculation examples, please see section 4.4 Calculation Employee Contributions – Incorporated Physicians of the Employer Administration Manual.
Tools to Support You
To support incorporated physicians, we have provided a Physician Calculator tool that will help with the following:
Determine the upper and lower earnings limits
Calculate monthly HOOPP contributions based on their provided employment earnings, subject to their upper and lower earning limits
Understanding the adjustment to total weeks (contributory service) that can result from having employment earnings below the lower earning limits, and finally,
Provide an annual summary of the estimated weeks, contributions, and annualized earnings in support of the annual Member Data Collection (MDC) process.
Prior to May 2025: We will share the Physician Calculator with you as part of your onboarding.
The Physician Calculator will become available on HOOPP Insight later this year – stay tuned for more information!
After May 2025: You can find the Physician Calculator in the ‘Tools’ section on the HOOPP Insight home page.
Some important tips:
Get familiar with the features of the tool by reviewing the instructions tab in the tool. There, you’ll find an overview and basic instructions on using the calculator
As the calculator will be updated annually in mid to late January, you need to verify that it’s the latest version and must access the latest version of the Physician Calculator by going to the Tools section of HOOPP Insight (available in May) to open the Physician Calculator. To verify, check the "Last updated on" date in the ‘Basic Information’ tab.
This tool can be downloaded and saved locally on a PC or network drive where updates for the year can be managed and saved for reference at the end of the year when completing the annual Member Data Collection (MDC) process.
Remember to remit contributions to HOOPP every month.
When using the calculator, please note that it will apply the same monthly employment earnings for the entire year unless a new effective month and a new rate is added.
Warning messages that appear in the tool are designed to help you – ensure you carefully review the warnings and follow the necessary instructions addressing the issue.
The Summary Service & Earnings table at the top of the ‘Earnings & Contribution’ tab will provide you with a helpful snapshot of estimates for total weeks, annualized earnings, and the high/low contributions for the year. While this information can also be used to update the information needed within the annual MDC process, these amounts are estimate only and are subject to validation by HOOPP.
Annually, after the MDC is complete and the information has been verified by HOOPP, a secure message will be sent to communicate the new baseline earnings for each applicable incorporated physician, to the defined administrative contact in HOOPP Insight. Enter the new baseline earnings into the tool to see the incorporated physician’s upper and lower earnings limits for the year. Note: the tool will be updated each year in mid to late January to reflect the new YMPE, defined benefit pension limits, and CPI.
Until the secure message containing the new baseline earning is received, you can use the previous year’s annualized earnings from the Summary Service & Earnings table for the current year’s baseline earnings amount.