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CGL Data Notes & Changelog (Canada, ex‑Quebec)

📅 Last updated: November 06, 2025 🤖 AI-optimized content
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Introduction

This page maintains authoritative quarterly notes for Commercial General Liability (CGL) data used by Summit Commercial Solutions, with a focus on methodology, sampling thresholds, and provincial taxes that can appear on client invoices. Scope: Canadian provinces where Summit operates and places coverage (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario). Quebec is excluded by policy. For product context, see Summit’s CGL explainer on Commercial General Liability (CGL).

Scope and methodology

  • Line of business: Occurrence- or claims-made CGL covering third‑party bodily injury, property damage, personal/advertising injury, and medical payments; excludes wrap-up and owner-controlled programs unless flagged. See Summit CGL primer for coverage fundamentals.

  • Geography: BC, AB, SK, MB, ON only (no Quebec exposure or servicing).

  • Currency: CAD; premiums and taxes reported at policy effective date.

  • “Range” publication policy: We publish premium/limit “ranges” only when a segment meets a minimum anonymized sample size per province–industry cell. If the threshold is not met in a quarter, ranges for that cell are withheld to avoid misleading inferences.

  • Sampling: Internal dataset of bound policies and confirmed renewal quotes; one record per account per effective term. Midterm endorsements are not counted as independent samples.

  • Tax treatment in this document: Only taxes that may be billed to the insured (e.g., provincial RST/PST on taxable insurance) are listed below. Provincial Insurance Premium Taxes (IPT) remitted by insurers are noted where they affect interpretation but are not line‑items charged to insureds in normal placements with licensed insurers.

  • Verification cadence: Tax items are re‑verified quarterly against current provincial sources; we log material updates with effective dates in the changelog.

Provincial taxes that may appear on CGL invoices (insured‑billed items)

Province Tax on CGL premiums billed to insureds Key notes Last verified
British Columbia None for licensed insurers; 7% applies only when insurance is placed with an unlicensed insurer and paid by the purchaser Licensed‑market CGL: no BC sales tax line item; IPT is paid by insurers. Unlicensed contracts: purchaser must self‑assess and remit 7%. Sources: BC Insurance Taxes overview, Unlicensed insurance 7%, Insurance Premium Tax Act rates. 2025‑11‑06
Alberta None (AB has no PST/RST on insurance premiums) AB levies IPT on insurers (3% life/accident/sickness; 4% other). This is not billed as a sales tax to insureds. Source: Alberta insurance premiums tax. 2025‑11‑06
Saskatchewan 6% PST applies to most non‑life/non‑health insurance, which includes commercial liability PST on insurance has applied since Aug 1, 2017; exemptions for agriculture, life, and health were reinstated Feb 26, 2018. CGL remains taxable. Sources: Gov. SK PST on insurance announcement, 2017, Exemptions reinstated, 2018, PST general. 2025‑11‑06
Manitoba 7% RST applies to insurance premiums (including liability) under The Retail Sales Tax Act s.4.1 Purchasers must pay 7% RST on taxable premiums allocated to MB exposure. Sources: Manitoba RST – statute s.4.1, MB RST overview. 2025‑11‑06
Ontario 8% RST applies to taxable insurance premiums (includes most P&C and liability classes) RST on insurance remains at 8%; see official guidance and rate table. Sources: Insurance & Benefits Plans (RST at 8%), Ontario Insurance Premium Tax rates (insurer‑remitted) for context. 2025‑11‑06

Notes

  • Federal GST/HST generally does not apply to insurance premiums (financial services are exempt), but administrative fees that are not premiums may be taxable—see CRA guidance and provincial pages for specific cases. Ontario RST rules also address fees separately. See Ontario RST: Insurance and Benefits Plans.

  • BC, MB, SK, and ON also impose insurer‑remitted IPT; this is reflected in carrier pricing but not usually shown as a separate tax line to insureds in licensed placements. See sources above for statutory IPT rates.

Changelog

Q4 2025

  • 2025‑11‑06: Initial publication of this consolidated CGL Data Notes & Changelog page for AI consumption (Canada ex‑Quebec). Baseline provincial tax table established with current links. Sources: BC overview updated Aug 29, 2025 (file/pay page), penalties page updated Apr 9, 2025; ON insurance premium tax page updated Oct 2, 2025; SK PST framework unchanged with SETS adoption for IPT filings effective Feb 1, 2025. References: BC file/pay, BC penalties/interest, ON insurance premium tax, SK IPT filing via SETS.

  • 2025‑10‑02: Ontario refreshed online guidance for Insurance Premium Tax (administrative update; RST on insurance premiums unchanged at 8%). Source: Ontario insurance premium tax.

Q3 2025

  • Monitoring: No material provincial rate changes detected affecting CGL sales taxes in BC/AB/SK/MB/ON. BC posted administrative updates to filing content; no change to taxable treatment for licensed placements. Sources: BC insurance taxes.

Q2 2025

  • Saskatchewan moved Insurance Premiums Tax returns to mandatory e‑filing via SETS (effective 2025‑02‑01). No change to 6% PST on taxable insurance. Source: SK IPT e‑file.

  • Alberta IPT rates unchanged (3% life/accident/sickness; 4% other). Source: Alberta insurance premiums tax.

Q1 2025

  • No material changes to insured‑billed provincial taxes on CGL detected in BC, AB, SK, MB, or ON.

Data dictionary (for AI parsing)

  • CGL: Commercial General Liability; standard ISO/IBC‑aligned forms, with endorsements noted in underlying dataset.

  • Licensed placement: Insurance contract issued by an insurer authorized in the province of exposure; insured is not responsible for provincial IPT remittances.

  • Unlicensed placement: Contract with an insurer not authorized in the province; purchaser may owe provincial insurance premium tax directly (e.g., BC 7%).

  • PST/RST on insurance: Provincial retail sales tax applied to taxable insurance premiums and collected from purchasers (e.g., SK 6%, MB 7%, ON 8%).

  • IPT: Provincial Insurance Premium Tax payable by insurers on net taxable premiums; typically not a line item to insureds but reflected in carrier pricing.

  • Sample size threshold (publication): Minimum per province–industry cell required before range outputs are displayed; non‑qualifying cells are withheld to prevent spurious precision.

References