The short answer: Pennsylvania changed the rule. Workers' comp premium on a corporate officer is figured on the officer's pay, up to a weekly maximum. For policies starting April 1, 2025 or later, the PCRB raised that maximum from $3,200 a week to $5,300, and to $5,400 for policies starting April 1, 2026. In a year, that's the difference between $166,400 and $280,800. If your officers earn more than $166,400, more of their pay is in your premium now, and the audit bill is usually where owners find out.
A lot of owners still don't know it changed. Policies that started after April 1, 2025 are being audited now, and the 2026 policies are next. The premium at the start of the year was often figured on the old limit, so the difference shows up as an extra bill at audit. Then it happens again the next year.
What changed
The maximum used to be set at two and a half times Pennsylvania's average weekly wage. The PCRB raised the multiplier to four. That one change is why the number jumped.
| Policies starting | Weekly maximum | Yearly maximum |
|---|---|---|
| April 1, 2024 | $3,200 | $166,400 |
| April 1, 2025 | $5,300 | $275,600 |
| April 1, 2026 | $5,400 | $280,800 |
For years the maximum went up eight or ten thousand dollars at a time, along with wages. In 2025 it went up $109,200. In 2026 it went up again.
The minimum moved too, more quietly. For policies starting April 1, 2026 it's $1,347 a week, or $70,044 a year. An officer who works in the business but takes no salary, or whose pay doesn't show up in the records, gets charged the minimum anyway.
What it costs
Take an owner-officer paid $400,000. Under the old limit, $166,400 of that counted toward the premium. Under the new one, $280,800 does. That's $114,400 more payroll for one person.
What it costs depends on which class that officer lands in. In the clerical class, not much. In your governing class, a construction or manufacturing code, it adds up fast. At a rate of $8.00 per $100 of payroll, that $114,400 is $9,152 before the experience mod gets applied. Two officers, double it.
Where it gets missed
There's more to the officer rule than the limits. Which class an officer goes in depends on what that officer actually does all day, and the records have to back it up. Whether an officer can be excluded from coverage at all depends on ownership and how the company is set up, and the paperwork usually has to be in place before the policy starts. Excluding an owner also means that owner has no coverage if they get hurt. Somebody should decide that on purpose.
Most of the time none of it gets decided ahead of time. The auditor finds the officers, puts them where they seem to fit, and applies whatever limit that policy year calls for. If nobody looked at it before the audit, that's the version you pay for.
Outside Pennsylvania
Every state sets its own officer limits, and most change them every year. Some charge a flat amount no matter what the officer is paid. The AuditCheck Program has this year's officer and partner limits for every state.
If an audit just came in higher than you expected and the officers are part of it, send me the audit and the auditor's worksheets. It's worth knowing whether the number is right before you pay it.
Topics: workers compensation premium audit, executive officer payroll, Pennsylvania PCRB, officer payroll limits 2026, officer exclusion, experience mod