The calculation of the Workers Compensation premium for a Business employing workers is based on a variety of factors, including:

• The Employer’s industry;
• Working Conditions;
• The amount of deemed wages paid to the workers;
• The registration to specific Apprentices and Traineeship Government Programs.

To ensure their workers are covered by work cover insurance and calculate the correct premium, Employers must provide information regarding the following:

Employer's Industry
Businesses must provide a full description of their business activities to icare to establish the correct industry type. Once assessed, icare will assign the business a Workers Compensation Industry Classification (WIC) to enable the correct calculation of the premium. 

Workers' Remuneration
Employers must submit an Annual Annual Declaration to iCare and declare the cost of remuneration paid to their workers over the year.

Working Conditions
Finally, Employers are also required to indicate whether their workers are exposed to asbestos in the course of their employment.

Icare will then use the values provided on the Annual Declaration and the Business' WIC and calculate the premium for the year. If the cost of the premium is under $30,000 per year, icare will then use the same declared remuneration to estimate the Premium for the forthcoming year. Businesses that pay over $30,000 premium per year must also submit an estimate of remuneration to calculate the premium for the forthcoming year. Finally, a Dust Diseases Levy rate is added to the premium of those employers whose business activities involve the exposure of asbestos to their workers.

Definition of Workers and Wages

The NSW Workers Compensation Act has a specific definition of both Workers and Wages that must be included in the Annual Declaration to determine the correct premium. For more information about the definition of workers and wages refer to our Workers Compensation Factsheet.

Lodge the Annual Declaration to icare

The Annual Declaration can be lodged to iCare either manually (by mailing a form) or online. This Knowledge Base Article covers how to lodge the Workers' Annual Declaration online.

1. After you have calculated the correct wages and remuneration to report log into icare: https://portal.icare.nsw.gov.au/policy/policy-wage-declaration
   
   è  The icare portal
   
   
   
2. Sign in using the following details:
   Note: these details are provided to you by icare via email
   • Policy Number
   • Insurance period end date of the declaration
   • Customer reference code
   • Business location postcode
3. Click on [Proceed]
   
   è  The Wages Declaration screen opens
   
   
   
   
4. From this screen, you can see the WIC assigned to the Business, provide a brief description of your Business Activity
5. Enter the following details:
   • Employees
     • Number of Employees
     • Total Gross Wages for the insurance period
   • Apprentices (if applicable)
     • Number of Apprentices
     • Total Apprentices Gross Wages for the insurance period
   • Contractors (if applicable)
     • Number of Contractors
     • Total Contractor Payments for the insurance period
6. Click on [Done]
7. If you are lodging on behalf of the Business under Who is declaring wages select Representative on behalf of the Business (eg. broker) and type of your details
   
   è  icare declaration - who is declaring
   
   
   
8. Confirm the declaration and click on [Submit]
   
   è  The Premium Calculation and Adjustment displays on the screen
   
   
   è  icare will send the policy documentation and invoice within five business days from the lodgement of the Annual Declaration