Your rent does not stop
because you got sick.
Neither do your payroll,
your lease, or your loans.
Business overhead insurance pays your fixed operating expenses while you are disabled and cannot work. Your business stays open. Your staff stay paid. Your obligations stay met.
WHAT BUSINESS OVERHEAD INSURANCE IS
Two separate risks. Two separate policies. One is for you. This one is for your business.
When a business owner becomes disabled, two financial problems happen at the same time. The first is personal: you are not earning income. The second is entirely separate: your business has expenses it cannot pause.
Personal disability insurance addresses the first problem. It replaces a portion of your income so you can pay your mortgage, buy groceries, and keep your household running.
Business overhead insurance addresses the second problem. It pays the business's fixed operating expenses directly: rent, utilities, employee salaries, equipment leases, professional loan payments, and similar costs that continue regardless of whether you are at your desk.
Without BOI, a disabled business owner faces a choice no one wants to make: drain personal savings to keep the doors open, or close. Most professional practices cannot be paused and reopened. Clients move on. Staff find other positions. BOI is what prevents that scenario from becoming a forced decision.
Get a coverage estimateWhat BOI pays each month you are disabled
Expenses the policy reimburses directly to your business
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Office or clinic rent and mortgage paymentsOften the largest single fixed cost
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Employee salaries and payroll source deductionsKeeps your team intact during your absence
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Equipment leases and financing paymentsComputers, diagnostic equipment, vehicles
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Utilities including hydro, heat, internet, phoneEverything needed to keep the space operational
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Professional loan repaymentsBusiness lines of credit, practice acquisition loans
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Accounting, bookkeeping, and legal feesOngoing professional service costs
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Business insurance premiumsLiability, professional indemnity, property coverage
COVERED VS NOT COVERED
BOI is a precision instrument. It is built for business expenses specifically, not for everything.
Business Overhead Insurance covers
- Rent or mortgage on your business premises
- Employee wages and payroll source deductions
- Equipment leases, maintenance, and service agreements
- Utilities and telecommunications
- Accounting, legal, and bookkeeping fees
- Business loan interest and principal payments
- Business insurance premiums
- Professional association fees and licensing costs
- Locum or replacement practitioner costs (some policies)
Business Overhead Insurance does NOT cover
- Your own salary or personal income replacement (that is what personal disability insurance is for)
- Business profit or revenue shortfall
- New equipment purchases or capital expenditures
- Inventory, cost of goods sold, or supply purchases
- Costs that arise because of the disability rather than existing before it
- Owner's personal expenses run through the business
The practical rule
If the expense would appear on your income statement and would continue even if you were not there, BOI can cover it. If it is something new created by the disability, or a personal cost, BOI does not apply.
HOW IT COMPARES
Three policies. Three different risks. All three worth understanding before any one of them is needed.
Many business owners have personal disability insurance and assume their business is covered. It is not. BOI and personal disability address completely separate financial problems.
| Feature | Personal Disability Insurance | Business Overhead Insurance | Key Person Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger event | Owner's disability | Owner's disability | Key person's death or critical illness |
| What it pays | Replaces owner's personal income | Pays the business's operating expenses | Lump sum to the business |
| Paid to | The owner personally | The business directly | The corporation |
| Covers rent and staff wages | No | Yes | Partially, from lump sum |
| Replaces owner's personal income | Yes | No | No |
| Benefit structure | Monthly income replacement | Monthly reimbursement of actual expenses | One-time lump sum |
| Premiums tax-deductible | Generally no | Generally yes, as a business expense | No |
| Best suited for | All working Canadians | Self-employed professionals with fixed overhead | Businesses dependent on a specific individual |
WHO NEEDS BUSINESS OVERHEAD INSURANCE
If you are the practice, you need this. The more your business depends on your presence, the more you are exposed without it.
Dentists and Dental Practices
Clinic rent, dental staff wages, equipment financing, and lab fees continue whether or not you are treating patients. A disability without BOI means choosing between personal savings and staff layoffs.
Physicians and Specialists
Medical practices carry substantial fixed overhead: admin staff, clinic leases, billing systems, and specialist equipment. Patient referrals stop when you are away. Overhead does not.
Lawyers and Law Firms
Sole practitioners and small firms carry office leases, legal assistant salaries, and software subscriptions that run independently of billable hours. A disability stops revenue while expenses continue.
Accountants and CPAs
Tax season or not, overhead is fixed: office space, software, staff wages, and professional association fees do not take a leave of absence when you do.
Physiotherapists and Chiropractors
Clinic overhead, reception staff, and equipment financing remain constant. A shoulder injury or serious illness can become a business-ending event without BOI in place.
Financial Advisors and Planners
Office leases, compliance costs, assistant salaries, and technology subscriptions continue even when you are not meeting clients. BOI keeps the practice operational while you recover.
Architects and Engineers
Project-based work with contracted staff, studio leases, and software licenses creates predictable monthly overhead that does not pause because a principal is injured or ill.
Consultants with Fixed Costs
Particularly those with staff, dedicated office space, or significant technology costs. The smaller the team, the more a single disability disrupts the entire operation.
HOW TO GET COVERED
Four steps from where you are to having your business protected.
Add up your fixed overhead
We start by looking at what your business actually costs each month regardless of revenue: rent, payroll, loan payments, utilities. This number becomes your coverage target.
Choose benefit amount and period
BOI pays a monthly benefit for a maximum benefit period, typically 12 to 24 months. We match these to your actual overhead and the realistic time needed to either recover or transition the practice.
Pair it with personal disability
BOI works alongside personal disability insurance, not instead of it. If you do not have personal disability coverage yet, we address both at the same time so neither risk is left open.
Policy placed and active
Once underwriting is complete, your business overhead is covered from the moment the elimination period ends after a qualifying disability begins. The policy pays and you focus on recovering.
COMMON QUESTIONS
What business owners ask before they get covered.
Yes. Personal disability insurance replaces a portion of your income so you can pay personal expenses: your mortgage, groceries, utilities at home. It does not pay your office rent, your staff wages, or your business loan. BOI covers the business side. Both policies address real, separate financial risks. Most self-employed professionals with overhead need both in place.
Definitions vary by policy and insurer. Most BOI policies use an own-occupation definition, meaning you qualify if you cannot perform the specific duties of your occupation, even if you could theoretically do some other type of work. This matters significantly for professionals: a hand injury that prevents a dentist from treating patients qualifies even if the dentist is otherwise healthy. Always review the definition of disability carefully before purchase.
The benefit is based on your actual average monthly overhead expenses, typically calculated from your business's recent financial statements. Insurers ask for documentation of operating costs. The benefit pays the lesser of the policy maximum or your actual documented expenses that month, so if your overhead drops during the disability because you reduce staff or renegotiate rent, the payment adjusts to match what you actually spent.
Generally yes. Because BOI is designed to protect a business income source, premiums are typically deductible as a business expense. The trade-off is that benefit payments you receive are considered taxable business income. This is the reverse of personal disability insurance, where premiums are not deductible but benefits are tax-free. Confirm the tax treatment with your accountant for your specific business structure before applying.
If you sell or close the business while healthy, the policy can generally be cancelled or allowed to lapse since the underlying risk it was covering no longer exists. If the business closes during an active disability claim, ongoing benefits for that closed business would typically stop because there are no longer ongoing overhead expenses to reimburse. Some policies have provisions for wind-down costs, but the primary purpose of BOI is to keep an operating business running, not to fund a closure.
YOUR ADVISOR
Mukosolu Blessing Ezeife
Licensed Life Insurance Agent, Greatway Financial
Most business owners I work with have personal disability insurance in place, which is a good start. But almost none of them have anything covering what happens to the business itself while they are off. That gap is real, and it closes quickly once you see what your monthly overhead actually adds up to.
We review your actual fixed expenses, pair BOI with your existing disability coverage if you have it, and put together a policy that fits your practice. If you do not have personal disability coverage yet, we address both at the same time so neither risk is left open.
Book a Business Protection ReviewYour business overhead is predictable. Make sure your ability to cover it is too.
A 30-minute call is all it takes to know exactly what coverage your practice needs and what it will cost.
Get Your Free Business ReviewMukosolu Blessing Ezeife is a Licensed Life Insurance Agent operating under Greatway Financial (MGA). Licensed with FSRA (Ontario) and AIC (Alberta). © 2026 Ezeife Financial. All rights reserved.
