Frequently asked questions

Your take-home pay is your gross salary less federal income tax, your province’s income tax, and your CPP (or QPP) and EI contributions — after the non-refundable credits, chiefly the $16,452 federal Basic Personal Amount, are applied.

Federal tax uses one marginal scale across the country, up to a top federal rate of 33%. On top of it, the province you live in on December 31 charges its own tax on its own brackets and basic amount. The calculator applies both — so the take-home already reflects where you live.

The Canada Pension Plan is a 5.95% employee contribution on pensionable earnings between a basic exemption and the first ceiling. Above that ceiling, a second tier (CPP2) applies up to a higher second ceiling. The base portion is a tax credit; the enhanced portion is a deduction from income.

Employment Insurance is a 1.63% employee premium on your insurable earnings up to a yearly maximum (the Maximum Insurable Earnings); nothing is charged above it. It is a non-refundable credit. Quebec residents pay a reduced EI rate because QPIP covers parental benefits.

A credit that lets everyone earn a base amount tax-free — up to $16,452 federally. At higher incomes it tapers down to a smaller floor. Each province also has its own basic amount. The calculator applies these automatically.

Quebec runs a parallel system: the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) instead of CPP, the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) with a reduced EI rate, Quebec’s own brackets and basic amount, and a refundable 16.5% federal abatement that cuts basic federal tax. Selecting Quebec switches the whole calculation.

Yes. On top of its brackets, Ontario charges a two-tier surtax on higher basic Ontario tax and an income-tested Health Premium collected through the Ontario return. The calculator includes both when you select Ontario — traps a federal-only estimate misses.

The take-home is worked out as your annual T1 return — the ground truth you reconcile to at filing — and then divided back to your pay period. Your employer’s per-paycheque withholding tables are an approximation that rounds differently, so a real paycheque can differ by a few dollars.

This version models Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec — enough to show federal + provincial stacking, the Ontario surtax and Health Premium, and the Quebec system. Adding another province is a data change, not a rebuild.

The calculator uses the rates in force for the 2026 tax year, taken from the CRA and the provinces and cited on the rate pages. If a rule changed recently it may not be reflected here yet, and none of them has been through our final sign-off; the Quebec brackets in particular were read from a second source rather than captured first-hand. Treat the result as an estimate, not an assessment — for an official amount, the CRA or your province is the binding one.