Introduction
This free Canada income tax calculator shows how much tax you owe and how much money you keep. Pick your tax year (2025 or 2026) and your province or territory, type in your income, and read the answer right away.
You can add many kinds of income: job pay from a T4, self-employment income, pension or rental income, capital gains, and Canadian dividends. You can also add your RRSP and FHSA contributions, other deductions, and the tax already taken off your pay.
The calculator works out your federal tax, your provincial or territorial tax, and your CPP (or QPP) and EI premiums. Then it tells you if you get a refund or owe money. It also shows your average tax rate, your marginal tax rate, and the federal tax bracket you land in.
Move the RRSP slider to see how much tax each extra dollar you save can cut. The results include a chart and a step-by-step math breakdown, so you can see where every dollar goes.
How to use our Canada Income Tax Calculator
Enter your income, your deductions, and the tax you already paid. The calculator shows your federal tax, provincial tax, CPP and EI, your total tax, your take-home pay, and your refund or balance owing.
Tax Year: Pick the year you are filing for. Tax rates, credits, and limits change each year.
Province / Territory: Pick where you lived on December 31 of that year. Each province has its own tax rates. Pick "Non-Residents of Canada" if you did not live in Canada.
Employment Income: Enter your total pay from all T4 slips (box 14). This includes salary, wages, bonuses, and tips before any deductions.
Self-Employment Income: Enter your business or freelance income after you take off your business costs. This income pays both halves of CPP.
Other Income: Enter pension, RRIF, rental, interest, and EI benefit income. This money is taxed at your full rate.
Capital Gains: Enter the full profit you made from selling stocks, property, or other assets. The calculator adds only the taxable part for you.
Eligible Dividends: Enter the cash dividends you got from Canadian public companies. The calculator handles the gross-up and the dividend tax credit.
Non-Eligible Dividends: Enter dividends from a small Canadian private company. These are also called "ordinary" dividends on your T5 slip.
RRSP & FHSA Contributions: Enter what you put into your RRSP and FHSA. This lowers your taxable income dollar for dollar.
Other Deductions: Enter union dues, child care costs, moving costs, support payments, and other amounts that lower your income.
Income Taxes Already Paid: Enter the income tax taken off your pay (T4 box 22) plus any instalments you sent in. Do not include CPP or EI.
Contribution Slider: Drag the slider or type an amount to test different RRSP or FHSA contributions. The box shows how much tax each amount saves you.
Click Calculate to see your results, or Reset to start over.
Canada Income Tax: How It Works
In Canada you pay income tax to two governments: the federal government and the province or territory where you lived on December 31. Both use tax brackets. A bracket is a slice of your income taxed at a set rate. Only the money inside each slice is taxed at that slice's rate, so your first dollars are always taxed the least.
Total Income, Taxable Income, and Tax Owing
Tax is not charged on every dollar you earn. The math runs in three steps:
- Total income is pay from your T4 slips, self-employment profit, pension, interest, rent, plus the taxable part of capital gains and dividends.
- Taxable income is total income minus deductions like RRSP or FHSA contributions, union dues, child care, and moving costs.
- Tax owing is tax from the brackets minus tax credits, such as the basic personal amount that makes your first several thousand dollars tax free.
Average Rate vs. Marginal Rate
Your average tax rate is all your tax divided by all your income. Your marginal tax rate is the rate on your next dollar earned. The marginal rate is always higher, and it is the rate that matters when you think about a raise, a bonus, or an RRSP contribution.
How RRSP and FHSA Contributions Cut Your Tax
Money you put in an RRSP or FHSA is a deduction. It lowers your taxable income, so you save tax at your marginal rate. If your marginal rate is 30% and you put in $5,000, you cut your tax bill by about $1,500. The yearly RRSP dollar limit is $32,490 for 2025 and $33,810 for 2026.3 Your limit is that amount or 18% of your earned income from last year, whichever is smaller.
Capital Gains and Dividends Are Taxed Differently
Only 50% of a capital gain (profit from selling stocks, a rental, or other property) goes into your income.24 Canadian dividends take an odd path: the amount is "grossed up" (made bigger) on paper, then a dividend tax credit knocks the tax back down. The end result is that gains and dividends are usually taxed less than regular pay.
CPP and EI Are Not Income Tax
Paycheque deductions also include Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) and Employment Insurance (EI). These are payroll premiums, not income tax, but they still lower your take-home pay. For 2025, CPP applies to earnings between $3,500 and $71,300.4 An extra CPP2 amount applies to earnings up to $81,200.5 EI applies to the first $65,700 of employment income.6 Only the base part of your CPP earns a tax credit. The enhanced part (the first additional 1% and CPP2) is deducted from your income instead.20 Self-employed people pay both the worker and employer halves of CPP. They claim the credit on half of the base part and deduct the rest from their income.20 The same split applies to QPP on the federal return.21
Refund or Balance Owing
Your employer sends tax to the CRA all year from each paycheque. At tax time you compare that amount to your real tax bill. Paid too much and you get a refund. Paid too little and you owe the difference. A big refund is not free money. It only means too much tax was held back during the year.
Special Cases
Quebec residents file a separate provincial return and get a 16.5% federal tax abatement.9 They pay QPP and QPIP instead of the usual mix. Quebec gives no separate provincial credit for QPP, QPIP or EI contributions, because its basic personal amount already takes them into account.22 Ontario adds a surtax and a health premium on top of its brackets. Non-residents of Canada pay federal tax plus a 48% federal surtax instead of provincial tax.10 Tax brackets and credits also rise most years with inflation, which is why the year you pick changes the numbers.