What Gets Taken Off Your Paycheque in Canada (2026)

Four deductions stand between your gross pay and your bank account, and they come off in a fixed order. Here is each one with its 2026 numbers, plus a calculator that runs them for all ten provinces.

The four deductions, in order

Every figure below is the 2026 value used by this site’s calculator.

CPP / QPP — 5.95% (6.3% for QPP in Quebec) on earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, plus a second tier of 4% on earnings between $74,600 and $85,000. The $3,500 is a basic exemption: you pay nothing on the first $3,500.
EI — 1.63% from the very first dollar, up to $68,900 of insurable earnings. In Quebec it drops to 1.30%, because parental leave is covered separately by QPIP at 0.43% on earnings up to $103,000.
Federal tax — starts at 14% on the first $58,523, with a basic personal amount of $16,452 and a Canada Employment Amount of $1,500 that come off as credits at the lowest rate.
Provincial tax — its own brackets and its own basic personal amount in every province. Ontario adds a surtax on higher provincial tax and an Ontario Health Premium on top.

Why the exemption and the credits matter more than the rate

People read “14% federal” and assume 14% of everything. It is not. The first $16,452 is sheltered by the basic personal amount, another $1,500 by the Canada Employment Amount, and the brackets are progressive — the 20.5% rate applies only to the dollars above $58,523, never to the ones below it. That is why the number that actually describes your paycheque is the effective rate: total deductions divided by gross pay, not the rate of your top bracket.

A full worked example: $20.00/hour, 40 hours a week, Ontario

Gross: 20.00 × 40 × 52 = $41,600.00. Every line below is reproducible from the 2026 figures above.

CPP: ($41,600 − $3,500) × 0.0595 = 38,100 × 0.0595 = $2,266.95
CPP2: income is under $74,600, so $0.00
EI: 41,600 × 0.0163 = $678.08
Enhanced CPP deduction (reduces taxable income): 38,100 × 0.01 = $381.00 → taxable income $41,219.00
Federal tax: 41,219 × 0.14 = $5,770.66, minus credits of (16,452 + 1,500) × 0.14 = $2,513.28 → $3,257.38
Ontario tax: 41,219 × 0.0505 = $2,081.56, minus the basic personal amount credit of 12,989 × 0.0505 = $655.94 → $1,425.62. No surtax at this income.
Ontario Health Premium: $450.00 at this income level
Total deductions: 2,266.95 + 678.08 + 3,257.38 + 1,425.62 + 450.00 = $8,078.03
Net pay: $41,600.00 − $8,078.03 = $33,521.97 a year, about $2,793.50 a month
Effective rate: 8,078.03 ÷ 41,600 = 19.4%

Change the province in the calculator and the last three lines move. The federal half does not.

Quebec is a different system, not a variation

If you work in Quebec, four things change at once: QPP replaces CPP at a higher rate (6.3%), EI is lower (1.30%), QPIP is added at 0.43%, and your basic federal tax is reduced by the Quebec abatement of 16.5% because the province administers its own income tax. Comparing a Quebec pay stub line-for-line with an Ontario one will not make sense — compare the effective rate instead.

Why hourly workers get surprised more often than salaried ones

On a salary, every cheque is the same and you learn your net pay once. On an hourly rate, gross pay moves every pay period — a picked-up shift, a cancelled one, a statutory holiday, tips run through payroll — and payroll withholds based on what that specific period looks like annualised. Two cheques in the same month can carry different deduction percentages, both of them correct.

There are also two ceilings that change your take-home partway through the year. Once you have paid CPP on $74,600 of earnings and EI on $68,900, those deductions stop for the rest of the year and your net pay goes up without your rate changing at all. If you have ever had a cheque that was unexpectedly bigger in the autumn, that was probably why.

Where these numbers come from

CPP, CPP2, EI and the federal brackets are the 2026 figures published by the Canada Revenue Agency. The Quebec figures (QPP, QPIP, the abatement) come from Revenu Québec. Provincial brackets and basic personal amounts are reviewed annually. All of them live in a single file on this site, public/js/calc-data.js, so the three calculators always agree with each other and a rate change is one edit.

This is general information, not tax advice. The calculator does not model RRSP contributions, union dues, child benefits, employer benefits or any other credit.

And the part a calculator can’t do

A calculator tells you what should land in your account. Only a record of your own hours tells you whether it did. That is the gap JornadaPro fills: you clock in, it keeps the hours, the tips and the mileage, and you can put your real total next to what the employer paid.

It is built for anywhere. The Canadian deductions on this page are an optional mode inside the app, switched off by default; it also does a plain percentage tax that works in any country, and supports CAD, USD, EUR, MXN and DOP. One-time purchase, no subscription.

What people usually ask

How much is deducted from a paycheque in Canada?

For most hourly workers, roughly 18% to 28% of gross pay across CPP, EI and income tax, rising with income because the brackets are progressive. A worked example: $41,600 gross in Ontario for 2026 produces $8,078.03 in deductions, an effective rate of 19.4%. Your own figure depends on your province and your total income.

How much is CPP and EI in 2026?

CPP is 5.95% on earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, plus a second tier (CPP2) of 4% on earnings from $74,600 to $85,000. EI is 1.63% from the first dollar up to $68,900 of insurable earnings. In Quebec, QPP replaces CPP at 6.3%, EI is 1.30%, and QPIP adds 0.43% up to $103,000.

What is the basic personal amount for 2026?

The federal basic personal amount used by this calculator is $16,452, applied as a non-refundable credit at the lowest federal rate of 14%. Employees also get the Canada Employment Amount of $1,500 on the same basis. Each province has its own basic personal amount as well — Ontario’s is $12,989, Alberta’s is $22,769, Quebec’s is $18,952.

Why did my paycheque get bigger later in the year?

Because CPP and EI have annual ceilings. Once you have contributed on $74,600 of pensionable earnings (CPP) and $68,900 of insurable earnings (EI), those deductions stop until January and your net pay rises without your hourly rate changing.

Are tips taxed in Canada?

Yes. The CRA treats tips and gratuities as taxable income, including cash tips your employer never processes: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/tips-gratuities.html. If tips run through payroll they are withheld on like wages; if they do not, you report them yourself when you file.

Does this work if I’m self-employed or a contractor?

No. This calculator assumes you are an employee with payroll withholding. Self-employed people pay both halves of CPP, are generally not covered by EI unless they opt in, and may have to make instalment payments to the CRA. Those rules are different enough that this tool would mislead you.

General information using 2026 tax year figures. This is not tax or legal advice: confirm with the CRA or your provincial labour ministry.