How much of my profit to set aside for tax
For a sole proprietor whose only income is the business. Pick where you live and enter your expected 2026 profit. See the income tax and CPP or QPP to set aside, by the month and by the quarter.
This is an estimate of what to set aside, not a tax return. It works out each amount the way the return does and rounds it to the cent. The tax is worked on your profit less the deductible part of your CPP or QPP and QPIP.
What to know
- For 2026, a self-employed person has until 15 June 2027 to file the return, but any balance owing is due by 30 April 2027. A balance paid after 30 April is charged interest.
- The CRA asks for quarterly instalments when your net tax owing is more than $3,000 in 2026 and was also more than $3,000 in 2025 or 2024. For Quebec residents the federal threshold is $1,800. The CRA sends a reminder with the amounts. See who has to pay instalments.
- Revenu Québec has its own threshold: Quebec income tax payable of more than $1,800 in 2026 and in 2025 or 2024. Quebec instalments also cover QPP, QPIP, the health services fund contribution and the Québec prescription drug insurance premium.
- Instalment due dates are 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December, or the next business day when one falls on a weekend or holiday. Whether and how much to pay is your call or your accountant's. This page does not decide it.
- Keeping business money in its own account makes the set-aside easier to see. See do I need a separate bank account and how long to keep records.
What this does not cover
- Anything that would lower your tax is left out: low-income reductions such as the Ontario tax reduction and the BC tax reduction, provincial low-income credits, the Canada workers benefit, every other credit, RRSP contributions and every other deduction. So for a low profit it may show more than you owe.
- The only credits used are the basic personal amount and the credits for your own CPP, QPP or QPIP. The only deductions used are the deductible parts of those contributions.
- It does not handle employment income alongside the business, a partnership, a second province, or a year you started or stopped part way.
- Employment Insurance for the self-employed is optional and is not included.
- Quebec: if you have no group drug insurance, the Québec prescription drug insurance premium is also charged on your return. It depends on your family income and is not included. See the RAMQ annual premium.
Figures in this calculator
Each rate applies only to the slice of income from its threshold up to the next one.
| Item | 2026 |
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Figures checked . Some 2026 changes (British Columbia's lowest rate, the new Prince Edward Island bracket, the Newfoundland and Labrador basic personal amount) were announced during the year. Confirm against the official source before you rely on them.
Official sources
- Canada Revenue Agency: 2026 federal, provincial and territorial tax rates. For Manitoba this page shows indexed brackets; Manitoba froze them at $47,000 and $100,000, and CRA's payroll formulas (T4127) use the frozen figures, so this calculator does too.
- CRA T4127, January 2026: basic personal amounts and their phase-outs (including Manitoba's), Ontario surtax and Health Premium
- CRA T4127, July 2026: the British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island changes
- CRA: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions
- CRA: second additional CPP (CPP2) rates and maximums
- CRA Schedule 8 (2025 edition): how self-employed CPP is split into a credit and a deduction
- CRA T4002 (2025 edition): filing and payment dates for the self-employed, which follow the same rule each year
- Manitoba Budget 2026 (basic personal amount of $15,780) and Budget 2025 (brackets frozen at $47,000 and $100,000)
- Ministère des Finances du Québec: 2026 tax parameters (in French)
- Revenu Québec TP-1015.F-V: 2026 Quebec rates, basic personal amount, QPP and QPIP
- Retraite Québec: QPP contributions
- Québec: QPIP rates (in French)
- Revenu Québec Schedule F (2025 form): how the health services fund contribution works. The 2026 thresholds come from the Finance Québec 2026 tax parameters.
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