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Instalments

How much to set aside for tax when you're incorporated

An incorporated owner has up to four tax bills, not one. How much to set aside for each, and why copying last year beats any percentage of revenue.

By Matthew Reeves, FounderAugust 9, 2026 · 8 min read
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Quebec runs its own corporate tax regime through Revenu Québec, and Cadence doesn't currently serve Quebec. The figures below are Ontario's.

Summary

If you own a Canadian corporation and take money out of it, you don’t have one tax bill to save for. You have up to four, and each one has its own deadline and its own pot of money:

  1. Sales tax, i.e. GST (the federal goods and services tax) at 5%, or HST (harmonized sales tax) at up to 15% where a province folded its own sales tax in, added on top of what you invoice.1
  2. Corporate income tax on your company’s profit, after any salary it pays you but before any dividend.2
  3. Payroll deductions, the amounts held back from your pay and sent to the government, if you take a salary.
  4. Your own personal tax on what you took out, which is yours to pay rather than the corporation’s.

Once you have a full tax year behind you, copy it instead of estimating:

  1. Take last year’s corporate tax off the T2, which is your corporation’s income tax return, and your own tax off the T1, which is your personal return. Divide each by four. A quarter of the corporate tax goes into a second company bank account, and a quarter of your personal tax into your own savings, since your personal tax isn’t the corporation’s to pay.
  2. Pay corporate instalments (part-payments of this year’s tax, made during the year) on last year’s figure rather than a guess at this year’s, moving the money a week before each date. For a December 31 year-end and a corporation eligible to pay quarterly, those dates are March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31. Paid correctly and on time, last year’s figure stops the CRA (the Canada Revenue Agency, the federal tax collector) charging you interest, however big this year turns out to be.
  3. Sales tax doesn’t follow that quarterly rhythm. Move your net sales tax, meaning the sales tax you charged customers minus the sales tax you paid on business purchases, into the reserve as each customer payment lands, because none of it was ever the company’s to spend.

In your first year there’s nothing to copy, so use three conventions of ours. Set aside 15% of the year’s expected profit after any salary but before any dividends, 100% of net sales tax, and 30% of every dividend you take. Salary needs no personal reserve, because the tax comes off the pay as you go. Our set-aside calculator prices each bill at its own rate rather than by convention. Our instalment calculator says whether the CRA will ask you or your corporation for instalments at all.

Sales tax you’ve collected

What you owe the CRA is net tax, being the GST/HST you charged customers minus input tax credits, which give back the GST/HST your business paid on its own purchases. Every dollar you collect is held in trust for the government by law, kept separate from the corporation’s own property wherever it happens to sit.3 As such, the honest set-aside is 100% of net tax, moved into the reserve as each customer payment lands, rather than waiting for a quarterly transfer. How long you hold it turns on whether the CRA has you filing monthly, quarterly or annually.4

Corporate income tax and the quarterly instalment

Corporate income tax is charged on profit for the corporation’s tax year (i.e. the twelve-month period you chose at incorporation, which needn’t end on December 31 and which you’ll find on your last T2). A Canadian-controlled private corporation, meaning a private company controlled by Canadian residents, pays 9% federal tax for 2026 on its first $500,000 of active business income, i.e. money from running the business rather than from investments. Above that the federal rate is 15%. Each province then sets its own rate on top of the federal ones, and inside that $500,000 limit, an Ontario company pays about 11.7% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-end, after a mid-year Ontario rate changea British Columbia company pays about 11% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-endan Alberta company pays about 11% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda Saskatchewan company pays about 10% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda Manitoba company pays about 9% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda New Brunswick company pays about 11.5% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda Nova Scotia company pays about 10.5% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda Prince Edward Island company pays about 10% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-enda Newfoundland and Labrador company pays about 11% corporate tax for a December 31, 2026 year-end.5

Taxable income also comes out above the profit your accounting software reports, because the tax rules take back deductions you legitimately recorded (e.g. only half of a client dinner is deductible, and club dues not at all).6 As such our first-year 15% sits above the combined rate rather than on it, in every province we cover.

A corporation makes no instalments in its first tax year, and none later where total federal tax payable is $3,000 or less in the current or previous year.7 That threshold and the personal $3,000 below are unrelated tests, so passing one says nothing about the other.

Beyond that, instalments are monthly unless the corporation qualifies to pay quarterly, which takes four things at once. It has to be a Canadian-controlled private corporation, it has to have claimed a small business deduction this year or last, and it needs a clean 12-month record of remittances and filings (e.g. every payroll and GST/HST payment on time). Taxable income also has to be $500,000 or less, and taxable capital (a size measure built from equity and debt) $10 million or less. Both are totalled across associated companies, meaning others you, your spouse or your family control.8 One late remittance ends your eligibility to pay quarterly, and after one further quarterly payment you’re on twelve dates a year.

You can size each payment three ways: on an estimate of this year’s tax, on last year’s tax, or on a third method built on the year before last. We don’t recommend that third one and don’t cover it here.9 We recommend last year’s, because it buys protection rather than accuracy. Pay it correctly and on time and the CRA charges no instalment interest, whatever this year turns out to be. That protection covers interest only, though, not the bill, and in a lean year you’ll have over-funded for nothing. Early payments earn an interest credit against same-year shortfalls, which is never paid out to you. Refund interest is a separate thing, starting 120 days after your year-end at the earliest, paid at a lower prescribed rate than the CRA charges, and taxable to the corporation.10 Estimating this year instead leaves more cash in the business. Guess low, though, and interest runs back to each missed due date at the CRA’s prescribed rate on overdue amounts, compounded daily and reset every quarter, and the current figure is on our CRA interest rates page. A penalty is added once that interest tops $1,000, at half the excess over the greater of $1,000 and a quarter of the interest you’d have owed with no instalments.11

Two other dates matter more than the instalment dates. Whatever is still owing falls due two months after year-end, or three months where the corporation qualifies for the 9% small business rate and meets two related conditions.12 The T2 itself isn’t due for six months, so the money is due well before the paperwork. A first year is the worst of it. The corporation makes no instalments, so a full year’s tax lands in one payment two or three months after your first year-end, often just as the second year’s instalments begin.

Outside Alberta and Quebec, provincial corporate income tax is collected by the CRA together with the federal tax, on the same T2 return, so the instalments and balance-due dates above already cover the provincial share.13 There’s no separate provincial return to file for it and no second payment schedule to track.

One caveat for Alberta: the machinery above is federal only, because Alberta collects its own corporate income tax, not the CRA. An Alberta corporation also files a provincial return, the AT1, with Alberta’s Tax and Revenue Administration: the AT1 is due within six months of year-end and the Alberta balance by the end of the second month (the third for CCPCs eligible to defer).13 Alberta’s own instalment rules aren’t covered here, so talk to us before your first Alberta year-end.

Payroll and your personal tax

If you pay yourself a salary, income tax and Canada Pension Plan contributions come off the pay before it reaches you. For a regular remitter, both go to the CRA by the 15th of the following month.14 Set aside what you withheld, plus the corporation’s own matching CPP contribution, a cost to the company on top of the salary. Your personal tax is then largely paid as you go, so the fourth pot of money, the one for your own tax, barely has to exist.

Dividends work the other way, because nothing is withheld from a dividend and the whole personal bill arrives when you file. Quarterly personal instalments start too once your net tax owing tops $3,000 in the current year and in either of the two prior years. Net tax owing means what’s left after anything already withheld. Those instalments fall due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15.15 So dividends need a personal reserve where salary mostly doesn’t, and until your first personal return is assessed we’d hold back 30% of every dividend. That’s generous if the dividend is your only income, and light once you’re drawing well into six figures.

When to redo this calculation

Re-run your set-aside when any of the following changes:

  • Your first full tax year gets assessed, so you can copy a real figure instead of estimating one.
  • Profit crosses $500,000, or whatever business limit your province sets. The excess is taxed at the general corporate rate, about 26.5% combined in Ontario for 2026about 27% combined in British Columbia for 2026about 23% combined in Alberta for 2026about 27% combined in Saskatchewan for 2026about 27% combined in Manitoba for 2026about 29% combined in New Brunswick for 2026about 29% combined in Nova Scotia for 2026about 30% combined in Prince Edward Island for 2026about 30% combined in Newfoundland and Labrador for 2026, so that slice of profit needs a much larger set-aside.16
  • You switch between salary and dividends, since nothing is withheld from a dividend and the whole personal bill becomes yours to fund.
  • A late remittance breaks the clean compliance record, putting corporate instalments back to twelve dates a year, and payroll deductions back to monthly if the CRA had been letting you send those quarterly.14
  • The corporation opens a fixed place of business in Alberta or Quebec, which collect their own corporate income tax on their own dates. Talk to us before the first year-end there.

Closing thoughts

Almost all of the above is arithmetic, which isn’t usually the part that goes wrong. What goes wrong is that no particular day is the day the money moves, so it moves whenever there’s spare cash. Owners who get this right run a standing transfer on a fixed date into one plain second account. Three accounts, one each for sales tax, payroll and income tax, is enough friction that most people abandon it by March. They also treat the sales tax sitting in that second account as somebody else’s money.

How we handle it

We work the instalment schedule out from your filed T2 and T1, and give you the payment amounts and the dates for your eligible schedule. We re-run it when your income moves enough to matter, rather than only at year-end. GST/HST returns and payroll remittances run on the same file, which keeps intact the compliance record your quarterly payments depend on. In a first year we size the reserve off expected profit and reset it after the year-end.

Footnotes

  1. Subsection 148(1) of the Excise Tax Act makes a person a small supplier throughout a calendar quarter and the first month after it where the value of taxable supplies made by the person and its associates in the four preceding calendar quarters didn’t exceed $30,000, excluding financial services and sales of capital property. Subsection 148(2) removes that status within a quarter in which the $30,000 is exceeded. Registration follows losing it. GST is 5%, and the harmonized rates run to 15%, with the province-by-province list in our GST/HST registration guide. Sources: Department of Justice, Excise Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, CRA, “When to register for and start charging the GST/HST”, and CRA, “GST/HST calculator (and rates)”, all verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  2. A salary is an outlay made to earn the corporation’s income, the kind of expense paragraph 18(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act leaves deductible, so it comes off the profit before corporate tax is worked out. A dividend is paid out of the profit once it’s earned, so nothing comes off for it and the tax falls on the whole profit it’s paid from. The CRA describes dividends as “a return on the shareholder’s investment in the company” that are “not considered as payment for services provided for the corporation”. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-09-03, and CRA, “Shareholder benefits”, both verified 2026-09-24. ↩

  3. Subsection 222(1) of the Excise Tax Act deems amounts collected as or on account of GST/HST to be held in trust for the Crown, separate and apart from the property of the person who collected them. Source: Department of Justice, Excise Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  4. The CRA assigns your reporting period on registration, from your annual taxable supplies, and it appears in your GST/HST account in My Business Account. Monthly and quarterly filers file and pay one month after the reporting period ends, and annual filers three months after the fiscal year-end, so March 31 for a December 31 year-end, per paragraphs 238(1)(a)(iii) and (b) of the Excise Tax Act. The April 30 payment date available to sole proprietors doesn’t reach a corporation. Subsections 237(1) and (3) require quarterly instalments from an annual filer whose net tax for the previous fiscal year was $3,000 or more, each due a month after a fiscal quarter ends. Subsection 237(2) sets each instalment at a quarter of the lesser of the current year’s net tax and the previous year’s annualised figure, so a year coming in under $3,000 escapes even where the previous one didn’t. Note that this $3,000 is a different test from the corporate and personal income tax ones. Sources: Department of Justice, Excise Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Find out if you need to pay GST/HST by instalments”, both verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  5. The federal net rate on active business income eligible for the small business deduction is 9% for 2026, on a business limit of $500,000 where the corporation isn’t associated with another, and the general federal net rate is 15%. We state the small business figures in full in our 2026 changes guide. Some provinces set a business limit above $500,000. For Ontario: Ontario Ministry of Finance, Corporations Tax: Corporate Income Tax (ontario.ca), corroborated by 2026 Ontario Budget - Annex: Details of Tax Measures (budget.ontario.ca/2026/annex.html) and Bill 97 status page (ola.org). Verified 2026-08-13. The rate reduction is prorated for taxation years straddling July 1, 2026 (Ontario 2026 Budget annex: 'The tax rate reduction would be prorated for taxation years straddling July 1, 2026.'). Enacted by Bill 97, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026, S.O. 2026, c. 2, which amends s. 31(4) of the Taxation Act, 2007 so the small business deduction rate is 9.3% for days in a taxation year after June 30, 2026 (11.5% general rate minus 9.3% = 2.2%). The combined 11.7% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Ontario lower rate and is our arithmetic.For British Columbia: Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Finance), Corporate income tax rates – Province of British Columbia. Verified 2026-08-13. Rate of 2% effective April 1, 2017, and a business limit of $500,000 effective January 1, 2010. Budget 2026 (tabled February 17, 2026) announced no corporate income tax rate changes. The combined 11% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the British Columbia lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Alberta: Government of Alberta - Treasury Board and Finance / Tax and Revenue Administration, Tax, levy, and prescribed interest rates. Verified 2026-08-13. The current-rates table on the issuer page lists 2% with effective date July 1, 2020 (the rate has been 2% since 2017, and July 1, 2020 is the current table row). Alberta Budget 2026 (tabled 2026-02-26) made no corporate rate changes. The issuer rate table loaded 2026-08-13 shows no pending 2026 change. The combined 11% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Alberta lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Saskatchewan: The Income Tax Act, 2000, c I-2.01 (Saskatchewan), King's Printer consolidation, The Income Tax Act, 2000, s. 56(2) - Rates of tax. Verified 2026-08-13. Rate history in s. 56(2): 2% to Sept 30 2020, then 0% Oct 1 2020 - Jun 30 2023, then 1% from Jul 1 2023 with no end date. The 2026-27 budget (tabled March 18, 2026) makes no change: budget.saskatchewan.ca/economy states the budget is "maintaining the small business tax rate at one per cent". The combined 10% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Saskatchewan lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Manitoba: Manitoba Finance, Corporate Income Taxes - Province of Manitoba. Verified 2026-08-13. Budget 2026 (tabled March 24, 2026, Information Bulletin 126) announced no corporate income tax rate changes, so 0% holds for all of 2026. The combined 9% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Manitoba lower rate and is our arithmetic.For New Brunswick: New Brunswick Income Tax Act, S.N.B. 2000, c. N-6.001 (official consolidation, laws.gnb.ca), corroborated by NB Department of Finance and Treasury Board corporate tax page, New Brunswick Income Tax Act (consolidated), s.57(1)(a) and s.57(1.025). Verified 2026-08-13. The combined 11.5% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the New Brunswick lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Department of Finance and Treasury Board (novascotia.ca), Corporate income tax rates - Government of Nova Scotia. Verified 2026-08-13. The cut from 2.5% to 1.5% is applied on a days-prorated basis for taxation years straddling April 1, 2025 (NS Income Tax Act s. 40(2) formula, and CRA Schedule 346 Part 3 prorates 2.5% for days before April 1, 2025 and 1.5% after March 31, 2025). Budget 2026-27 (novascotia.ca/budget) keeps the rate at 1.5% - no 2026 change. The combined 10.5% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Nova Scotia lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Prince Edward Island: PEI Department of Finance and Affordability, and the Income Tax Act, R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. I-1, Provincial Corporate Income Taxes | Government of Prince Edward Island. Verified 2026-08-13. The 1% rate has applied since January 1, 2022 and was left unchanged by the July 1, 2025 package (which changed the general rate and threshold) and by Budget 2026. Statutory basis: Income Tax Act (PEI) s. 37.11.6 (years beginning on or after 2022-01-01 and ending before 2025-07-01) and s. 37.11.7 (years beginning on or after 2025-07-01), factor A = 1.0% in both. The combined 10% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Prince Edward Island lower rate and is our arithmetic.For Newfoundland and Labrador: Income Tax Act, 2000, SNL 2000 c I-1.1, s. 40(3) (as amended by 2026 c14 s4), announced in Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Budget 2026, Income Tax Act, 2000 (consolidated), House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Budget 2026 News Release. Verified 2026-08-13. Announced in Budget 2026 (tabled April 29, 2026) retroactive to January 1, 2026, and already enacted: the consolidated statute's s. 40(3) reads 2% with amendment citation 2026 c14 s4. Section 40(4) prorates straddle years by days: 2.5% for days before January 1, 2026 and 2% for days after December 31, 2025. Budget 2026 also announced further cuts to 1.5% on January 1, 2027 and 1% on January 1, 2028, but those steps are NOT yet in the consolidated statute (no 1.5%/1% text found). The Finance department's Corporate Income Tax web page still showed 2.5% when loaded on 2026-08-13 - that page lags the statute. The combined 11% adds the federal 9% small business rate to the Newfoundland and Labrador lower rate and is our arithmetic. ↩

  6. Subsection 67.1(1) of the Income Tax Act deems an amount paid for food, beverages or entertainment to be 50% of the lesser of the amount actually paid and an amount reasonable in the circumstances, so a $200 client dinner gives a $100 deduction, and a lavish one can be cut back further because the CRA decides what counts as reasonable if it reviews the claim. Subsection 67.1(2) carves out amounts billed to a client and shown on the bill, amounts included in an employee’s income, and up to six special events a year where food is available to all employees at a place of business. Subsection 67.1(3) deems $50 a day to be the food and entertainment portion of a conference fee where no reasonable part is identified as such. Long-haul truck drivers deduct 80% during an eligible travel period, covered in our owner-operator guide. Subsection 236(1) of the Excise Tax Act then makes you hand back half of any input tax credit claimed on those meals, which reduces the credits on a later GST/HST return and so raises the net tax you owe. Paragraph 18(1)(l) denies any deduction for a golf course, yacht, camp or lodge, and for dues in a club whose main purpose is dining, recreational or sporting facilities. Depreciation recorded in your bookkeeping is thrown out and replaced by capital cost allowance, at rates fixed by the Income Tax Regulations. Sources: Department of Justice consolidations of the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act, both current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Line 8523, Meals and entertainment”, all verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  7. No instalments are required in a corporation’s first tax year, and none where total taxes payable under Parts I, VI, VI.1 and XIII.1 are $3,000 or less for either the current or the previous tax year. All of those are federal parts, and Alberta and Quebec run their own tests. The tax itself is still due on the balance-due day. Sources: subsection 157(2.1) of the Income Tax Act and CRA, “Who has to pay in instalments”, both verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  8. Subsection 157(1.2) of the Income Tax Act sets four conditions for small-CCPC status, and all four have to hold: taxable income under subsection 157(1.3) of $500,000 or less, taxable capital employed in Canada under subsection 157(1.4) of $10 million or less, an amount deducted under section 125 (the small business deduction) in computing tax payable for the current or previous year, and, throughout the 12 months ending when the last instalment was due, every subsection 153(1) withholding, CPP, EI and GST/HST amount remitted on time and every income tax and GST/HST return filed on time. Subsections 157(1.3) and (1.4) both total the figure across the corporation and every corporation associated with it, so the $500,000 and the $10 million are group tests. The CRA’s summary page omits the small business deduction condition, which is why we cite the statute. Quarterly instalments fall on March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31 for a December 31 year-end. A corporation losing eligibility may make one further quarterly payment and then moves to monthly. The CRA states that corporations calculate their own instalments and are sent no reminder notices, while individuals are sent form INNS1 in February and August. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Calculating corporate tax instalments” and “Due dates for payments”, all verified 2026-08-09. The quarterly-eligibility condition in the summary was rechecked 2026-09-25 against CRA Corporate instalment due dates. ↩

  9. Under subparagraphs 157(1.1)(a)(i) to (iii), option 1 is one quarter of an estimate of the current year’s tax, option 2 one quarter of the previous year’s tax, and option 3 the tax from two years ago for the first payment with the remainder of the previous year’s tax spread over the other three. The CRA charges no instalment interest where a previous-year calculation is used and the correct amounts are paid on time, even where a balance is owing at the end of the year. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Calculating corporate tax instalments”, both verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  10. The prescribed rate on overdue taxes, CPP contributions and EI premiums and the lower rate the CRA pays a corporation on an overpayment are both reset every calendar quarter under section 4301 of the Income Tax Regulations, and every published quarter is stated, with its CRA page, on our CRA interest rates page, which owns the figures, and this guide states no rate of its own (owner link added 2026-09-06). Interest compounds daily under subsection 248(11), and interest and penalties charged under the Income Tax Act aren’t deductible, per paragraph 18(1)(t). Two mechanisms are easy to confuse. Instalment interest uses an offset method, so an early or larger payment earns credit interest that can only reduce interest charged on a shortfall in the same tax year, and the credit is never paid out. Refund interest under subsection 164(3) runs only from the latest of 120 days after the end of the tax year, 30 days after the return was filed where it was filed late, and the day the overpayment arose. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Prescribed interest rates” (https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/prescribed-interest-rates.html) and “Understanding interest”, all verified 2026-08-09, and Department of Justice, Income Tax Regulations consolidation current to 2026-06-21, section 4301, and Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-21, subsection 248(11), both verified 2026-09-06. ↩

  11. Section 163.1 of the Income Tax Act adds a penalty equal to 50% of the amount by which instalment interest for the year exceeds the greater of $1,000 and 25% of the interest that would have been payable had no instalment been made for the year. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Due dates for payments”, both verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  12. The balance of corporate tax falls due two months after the tax year ends. Three months applies where the corporation was a Canadian-controlled private corporation throughout the year, claimed the small business deduction in the current or previous year, and stayed within its business limit last year taking associated corporations into account. The T2 return is due six months after the year-end, four months after the money. Filing late costs 5% of the tax unpaid at the filing due date, plus 1% of it for each complete month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months. A corporation that paid on time therefore carries little or no late-filing penalty, even where the return slips. Sources: paragraph 157(1)(b) and subsections 150(1) and 162(1) of the Income Tax Act, plus CRA, “Due dates for payments” and “Avoiding penalties”, all verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  13. For Ontario: Ontario Ministry of Finance, Corporations Tax: Corporate Income Tax (ontario.ca). Verified 2026-08-13.For British Columbia: Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Finance), Corporate income tax – Province of British Columbia. Verified 2026-08-13.For Alberta: Government of Alberta - Tax and Revenue Administration (TRA), Corporate income tax - Alberta.ca (TRA). Verified 2026-08-13.For Saskatchewan: Saskatchewan Ministry of Finance (Saskatchewan eTax Services), SETS - Corporation Income Tax. Verified 2026-08-13.For Manitoba: Manitoba Finance, Corporate Income Taxes - Province of Manitoba. Verified 2026-08-13.For New Brunswick: New Brunswick Department of Finance and Treasury Board, Corporate Income Tax - Finance. Verified 2026-08-13.For Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Department of Finance and Treasury Board (novascotia.ca), Corporate income tax rates - Government of Nova Scotia. Verified 2026-08-13.For Prince Edward Island: PEI Department of Finance and Affordability, Provincial Corporate Income Taxes | Government of Prince Edward Island. Verified 2026-08-13.For Newfoundland and Labrador: Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Finance, Corporate Income Tax – Department of Finance, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Verified 2026-08-13. ↩ ↩2

  14. Subsection 108(1) of the Income Tax Regulations requires amounts withheld in a month under subsection 153(1) to be remitted by the 15th day of the following month, which is the default for a new employer. Subsection 108(1.12) lets an employer whose average monthly withholding amount was under $3,000 in either of the two preceding calendar years remit quarterly instead, on April 15, July 15, October 15 and January 15, but only where every remittance and return over the previous 12 months was on time. Subsection 9(1) of the Canada Pension Plan requires an employer contribution alongside the amount withheld from the employee, at the employer contribution rate for the year. Employment Insurance isn’t covered here, because an owner controlling more than 40% of the voting shares is usually outside it and that exclusion wasn’t verified for this draft. Sources: Department of Justice consolidations of the Income Tax Regulations and the Canada Pension Plan, both current to 2026-06-17 and verified 2026-08-09. ↩ ↩2

  15. Personal instalments are required for 2026 where net tax owing is more than $3,000 ($1,800 for Quebec residents) in 2026 and also in either 2025 or 2024, per subsections 156.1(1) and (2). Payments fall due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 under subsection 156(1), and we state the thresholds in full in our CRA deadlines guide. Sources: Department of Justice, Income Tax Act consolidation current to 2026-06-17, and CRA, “Who has to pay, Required tax instalments for individuals”, both verified 2026-08-09. ↩

  16. For Ontario: Ontario Ministry of Finance, Corporations Tax: Corporate Income Tax (ontario.ca), confirmed in 2026 Ontario Budget - Annex. Verified 2026-08-13. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For British Columbia: Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Finance), Corporate income tax rates – Province of British Columbia. Verified 2026-08-13. 12% effective January 1, 2018. Budget 2026 announced no corporate rate changes. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Alberta: Government of Alberta - Treasury Board and Finance / Tax and Revenue Administration, Tax, levy, and prescribed interest rates. Verified 2026-08-13. 8% effective July 1, 2020 (Job Creation Tax Cut endpoint). Alberta Budget 2026 (tabled 2026-02-26) made no change. The issuer rate table loaded 2026-08-13 shows 8% as current with nothing pending. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Saskatchewan: The Income Tax Act, 2000, c I-2.01 (Saskatchewan), King's Printer consolidation, The Income Tax Act, 2000, s. 56(1) - Rates of tax. Verified 2026-08-13. No change in the 2026-27 budget (tabled March 18, 2026). The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Manitoba: Manitoba Finance, Corporate Income Taxes - Province of Manitoba. Verified 2026-08-13. Budget 2026 (March 24, 2026) made no change to the general rate. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For New Brunswick: New Brunswick Income Tax Act, S.N.B. 2000, c. N-6.001 (official consolidation, laws.gnb.ca), New Brunswick Income Tax Act (consolidated), s.56(4.32) and s.57(1.07). Verified 2026-08-13. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Department of Finance and Treasury Board (novascotia.ca), Corporate income tax rates - Government of Nova Scotia. Verified 2026-08-13. 14% since April 1, 2020 (was 16% before). Budget 2026-27 proposes no change to corporate income tax rates. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Prince Edward Island: PEI Department of Finance and Affordability, and the Income Tax Act, R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. I-1, s. 37(1), Provincial Corporate Income Taxes | Government of Prince Edward Island. Verified 2026-08-13. Reduced from 16% by the 2025-26 budget, effective July 1, 2025. Straddling taxation years are split into notional years at June 30/July 1, 2025 with income apportioned by days (Income Tax Act (PEI) s. 37.11.7(4)). CRA applies day-based proration for dual-rate years. Budget 2026 (tabled April 14, 2026) made no further change. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic.For Newfoundland and Labrador: Income Tax Act, 2000, SNL 2000 c I-1.1, s. 40(1), Income Tax Act, 2000 (consolidated), House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador. Verified 2026-08-13. The combined figure adds the federal 15% general rate (after the abatement and general rate reduction) and is our arithmetic. ↩

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