Frequently Asked Questions

This tool produces a close estimate for most salaried Ontario employees with straightforward situations. It uses official 2026 rates and applies the basic personal amount. It will not match your exact payslip if you have RRSP deductions, other TD1 credits, employer pension plans, union dues, or taxable benefits. For precise deductions, use the CRA's Payroll Deductions Online Calculator at canada.ca.

No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is ever transmitted to a server. This is a fully static site with no backend. Your income and results disappear when you close or refresh the page.

No. Your total annual tax, CPP, and EI deductions are the same regardless of pay frequency. Whether you are paid weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, you pay the same total amount over the year. What changes is only how that total is divided across pay periods.

Several factors can make your actual paycheque different: RRSP contribution deductions, employer pension plan deductions, union dues, taxable benefits added to your income, additional TD1 claims (other credits), provincial tax reduction for low-income earners, or mid-year changes to your income or status. Your employer uses CRA payroll tables per pay period, which can also produce small differences from an annualized estimate.

Your raise is taxed at your marginal rate — the rate on your highest dollars of income — not your average rate. So a $5,000 raise doesn't mean $5,000 more in your pocket. CPP and EI may also take a share if you haven't hit the annual caps yet. The calculator shows you exactly what you'll keep.

Maybe, but that's not as scary as it sounds. Only the portion of your income that falls into a higher bracket gets taxed at that higher rate — the rest stays at the lower rate. So even if your raise crosses a bracket boundary, you still come out ahead.

It depends on your income level, but most Ontario employees keep roughly 60–75% of a raise after taxes and deductions. Higher earners tend to keep less because their marginal rate is higher. Use the calculator with your actual numbers for a precise answer.

Because deductions come off the top. Income tax, CPP, and possibly EI all take a piece of your raise before it reaches your bank account. Your employer withholds at your marginal rate on the extra income, so the net bump on each pay is smaller than the gross raise divided by pay periods.

It depends on where you sit on the pay scale. A 3% raise on $60,000 is $1,800, while a flat $3,000 raise would be more. On the other hand, a 5% raise on $120,000 beats a $4,000 flat raise. Either way, the same deductions apply — what matters is the gross dollar amount of the increase.

There's no single right number, but a couple of benchmarks help. The average Ontario wage increase in recent years has been around 3–5%. If you're taking on significantly more responsibility, 10% or more is common. Use the calculator to see what any target amount actually means for your take-home — that's the number that matters most.

Yes. Some benefits like the Canada Child Benefit, GST credit, or Ontario Trillium Benefit are income-tested. A higher salary could reduce what you receive from those programs. It's worth checking if your raise might affect benefits you currently count on.

It's worth considering. Since a raise is taxed at your marginal rate, contributing more to an RRSP can offset some of that extra tax. You'd be putting money into your future instead of losing it to deductions. Whether it makes sense depends on your full financial picture, but it's a common move after a salary increase.