Calculator / Tax
Tax refund calculator for 2025 and 2026
Enter your T4 income and the tax taken off your pay to estimate your refund or balance owing.
Tax refund calculator
Estimate your refund or balance owing
For income from a job. Your refund is roughly the tax taken off your pay minus the tax you owe. If you had more than one job, add up the boxes from each T4.
Not for Quebec, self-employment or other income. It leaves out some credits, such as CPP and EI, so your real refund is usually larger.
Estimated refund
$1,358.55Tax taken off your pay minus the tax we estimate you owe. Your return may differ.
- Federal 67%
- Provincial or territorial 29%
- Ontario health premium 5%
- Federal tax
- $8,765.50
- Provincial or territorial tax
- $3,775.95
- Ontario health premium
- $600.00
- Estimated income tax
- $13,141.45
- Tax taken off your pay
- $14,500.00
Before you rely on it
What to know
The assumptions and limits behind this estimate.
01
What this estimate includes
Federal and provincial or territorial tax brackets, basic personal amounts, the Canada employment amount, some provincial adjustments, and an RRSP deduction or donation credit if you enter one.
The method
How it's calculated
The steps the calculator follows, in order.
01
Work out taxable income
Employment income minus any RRSP deduction you enter. The deduction can't be more than your employment income.
02
Calculate federal tax
Federal brackets apply to taxable income. The basic personal amount and the Canada employment amount then reduce it at the lowest federal rate: 14.5% for 2025 and 14% for 2026.
03
Calculate provincial or territorial tax
Your province's brackets apply the same way, less its basic personal amount. Selected adjustments are included, such as low-income reductions and, in Ontario, the surtax and the Ontario Health Premium.
04
Compare with what was taken off your pay
The tax taken off your pay, minus the estimated tax. If more was taken off than you owe, the difference is your estimated refund; if less, it's a balance owing.
Example
A worked example
The calculator's starting values, worked through so you can check the result above.
Take an Ontario employee in 2025 with $72,000 of employment income, $14,500 of income tax deducted (T4 box 22) and no RRSP deduction.
Federal tax: 14.5% on the first $57,375 and 20.5% on the remaining $14,625 comes to $11,317.50. The basic personal amount ($16,129) and the Canada employment amount ($1,471) reduce that by $2,552, leaving $8,765.50.
Ontario tax: 5.05% on the first $52,886 and 9.15% on the remaining $19,114 comes to about $4,419.67. Ontario's basic personal amount ($12,747) reduces it by about $643.72, leaving $3,775.95. The Ontario Health Premium at this income is $600.
Estimated tax is $13,141.45. $14,500 was taken off their pay, so the estimated refund is $1,358.55.
Claiming a $5,000 RRSP deduction lowers estimated tax by $1,482.50, which is 29.65% of the deduction: the combined federal and Ontario rate at this income. The refund rises to $2,841.05.
The model leaves out CPP and EI credits, so for most employees the real tax would be lower and the refund larger.
Questions
Common questions
Short answers to what people often ask about this estimate.
The model leaves out CPP and EI credits, credits such as tuition, medical expenses or a spouse amount, and income other than employment. Because CPP and EI credits are missing, most employees will owe less tax than the model shows. Your return, or the CRA's notice of assessment, is the real answer.
On your T4: box 14 is employment income and box 22 is income tax deducted. If you had more than one job, add the boxes from every T4.
The lowest federal rate dropped from 15% to 14% on July 1, 2025. For the 2025 return the CRA uses a blended 14.5% for the whole year. For 2026 it is 14%.
Yes. Enter the eligible amounts from your official donation receipts, and the estimate applies the federal and provincial donation credits to your tax. A credit lowers the tax you owe, so with the same tax deducted it raises your refund or lowers a balance owing. For 2026 the donation credit rates are an estimate until the CRA publishes them.
It lowers taxable income, so it saves tax at roughly your combined marginal rate. Check your RRSP deduction limit on your latest notice of assessment or in CRA My Account before relying on it.
It applies 2026 rates and amounts to the income and tax deducted you enter. That helps you check whether the tax being taken off your pay this year looks about right. Donation credits in the 2026 estimate use estimated rates until the CRA publishes them.
Quebec residents file a separate provincial return with Revenu Québec, and their federal tax is calculated differently. The calculator doesn't model either yet.
Methodology
Methods and sources for every calculator
Every calculator documents its method, its assumptions and the official sources behind its rules.