Methodology and sources

One engine, one source of truth

Every figure on the site — the online calculator as well as the pre-computed salary pages — is produced by the same calculation engine (paie-engine) fed by a versioned parameter file (data/params/ca/2026.json). Each parameter carries its official source, verification date and reviewer name; an audit blocks publication if any of these fields is missing or a check is older than twelve months.

Before publication, the engine is cross-checked against the official calculators of the market — CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) and provincial finance departments — on a truth table of cases, with a tight tolerance.

The verification pipeline

1. Read on the official source. Every rate is read directly on the reference publication — the CRA pages on tax rates, CPP contributions and EI premiums, Revenu Québec for QPP, QPIP and the federal abatement, and provincial government sites (ontario.ca, gov.bc.ca) . Never a third-party site, never an unflagged year-over-year extrapolation.
2. Traced parameter. The value is written into the parameter file with its source URL, verification date and reviewer name — the table below is generated straight from that file.
3. Tested engine. The engine applies the parameters against the independent truth table; any drift beyond tolerance blocks publication.
4. Cent-level audit. At every site build, an audit replays each salary amount page through the engine and compares the HTML to the cent; a divergence fails the deployment.

When rates change

Canadian payroll parameters move on an annual cycle: CRA publishes the indexed federal brackets, the basic personal amount and the CPP/EI maximums each fall, and Revenu Québec publishes the provincial amounts on its own calendar. Where an official 2026 value was not yet published at verification time, the value in force is kept and flagged in the parameter notes — the flag is removed when the official table lands. The date shown at the top of this page is the most recent verification across all parameters.

Calculation scope

• Employee in the private sector, federal + provincial/territorial tax, CPP and EI.
• Provinces parameterized: Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia — including the Quebec-specific lines (QPP instead of CPP, QPIP premiums, federal abatement). Other provinces are not published yet rather than published approximate.
• Out of scope: pre-tax deductions that vary by employer (RRSP matching, group insurance premiums), provincial surtaxes (Ontario surtax, Ontario Health Premium) and refundable credits (GST credit, Canada Workers Benefit).
• Results are indicative estimates — never a payslip, never legal or tax advice.

Official sources (2026)

The parameter file for this market is still being verified — every line will be published here with its official source and verification date when the engine goes live. A market is never published on approximate rates.

The full parameter detail (values, units, verification notes) is public in the project's data repository.