How to check your Canadian pay stub is right (2026)

Net pay is your gross pay for the period minus four mandatory deductions — CPP, CPP2, EI, and federal plus provincial income tax — and then minus anything else your employer takes off. To check a Canadian pay stub, redo those lines in the order payroll applies them: gross first, then CPP and EI on that period’s earnings, then income tax on the annualised figure. If your total matches the net printed on the stub, the stub is right. If it does not, one of five specific things is usually the cause.

The order payroll actually works in

Payroll software does not calculate your deductions in the order they are printed on the stub. Every pay period it works like this:

1. Start with gross pay for the period, including any taxable benefits your employer adds on.
2. Subtract pre-tax items — registered pension plan contributions, payroll-deducted RRSP, union dues. These reduce the income that tax is calculated on.
3. Calculate CPP and EI on this period’s pensionable and insurable earnings.
4. Annualise the taxable figure, work out a full year of tax on it, then divide back by the number of pay periods.
5. Subtract after-tax items — benefit premiums, parking, garnishments.

One thing surprises people here. The income tax line is not calculated on “gross minus CPP minus EI”. CPP and EI mostly come back to you as tax credits, and only the enhanced portion of CPP is an actual deduction from income. So do not expect gross minus CPP minus EI to be the number your tax was charged on.

Step 1: check the gross, and check your number of pay periods

Two figures have to be right before anything below them can be: your gross for the period, and P, the number of pay periods in your year.

The CRA’s payroll formula uses P directly — annual taxable income is roughly P × (period gross − pre-tax deductions). Get P wrong and every deduction below it is wrong. Semi-monthly is 24 (the 15th and the last day of the month). Bi-weekly is 26 (every second Friday). They are not the same thing, and payroll systems are set up wrong more often than you would think.

Also check whether your taxable gross is higher than your salary divided by P. If it is, you probably have a taxable benefit — employer-paid group life insurance premiums are the usual one. The cash never reaches you, but tax, CPP and EI are charged on it.

Step 2: check the CPP line

For 2026, CPP is 5.95% of pensionable earnings between the $3,500 annual basic exemption and the $74,600 ceiling, to an employee maximum of $4,230.45. The exemption is spread across your pay periods, so for a single stub:

CPP for the period = 5.95% × (period pensionable earnings − $3,500 ÷ P)

On an $84,000 salary paid semi-monthly, that is 5.95% × ($3,500.00 − $145.83) = $199.57 per stub.

Above $74,600 a second layer starts. CPP2 is 4% of earnings between $74,600 and $85,000, to a maximum of $416.00, and no basic exemption applies to it.

Step 3: check the EI line

EI is simpler: 1.63% of every dollar of insurable earnings, no exemption, up to $68,900 of earnings and a maximum employee premium of $1,123.07 for 2026. In Quebec the employee rate is 1.30% and the maximum is $895.70, because Quebec runs its own parental insurance plan.

On the same $3,500 semi-monthly stub: 1.63% × $3,500 = $57.05.

What the ceilings actually look like on your stubs

Here is the part almost nobody shows you. On $84,000 paid semi-monthly in Ontario in 2026, your CPP and EI lines do not stay the same all year, and they do not simply switch off at the end of December. They change mid-year, on specific stubs.

Read across and three things stand out. EI stops in period 20 with an odd part-payment — $39.12, exactly enough to reach $1,123.07 and not a cent more. Base CPP tops up to $4,230.45 in period 22 with a similar part-payment, then stops. And in that same period a CPP2 line appears for the first time, because year-to-date earnings crossed $74,600 partway through it.

Payroll rounds each period to the cent, which is why the top-up lands on $39.48 rather than a rounder figure. Your own stub may differ by a cent or two depending on your employer’s system; the year-end totals are what must match.

That is what a correct stub looks like. Which is why the single most useful check on any December stub is: does year-to-date CPP exceed $4,230.45 (plus $416.00 of CPP2), and does year-to-date EI exceed $1,123.07? If either is over, you have been over-deducted.

Step 4: check the income tax line

You cannot easily reproduce this line by hand, and you do not need to. Payroll annualises: it takes your taxable pay for the period, multiplies by P, works out a full year of federal and provincial tax on that figure using your TD1 credits, then divides back by P.

So run the check in reverse. Multiply the income tax shown on your stub by P, and compare it with the annual figure from our Canada income tax calculator for the same salary and province. Within a few hundred dollars is normal. If your stub is withholding thousands more than a year of tax should be, look at your TD1 next.

For reference, the 2026 federal basic personal amount used in the payroll tables ranges from $14,829 to $16,452 depending on income, and Ontario’s is $12,989.

Step 5: add it up

Gross − CPP − CPP2 − EI − federal tax − provincial tax − other deductions = net pay

Do this for one stub. If it lands on the net figure printed, your stub is right. If you would rather have the whole year checked at once, run your salary and province through our pay stub and take-home pay calculator and compare its per-cheque figure with what actually hit your account.

The five errors that actually happen

1. CPP or EI still coming off after the maximum

This is the most common genuine over-deduction, and it happens most often when you change jobs mid-year. Each employer starts your CPP and EI counters at zero, so across two jobs you can pay well past both maximums. Neither employer has done anything wrong. You claim it back on line 44800 (CPP) and line 45000 (EI) of your return.

2. The wrong province

For payroll, the province used is your province of employment — where you report to work at your employer’s establishment — not where you live. Your home office is generally not an establishment. At year end the rule flips: your actual tax bill is based on where you lived on 31 December. If the two differ, your return trues it up and you may owe or be owed. But if your stub shows a province you have never worked in, that is a payroll setup error worth fixing now rather than in April.

3. A TD1 that was never filed, or never updated

Your TD1 Personal Tax Credits Return is what tells payroll which credits to apply. If you never filed one, or filed one years ago and have since gained or lost a dependant, tax is withheld against the wrong credit total all year. Over-withholding comes back as a refund; under-withholding becomes a bill. There is a federal TD1 and a provincial one, and both go to your employer — not to the CRA.

4. A bonus that looks brutally taxed

Payroll works out a bonus by calculating your tax with it and again without it, then withholding the difference. Because the annualising step already treats your regular pay as your whole year, a lump sum lands on top and is withheld at your top marginal rate. That is withholding, not a penalty, and it settles when you file. Our guide to marginal versus effective tax rates explains why the two rates differ so much.

5. Semi-monthly and bi-weekly mixed up

Twenty-four cheques or twenty-six changes the size of each one, not your annual total. If your deposit is smaller than you expected and every other line checks out, count your paydays.

What to do when a number is wrong

Go to payroll first, in writing, with the stub and the specific line. Most errors are setup errors — wrong province, wrong pay frequency, a missing TD1 — and payroll can correct them and fix your year-to-date figures on the next run. Caught inside the same year, an employer can also apply to the CRA on Form PD24 to recover CPP or EI it over-deducted, up to four years after the end of that year.

If payroll will not fix it, you are not stuck. Over-deducted CPP and EI come back to you when you file, through Schedule 8 and Schedule 10, on lines 44800 and 45000. Over-withheld income tax comes back as a larger refund. And if the disagreement is about whether your work should have been pensionable or insurable at all, either you or your employer can ask the CRA for a CPP/EI ruling.

Frequently asked questions

Is net pay after taxes?

Yes. Net pay is what remains after income tax, CPP, CPP2 and EI have been deducted, plus any benefit premiums, pension contributions or union dues your employer takes off. It is the amount deposited in your account.

How much does the government take from your paycheque in Canada?

The mandatory contributions are capped. On $84,000 in 2026 you pay $4,230.45 of CPP, $376.00 of CPP2 and $1,123.07 of EI — $5,729.52, or about 6.8% of gross. Income tax is on top of that and varies by province and by the credits on your TD1.

How much is taken off my paycheque in Ontario?

Four lines, always: federal tax, Ontario tax, CPP and EI. Ontario also charges a health premium collected through your provincial tax. Enter your salary in the pay stub and take-home pay calculator to see your own per-cheque breakdown.

Does an RRSP contribution through payroll change my stub?

Yes, and in your favour. A payroll-deducted RRSP contribution is taken before tax is calculated, so it reduces the income your tax is charged on immediately rather than waiting for a refund. It does not change CPP or EI, which are charged on your gross. If you are weighing that against a TFSA, our RRSP versus TFSA guide works through the choice.

Sources. All figures are 2026 rates published by the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada.
CRA — CPP contribution rates and maximums · CRA — CPP2 rates and maximums · CRA — EI premium rates and maximums · CRA — province of employment · CRA — TD1 forms · CRA — Form PD24

Not financial advice. This is general information using 2026 CRA rates and is not a substitute for advice from your employer’s payroll department or a tax professional. See our disclaimer.

Who made this. urcalculator.com is built and maintained by Hariom J., who is not an accountant, tax preparer or financial adviser. Every figure on this page is taken from a primary source — the government departments that publish the rules — and cited, so you can check it rather than take anyone’s word for it. That is the standard this site is held to instead of professional authority. For a decision that turns on your own circumstances, speak to someone qualified who knows them. See how these pages are built and our disclaimer.