Salary vs dividends calculator

Paying yourself from your corporation? See what you’d keep from this year’s profit as all salary, all dividends or a mix, with every step of the calculation shown.

The year the salary or dividends are paid
Where you live on December 31 and where the corporation earns its income

Your corporation This year’s profit and how it’s taxed

Before corporate tax and before paying yourself anything
Does it get the small business deduction?
It lowers the tax on a Canadian-controlled private corporation’s active business income, up to its business limit
Dividends paid as
Decides the gross-up and the dividend tax credit on your return
Eligible or other than eligible?

Eligible dividends get a bigger gross-up and a bigger federal dividend tax credit. The corporation designates them as eligible and tells you in writing.

Other than eligible dividends (often called non-eligible) are taxable dividends that weren’t designated as eligible.

Your own corporation: a Canadian-controlled private corporation can designate dividends as eligible, without extra tax, only up to its general rate income pool. That pool generally leaves out income that got the small business deduction.

How dividends and capital gains are taxed

You Your other income and your shares

Interest and other investment income this year. Leave blank if none.
For the age amount and other age-based rules
Do you control more than 40% of the voting shares?
If you do, your salary isn’t insurable employment, so there are no EI premiums on it

The mix A salary, with the rest as dividends

Salary in the mix
The YMPE is the year’s maximum pensionable earnings, the most salary that base CPP contributions are worked out on.
Typing a salary or moving the slider picks Custom

What matters most to you?

Only changes “What this means for you”, never the tax

Your comparison

2025 · British Columbia

  • All salaryCash in your pocket

  • All dividendsCash in your pocket

  • MixCash in your pocket

Enter your corporation’s profit to compare.

Estimates only, using figures published by the CRA and, for provincial payroll taxes, each province’s or territory’s own site; see Rates & tables. Your actual assessment comes from the CRA.

How this works

Three ways to pay yourself

  • All salary: the corporation pays you as much salary as the profit covers, after its own share of CPP and EI and any provincial employer payroll tax. A salary is a business expense, so nothing is left for corporate tax.
  • All dividends: the corporation pays corporate tax on the profit and pays you the rest as dividends. No CPP or EI is paid on dividends.
  • A mix: a salary (up to the year’s maximum pensionable earnings, enough for the most RRSP room, or an amount you pick), with the rest of the profit paid as dividends after corporate tax.
  • Cash in your pocket is your salary after CPP, EI and any territorial payroll tax are withheld, plus your dividends, minus your personal income tax.

Where the numbers come from

  • Your personal tax is worked out by the same engine as our income tax calculator. It follows the federal return and your province’s or territory’s tax form line by line: the gross-up and dividend tax credits, CPP and EI credits, and the credits that shrink as income rises.
  • Corporate tax uses the rates in effect on December 31, as on our corporate tax rates table: the small business rate up to the business limit if the corporation gets the small business deduction, and the general rate on the rest. When a rate changes during a corporation’s tax year, the CRA prorates it by the number of days each rate is in effect; this calculator doesn’t.
  • Employer CPP and CPP2 match yours, employer EI is higher than the employee premium, and provincial employer health or payroll taxes, and the territorial payroll tax withheld from your pay, are included where they apply. Rates and maximums are in our CPP, QPP, EI & QPIP tables.
  • Open Show the calculation to see every line, to the cent, with a link to the table each figure comes from.

What we assume

  • You’re the only shareholder and the only employee, and the corporation’s tax year ends on December 31.
  • The profit is active business income, paid out in the same year. Profit left in the corporation, investment income inside it and dividends to family members are covered in the notes the calculator shows.
  • If you control enough of the corporation’s voting shares (the question under “You”), your salary isn’t insurable, so there’s no EI. Our income tax calculator always includes EI on employment income, so its figures can differ from these.
  • You’re single, and you live in the province or territory you choose on December 31.

Quebec isn’t supported yet

  • Quebec has its own employer contributions and small business deduction rules, which this calculator doesn’t model yet.
  • Choosing Quebec shows why instead of a result. For your personal tax alone, the income tax calculator covers Quebec.

For the background, read Paying yourself: salary or dividends?. Rates used here: corporate tax, dividend tax credits, CPP and EI, income tax brackets and RRSP limits.

Sources

Every figure comes from our tax data for the year: the CRA for tax rates, credits, CPP and EI, and each province’s or territory’s own site for its employer payroll tax. It’s the same data as our rates tables.

Official sources for 2025 · British Columbia