Help with the Payroll Deductions Online Calculator 

Use the Payroll Deductions Online Calculator (PDOC) to calculate federal, provincial (except for Quebec), and territorial payroll deductions. It will confirm the deductions you include on your official statement of earnings.

The Quebec provincial government administers its provincial income tax, Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP). To calculate provincial payroll deductions for Quebec, use the WebRAS program from Revenu Quebec.

Calculating deductions using different methods

PDOC results are more precise because exact value of salary or wages income is used for calculating deductions. In the Payroll Deductions Table (T4032), mid-point of the salary range is used. Your employer and/or payroll service provider may use another method approved by the CRA for calculating deductions. Results of either of these methods are equally acceptable as reasonable estimates of an employee's CPP, EI, and tax liability.

Claim codes

The total personal amount an employee claims on a TD1 form will determine which claim code to use. The claim amounts that correspond to the federal claim codes are not the same as the claim amounts that correspond to the provincial claim codes.

You can find a detailed explanation of claim codes for each province in Part A of the Payroll Deductions Tables (T4032)

Pay date

In PDOC, enter the actual pay date in the mandatory ‘Date the employee is paid' field.

The payroll deductions result is determined by the pay date, regardless of when the services are performed or when the money was earned.

How to calculate only vacation pay

To pay your employee only a vacation payment, you can do the following:

Step 1 - Enter the employee's regular salary income in the "Salary or wages income" field. Enter the vacation pay amount in the "Vacation pay" field. Record the payroll deductions result 'A' in detail, such as federal tax deduction, provincial tax deduction, CPP deduction, and EI deduction.

Step 2 - Select "Modify the Current Calculation". Enter the "Vacation pay" amount as 0. Record the payroll deductions result 'B' in detail.

Step 3 - The difference between the result set 'A' and result set 'B' is the deductions result for that vacation pay.

How to save and print results of the PDOC calculation

To save the record:

1. Step 1 - Select the "Print/Save Result" button.
2. Step 2 - Select the "Save" button from the newly opened window.
3. Step 3 - From the "Save As" window, select a location to save the results.
4. Step 4 - Enter the name of the file in the "File name" field or accept the default value.
5. Step 5 - From the "Save as type" option list, select "Adobe Acrobat Document".
6. Step 6 - Select the "Save" button.

To print the result:

1. Step 1 - Select the "Print/Save Result" button.
2. Step 2 - Select the "Open" button from the newly opened window.
3. Step 3 - From the newly opened PDF file window, select the print button to print the result.

What are the "Deductions for CPP additional contribution" displayed on the results page? New: February 21, 2024

Following an amendment made to the Income Tax Regulation, CPP additional contributions are treated as a deduction at source. For more information on CPP additional contributions, see The Canada Pension Plan enhancement – Businesses, individuals, and self-employed: what it means for you.

This deduction is automatically calculated by PDOC using the employee’s CPP contribution. As a result, it reduces the employee’s taxable income and is presented for information purposes only. 

How to start the next employee's calculation

To start the next employee's calculation with the same calculation type:

Select "Next Calculation" on the result page to go back to Step 1 - General Information. All tombstone data, except employee's name, will stay on the Step 1 screen.

To start the next employee's calculation with a different calculation type:

Select "Start Over" on the result page to go back to the Welcome page. This will clear all the information entered in previous steps.

Related links

• CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions
• Starting and stopping CPP deductions
• EI premium rates and maximums