Statutory Holiday Pay

Payroll

Statutory holiday pay is the wages employers must pay eligible employees for public holidays, set by provincial employment standards and calculated from recent earnings.

Provincial employment standards require employers to pay eligible employees for recognised public (statutory) holidays, even when they do not work that day. The amount and the eligibility rules (such as minimum days worked around the holiday) vary by province, and the pay is usually calculated as an average of recent earnings.

Employees who work on a statutory holiday are typically entitled to premium pay or a substitute day off, again per provincial rules. Statutory holiday pay is part of wages and subject to normal source deductions, and getting the calculation right is a recurring payroll compliance point.

Example

An eligible employee does not work on a statutory holiday but still receives statutory holiday pay based on their average recent daily earnings, as required by their province's employment standards, with normal deductions applied.

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Statutory Holiday Pay Frequently Asked Questions

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Yes, eligible employees are generally entitled to statutory holiday pay under provincial employment standards, even if they do not work that day, subject to eligibility rules.
They are typically entitled to premium pay or a substitute day off, depending on the province's employment standards rules.
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Commonly Searched Statutory Holiday Pay Questions

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A non-refundable credit reduces the tax you owe to zero but no further, so any unused part is lost, carried forward, or transferred to a spouse or parent where the rule allows it. A refundable credit is paid to you even when no tax is owed, which is how benefit-style payments reach people with little or no income. Most personal credits on the federal return, including the basic personal amount, are non-refundable.

The HST is a single sales tax blending the federal 5% GST with a participating province's own sales tax, collected and administered by the CRA. For 2026 it is 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. A registrant charges HST on taxable supplies, claims input tax credits on its purchases, and remits the difference on one return. Elsewhere you charge the 5% GST plus any separate provincial tax.

No. A refund is your own overpaid tax coming back, so it is not reported as income and does not reduce your income-tested benefits. Interest the CRA pays when a refund is late is treated differently: that interest is taxable and belongs on the return for the year you receive it. A corporate refund works the same way, though refund interest is income to the corporation. Keep the notice of assessment with your records.

Federal income tax is the share of income tax that goes to the federal government, calculated on taxable income using federal brackets and then reduced by federal credits. Your province or territory levies its own income tax on the same income, which is why a paycheque outside Quebec shows one blended deduction rather than two. Employers estimate both when withholding. For your own figure, read the federal tax line on your assessed T1 rather than a rate table.

Udit Gupta, founder of Tax Filings Canada

Reviewed and fact-checked by Udit Gupta

Ex Big 4 — Ernst & Young, Deloitte · International & cross-border tax specialist · CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program) · Chartered accountant, ICAI & MIA

Udit Gupta has over 15 years of experience helping corporations and business owners with corporate structuring, corporate tax filing, bookkeeping, payroll, GST/HST, cross-border tax and CRA representation. Big 4 trained at Ernst & Young and Deloitte, and qualified as a chartered accountant in India and again in Malaysia, he founded his accounting practice in 2014 to serve entrepreneurs, startups and non-resident business owners across Canada. View full member bio.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India — member 521458 · Malaysian Institute of Accountants — member CA 44667 · Ex Big 4: Ernst & Young, Deloitte · CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), completed 19 Dec 2023 · In-Depth GST/HST Part I, 12 Jul 2022 · Part II, 5 Jul 2023

Editorial policy. Every page is researched against primary sources — the Income Tax Act, CRA publications and CPA Canada guidance — and every rate or threshold is stated with the tax year it applies to.

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