Enter what a unit costs you, then price it either by the margin you want to keep of the selling price or by a markup on cost — the calculator shows the price, the profit and both percentages so the two never get mixed up. Part of our free 2025 tax year calculator set for Canadian businesses.
Your cost and target
How it works. Margin and markup describe the same profit against two different bases. Margin mode divides the cost by one-minus-the-margin, because the margin is a share of the final price; markup mode simply multiplies the cost by one-plus-the-markup. The readout translates whichever one you chose into the other.
Selling price
$0
0% margin of price · 0% markup on cost
Margin is a percentage of the PRICE; markup is a percentage of the COST — the same $40 profit on a $100 sale is a 40% margin but a 66.7% markup.
An estimate is a starting point. Get your real number.
This calculator uses published rates. Your actual position depends on the credits, deductions and structure behind your numbers.
- A professional tax accountant reviews your figures, not a formula
- Fixed quote before any work starts
- You pay after you approve the filing
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Markup and margin: the same profit, two denominators
The classic pricing mistake is asking for a 40% margin and applying a 40% markup. Markup measures the profit against what you paid — cost times one-plus-the-markup — while margin measures it against what the customer pays. A $60 cost marked up 40% sells for $84 and keeps only a 28.6% margin; to keep 40% of the price you must divide the cost by 0.60 and charge $100, which is a 66.7% markup. The gap widens as the percentages climb, so a business quoting margins to its accountant and markups to its supplier can drift a long way from its intended profitability. Retailers’ keystone pricing — doubling the cost — is a 100% markup and exactly a 50% margin.
Once each product carries the margin you intend, the break-even calculator turns that per-unit margin into the monthly volume the business needs to cover its fixed costs.
What this calculator does not cover
Everything here is before sales tax: GST/HST you add at the till is collected for the CRA and never belongs in the price, the cost or the profit, so set your margins on the pre-tax price. The tool also prices a single unit — it does not model volume discounts, shrinkage, returns or landed-cost items like duty and freight, which all belong inside the cost figure before you apply a percentage. If your books cannot tell you a true per-unit cost, margin math is guesswork; our bookkeeping service gets the cost side right so the percentages mean something.
| Margin | Markup |
|---|---|
| 20% | 25% |
| 30% | 42.9% |
| 40% | 66.7% |
| 50% | 100% |
Rates reviewed for the 2025 tax year by Udit Gupta, Certified Tax Accountant. Federal and provincial rates change annually, and this tool is an estimate for planning rather than tax advice. Confirm current figures before relying on them for a filing.
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