Markup & Margin Calculator

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.

2025 tax year rates All 13 provinces Updates as you type

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

Cost $0 Profit $0
Profit per unit$0
Margin (% of price)0%
Markup (% of cost)0%

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.

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This calculator uses published rates. Your actual position depends on the credits, deductions and structure behind your numbers.

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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 to markup
MarginMarkup
20% 25%
30% 42.9%
40% 66.7%
50% 100%

Rates reviewed for the 2025 tax year by Udit Gupta, Founder and 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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Frequently asked questions

Both describe the gap between cost and price, but against different bases: markup is the profit as a percentage of the cost, margin is the same profit as a percentage of the selling price. Because the price is always larger than the cost, the margin percentage is always the smaller number — a 66.7% markup and a 40% margin describe the identical sale.
A 66.7% markup. To keep 40% of the price you divide the cost by 0.60, so a $60 cost becomes a $100 price with $40 of profit — and $40 measured against the $60 cost is 66.7%. Applying a 40% markup instead gives an $84 price and only a 28.6% margin, which is how pricing quietly erodes.
Divide the cost by one minus the margin expressed as a decimal: cost ÷ (1 − 0.40) for a 40% margin. Do not multiply the cost by one-plus-the-margin — that is the markup formula and it always lands short of the margin you wanted. This calculator does the division for you in margin mode.
No. Sales tax you charge on top of the price is collected on behalf of the CRA and remitted, so it is neither revenue nor profit. Set your margins and markups on the pre-tax selling price, and keep the tax out of your cost figure too if you claim input tax credits on your purchases.
The retail habit of doubling the cost to set the price — a 100% markup, which is exactly a 50% margin. It is a quick rule of thumb rather than a strategy: categories with high shrinkage, freight or return rates need more than keystone to hit a 50% true margin, and highly competitive lines often cannot support it at all.

What Canadians search about this

Answered plainly. Browse every question in the Canadian tax answers directory.

Canadian income tax is built up in layers. You total your income for the year, subtract the deductions you qualify for to arrive at taxable income, then apply the federal brackets and your province's brackets to that figure. Each bracket rate applies only to the income sitting inside it, so earning more never retaxes the dollars below. Non-refundable credits, starting with the basic personal amount, come off the tax afterwards. Look up the CRA bracket table for the tax year you are filing.
Your marginal tax rate is the rate on your next dollar of income, not on your income as a whole. Federally for 2026 that is 14%, 20.5%, 26%, 29% or 33% depending on the bracket you have reached, and your province's rate stacks on top, so an Ontario earner in the 26% federal band adds the Ontario rate for their own band. The two sets of thresholds rarely line up, so add the two rates together.
GST/HST is a tax on most goods and services, charged by registered businesses at each stage of supply. You add it to your taxable sales, collect it from the customer, and claim input tax credits for the GST/HST you paid on business purchases; you remit the difference with your GST/HST return. GST is 5% in 2025 and 2026, and participating provinces charge a combined HST instead. Some supplies are exempt or zero-rated.
Yes. In Canada the Income Tax Act requires residents to report their worldwide income and pay tax on it, and the Excise Tax Act does the same for GST/HST. Filing is mandatory when you owe tax or when the CRA asks for a return; self-assessment means you calculate the amount yourself, not that paying is optional. Arguments that no law compels payment have failed in Canadian courts and lead to penalties, interest and collection action.
It depends on the province, and for 2026 the rates are: Alberta and the territories 5% GST only; Ontario 13% HST; New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island 15%; Nova Scotia 14% since 1 April 2025. British Columbia adds 7% PST and Saskatchewan 6% PST on top of the 5% GST, Manitoba adds 7% RST, and Quebec charges 9.975% QST on the pre-GST price, 14.975% combined. Basic groceries are untaxed.
Yes, in part. The rate applied to the lowest federal bracket was cut part-way through 2025, so the 2025 return uses a blended rate for that bracket and the full reduction applies from 2026 onward. Bracket thresholds and most credit amounts were also indexed. Separately, the proposed increase to the capital gains inclusion rate was never enacted, so one-half remains the inclusion rate for the 2025 and 2026 tax years. CRA's federal tax rates page gives the exact percentages per year.
Udit Gupta, founder of Tax Filings Canada

Rates and method reviewed 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. He is Big 4 trained, at Ernst & Young and Deloitte, and qualified as a chartered accountant in India and again in Malaysia. In 2014 he founded his accounting practice 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.

Sources. CRA — Businesses · Income Tax Act (Justice Laws Website)

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