Personal Tax Instalment Checker

Enter your net tax owing for this year and the two before it to see whether CRA expects quarterly instalments from you, and what each payment looks like. Thresholds reviewed for the 2025 tax year: $3,000 in most of Canada, $1,800 in Quebec.

2025 tax year rates All 13 provinces Updates as you type

Your net tax owing

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$
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How it works. CRA asks for instalments only when your net tax owing is over the threshold in the current year and in at least one of the two previous years. Net tax owing is roughly the balance left after everything withheld at source — which is why employees rarely owe instalments and the self-employed usually do. Quebec has the lower $1,800 federal threshold because Revenu Québec collects the provincial tax separately.

Suggested quarterly instalment

$0

 

Within threshold $0 Over threshold $0
Instalment threshold$3,000
This year (expected)$0
Prior-year test met—

Instalments are due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. CRA's reminder letters use the no-calculation option — paying those exact amounts avoids interest even if they turn out too low.

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.

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How the personal instalment test works

The rule is two-of-three: CRA expects quarterly instalments when your net tax owing is more than $3,000 (over $1,800 in Quebec) this year and in either of the two previous years. One bad year on its own triggers nothing — the balance simply gets paid on April 30. Once you are in the instalment system there are three ways to size the payments: the no-calculation option (the amounts printed on CRA's February and August reminder letters, built from your past returns), the prior-year option (last year's net tax owing divided by four), and the current-year option (this year's estimate divided by four). You may pay under whichever option gives the lowest total, and interest applies only if you pay less than the best of them.

The people this catches are those with income nothing is withheld from: the self-employed, landlords, investors with large interest or dividend income, and retirees drawing RRIF or pension amounts with too little tax taken at source. If self-employment is what put you over, the self-employed tax calculator shows how the annual bill builds up, and our personal tax filing service can set the instalment plan alongside the return.

What this calculator does not cover

It uses your expected current-year figure divided by four, which is the current-year option — the reminder letters CRA actually mails use the no-calculation option and may show different amounts, and paying those printed amounts in full always protects you from instalment interest even when they prove too low. The tool also does not compute net tax owing itself (broadly, total tax minus amounts withheld at source and refundable credits), does not model Quebec's separate provincial instalments to Revenu Québec, and does not cover farmers and fishers, who have a single December 31 instalment under a different test. For the exact figure, have our personal tax team review your withholdings.

Instalment due dates
QuarterDue
Q1 March 15
Q2 June 15
Q3 September 15
Q4 December 15

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

Anyone whose net tax owing is over $3,000 — $1,800 in Quebec — in the current year and in at least one of the two previous years. In practice that means people with income nothing is withheld from: the self-employed, landlords, investors, and retirees drawing RRIF or pension income with little tax taken at source. Employees with proper withholdings rarely cross the line.
Broadly, the balance left on your return after subtracting everything already paid or withheld at source — payroll withholdings, tax taken off pension or RRIF payments, and refundable credits. It is not your total tax bill: someone with $40,000 of tax but $39,000 withheld has net tax owing of $1,000 and owes no instalments.
You are not legally forced to pay the printed amounts, but they are the safe harbour: paying the no-calculation amounts on the reminder in full and on time means no instalment interest, even if your actual tax turns out higher. If you expect this year’s income to be lower, you may pay less under the current-year option instead — but then a low estimate carries interest risk.
CRA charges instalment interest, compounded daily at the prescribed rate, on the shortfall between what you paid and the best of the three calculation options, measured from each due date. When the interest exceeds $1,000, a penalty can be added on top. Overpaying a later instalment earns offsetting credit interest, so catching up mid-year helps.
Usually in your second or third profitable year: the test needs net tax owing over the threshold both this year and in a prior of the last two, so the first year you owe a large April balance typically triggers reminder letters the following year. Setting aside tax quarterly from the start makes the transition painless — the self-employed tax calculator shows how much.

What Canadians search about this

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

As the rules stand for the 2025 tax year filed in 2026, the late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months, so 17% at worst. It rises to 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months, a 50% maximum, but only where the CRA formally demanded the return and had already charged a late-filing penalty for any of the three preceding tax years. Interest compounds daily.
Yes, the CRA does telephone people, usually about a balance owing, a missing return, an audit or to verify information, and calls can come from many different numbers, so caller ID proves nothing either way. A real agent never demands payment by gift card, cryptocurrency or e-transfer, never threatens immediate arrest or deportation, and never asks for a password. If a call feels wrong, hang up, check your balance and mail in My Account, then call back using a number from canada.ca.
With direct deposit registered the refund is paid straight to the bank account on file, and about two weeks is the usual CRA standard for a 2025 return filed online. An out-of-date account is a common cause of delay, so update it in My Account before you file. A paper return runs on a considerably longer standard before any payment is issued at all.
Start by claiming everything you are entitled to: RRSP contributions, child care, moving and employment expenses, self-employment costs, tuition, medical expenses, donations and the credits that follow your family situation. Timing helps too, such as deferring a bonus or triggering a capital loss against a gain. Pension income splitting and spousal RRSP contributions move income to a lower-rate spouse. For a business, incorporating and planning how money is drawn out matters. Leaving income unreported is evasion, not planning.
Adjusted family net income is your net income plus your spouse's or common-law partner's net income, minus any universal child care benefit and registered disability savings plan income received, plus any of those amounts repaid. CRA uses the figure to test income-based benefits such as the Canada child benefit, the GST/HST credit and the Canada workers benefit. It is taken from the previous year's returns, which is why both partners have to file each year to keep payments flowing.
Schedule 5 is where you claim the amounts for a spouse or common-law partner and dependants: the spouse or common-law partner amount, the amount for an eligible dependant, the Canada caregiver amount and amounts for an infirm dependant. For each person you enter the name, relationship, date of birth and net income, and the schedule works out what carries to your return. Tax software builds it from the family details you enter, so the net income figures must be accurate.
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. Canada.ca — Personal income tax · Income Tax Act (Justice Laws Website)

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