Your tax summary and SmartReview

Your total income is calculated by combining all your sources of income, including what you earned from employment or self-employment activities, from your investments (in the form of dividends or interest), foreign income, etc. It even includes the income you earned that wasn't reported on any of your slips, like tips and gratuities.

Determining your total income is the first step in figuring out if you're taxable or not. Once you know your total income, you can then apply certain deductions to reduce your total income to your net income (this amount is used to calculate benefits like the GST/HST tax credit, Canada child benefit, or the Guaranteed Income Supplement).

Refer to the list below for some of the more common income sources. For a full list, refer to the Canada Revenue Agency’s General Income Tax and Benefit Guide 2024.

• Employment income
• Other employment income
• Old age security (OAS) pension
• Interest and other investment income
• Rental income
• Taxable capital gains
• RRSP income
• Self-employment income
• Social assistance payments

Deductions can help you reduce the amount of income you have to pay taxes on, which in turn lowers your tax liability. Before you can calculate your taxable income, you must first claim any deductions that apply to you.

Some deductions encourage beneficial behaviours like making contributions to your RRSP, or splitting pension income with your spouse*; others are designed to help you manage the costs of daily life (like the cost of childcare and, in some cases, work-related expenses that can be deducted from your total income).

*It’s important to remember that while splitting pension income with your spouse results in a deduction that you can claim on your return (lowering your total income), the income that’s transferred to your spouse will increase his or her total income.

Refer to the list below for some of the more common deductions. For a full list, refer to the Canada Revenue Agency’s General Income Tax and Benefit Guide 2024.

• RRSP contributions
• Childcare expenses
• Moving expenses
• Disability supports deduction
• Carrying charges and interest expenses
• Other employment expenses
• Social benefits repayment

Once your net income has been determined, additional deductions are applied to your return to calculate your taxable income. Some of these deductions include the Canadian Forces personnel and police deduction, Other payments deduction (like social assistance and worker’s compensation), net and non-capital losses of other years (if applicable), and the Northern residents deduction.

The income that’s left is known as taxable income. Your taxable income is then used to figure out the amount of federal and provincial taxes you owe before your non-refundable and refundable tax credits are claimed.

Before your non-refundable credits can be subtracted from your income, a specific federal and provincial tax rate must be applied to the different tiers of your income. This is the percentage of tax you need to pay. Your tax rate is based on your taxable income. The higher your taxable income, the higher your tax rate will be.

See all the 2024 federal tax rates

See all the 2024 provincial and territorial tax rates

Your total federal non-refundable tax credits are then subtracted from your federal tax owing giving you your net federal tax. Similarly, your total provincial non-refundable tax credits are subtracted from your provincial tax owing to calculate your provincial tax.

When your net federal tax is combined with your provincial or territorial tax, the result is your total tax liability (or payable).

Depending on your situation, you might end up having to pay an amount that’s separate from the income tax you owe. These amounts include:

• CPP contributions payable

• Employment insurance premiums payable (if you're registered to participate in the EI program

• Social benefits repayment

If you’re an employee, you and your employer will split CPP contributions (equal to 9.9% of your income) evenly. If you’re self-employed you’re responsible for the entire contribution amount.

Like your CPP contributions, as someone who’s self-employed, you’re also responsible for paying the employer and employee share of your Employment insurance premiums.

If you have a Social benefit repayment amount, it means that the government has overpaid you for certain benefits, including:

• Employment Insurance (EI) benefits

• Old age security (OAS) pension or

• Net federal supplements

These credits reduce your federal and provincial tax owing.

Generally speaking, if the total of these credits is more than the tax that you owe, you won’t receive the difference back as a refund. However, you will receive a refund if the amount of taxes you’ve already paid to the government (or the taxes paid by your employer on your behalf) is more than what you owe once these credits have been applied.

For example, let’s say your total federal non-refundable tax credits for 2024 is an even $1,000. If, while completing your return your tax owing is calculated to be $750, the best your non-refundable credits can do is reduce this amount to $0.

If, however, your taxes withheld at source by your employer equals $750, applying these credits to your return might actually reduce your tax owing to a point where you’ve paid too much tax during the year. If that’s the case, you’ll receive the difference as a tax refund.

Refer to the list below for some of the more common federal non-refundable credits. For a full list, refer to the Canada Revenue Agency’s General Income Tax and Benefit Guide 2024.

• Basic personal amount
• Canada employment amount
• Employment insurance premiums through employment
• CPP or QPP contributions through employment
• Home Buyers’ amount

For a full of provincial non-refundable credits, refer to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

Refundable credits are those that could result in you receiving a refund if the total of your refundable credits is more than your federal tax owing. Refundable credits include the following:

• Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB)

• Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR)/Climate action incentive payment (CAIP) rebate

• Eligible educator school supply tax credit

• Refundable medical expense supplement

• CPP and EI overpayments

Some government benefits like the GST/HST credit (paid quarterly), and the Canada child benefit (paid monthly) are based on your net income.

The amount of tax that’s deducted from your paycheck is considered a payment to the government. Depending on how much is withheld by your employer and your refundable credits, these amounts will either lower your tax owing or increase your refund.

Your total income is calculated by combining all your sources of income, including what you earned from employment or self-employment activities, from your investments (in the form of dividends or interest), foreign income, etc. It even includes the income you earned that wasn’t reported on any of your slips, like tips and gratuities.

Note: If you earned employment income while working for a company located outside of Québec (regardless of where you performed your duties), this income is also included in your total income.

Determining your total income is the first step in figuring out if you're taxable or not. Once you know your total income, you can then apply certain deductions to reduce your total income to your net income (this amount is used to calculate benefits like the GST/HST tax credit, Canada child benefit, or the Guaranteed Income Supplement).

Refer to the list below for some of the more common income sources . For a full list, refer to the Revenu Québec’s Income Tax Return Guide.

• Employment income
• Parental insurance benefits
• Québec pension plan (QPP) or Canada pension plan (CPP) benefits
• Other employment income
• Old age security (OAS) pension
• Interest and other investment income
• Rental income
• Taxable capital gains
• RRSP income
• Self-employment income
• Social assistance payments

Before you can calculate your taxable income, you must first claim your deductions. Deductions help lower the amount of income you’re required to pay taxes on, which in turn lowers your tax liability.

Certain deductions encourage beneficial behaviours like making contributions to your RRSP, or splitting pension income with your spouse*; others help you manage the costs of daily life (the cost of childcare and, in some cases, your work-related expenses can be deducted from your total income).

*It’s important to remember that while splitting pension income with your spouse results in a deduction that you can claim on your return (lowering your total income), the income that’s transferred to your spouse will increase his or her total income.

Refer to the list below for some of the more common deductions. For a full list, refer to Revenu Québec’s Income Tax Return Guide.

• RRSP contributions
• Childcare expenses
• Moving expenses
• Carrying charges and interest expenses
• Deduction for residents of a designated remote area
• Disability supports deduction
• Social benefits repayment

Your taxable income is your total income minus all your deductions. Your taxable income is used to figure out the amount of Québec tax you owe before your non-refundable and refundable tax credits are claimed.

Before your non-refundable credits can be subtracted from your income, a specific tax rate must be applied to the different tiers of your income. This is the percentage of tax you need to pay. Your tax rate is based on your taxable income. The higher your taxable income, the higher your tax rate will be.

See all the 2024 Québec tax rates

Your total non-refundable tax credits are then subtracted from your tax owing giving you your income tax on taxable income. This is the amount of tax you need to pay on your taxable income.

Depending on your situation, you might end up having to pay an amount that’s separate from the income tax you owe. These amounts include:

• Annual registration fee for the enterprise register

• QPIP premium on income from self-employment or employment outside Québec

• Advance payments of tax credits

• Special tax related to the QESI, RESP, non-purchase of replacement shares in a labour-sponsored fund, split income of a child, etc.

• QPP contribution on income from self-employment

• Premium payable under the Québec prescription drug insurance plan

Much in the same way federal non-refundable tax credits reduce your federal tax owing, Québec’s non-refundable tax credits lower the amount of taxes you’re required to pay to the government of Québec.

Generally speaking, if the total of these credits is more than the Québec tax you owe, you won’t receive the difference back as a refund. You will, however, receive a refund if the amount of taxes you’ve already paid (or the taxes paid by your employer on your behalf) to the government is more than what you owe once these credits have been applied.

For example, let’s say your total provincial non-refundable tax credits for 2024 is an even $1,000. If, while completing your return your provincial tax owing is calculated to be $750, the best your provincial non-refundable credits can do is reduce this amount to $0.

If, however, your taxes withheld at source (for example, by your employer) equals $750, claiming the non-refundable tax credits you’re entitled to might actually reduce your tax owing to a point where you’ve paid too much tax during the year. If that’s the case, you’ll receive the difference as a tax refund.

Refer to the list below for some of the more common non-refundable credits. For a full list, refer to Revenu Québec’s website.

• Basic personal amount
• Expenses for medical services not provided in your area
• Interest paid on student loans
• Tax credit for tuition or examination fees

Refundable credits are those that could result in you receiving a refund if the total of your refundable credits is more than your tax owing. Refundable credits include the following:

• Premium payable under the Québec prescription drug insurance plan

• Transferable portion of the income tax withheld for another province

• Québec tax credit for child care expenses

• Québec tax shield credit

• Refundable tax credit for medical expenses

• Québec tax credit for caregivers

The income tax you’ve already paid (like the Québec income tax withheld by your employer) along with amounts that you might have overpaid during the year like QPP or CPP contributions are reported here, with your other refundable credits.

For a complete list of refundable credits, refer to Revenu Québec’s website.