—
You have a day job, taxes come off your paycheque, and then you freelance, drive, sell or consult on the side. This calculator answers the question generic tools get wrong: what does the side income actually add to your tax return — at your real marginal brackets, with CPP on your side income coordinated with your paycheque CPP the way the CRA's Schedule 8 does it.
Add your T4 box-22 withholding for your exact balance owing → Do quarterly instalments apply to me?
The full calculator also shows your monthly set-aside, after-tax income, and a Québec self-employment-only estimate.
Canada's brackets are marginal: your day job fills the lower brackets first, so every side-hustle dollar lands on top — taxed at your highest rate from the first dollar. And unlike your salary, nothing is withheld when a client pays you: the tax on side income is collected when you file. That's the April surprise this page exists to prevent.
The second surprise is CPP. On your salary you pay the employee half and your employer pays the other half. On self-employment income you pay both halves — but not blindly: Schedule 8 coordinates the two, so contributions already made through your paycheque use up your contributory room first and your side income only tops up the rest. Our engine does that coordination exactly; calculators that skip it overcharge people whose day job already maxes their CPP.
Income tax isn't the only threshold your side hustle can cross. Once your worldwide taxable sales pass the small-supplier threshold over four consecutive calendar quarters, GST/HST registration becomes mandatory — a rolling test, not a calendar-year one. Check where you stand with the GST/HST registration calculator. Anything you collect was never yours: hold it separately from the set-aside this page computes.
Side income is reported on Form T2125 with your return — and your expenses (the "net" in net side income) need records. The free expense tracker keeps them sorted by T2125 line all year, and the T2125 generator assembles the form figures when you file. Filing dates live on the deadline calendar.
Enter your numbers above for your exact figure.
Enter your numbers above for your exact figure.
Enter your numbers above for your exact figure.
No. Clients pay you gross — no income tax, CPP or EI comes off. Everything owed on side income is collected through your tax return (or quarterly instalments once your balance is large enough). That's why the set-aside habit matters: the money feels like yours in July and stops feeling like yours in April.
Rideshare & delivery drivers · Etsy & online sellers · Freelance developers · Photographers · Gig platforms hub
One useful email when CRA dates or figures change — nothing else. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.