Find out in seconds whether the CRA expects instalments from you, when they're due, and how much to set aside. Switch the calculator between self-employed and corporate.
Current-year option: four equal payments on this year's estimate. Due dates move to the next business day on weekends and holidays. The CRA's reminder notices use prior-year figures, which may differ.
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Quarterly instalments are required when your net tax owing is more than $3,000 in the current year and in either of the two previous years ($1,800 for Quebec residents). One good year doesn't trigger them; two do. A corporation runs the same $3,000 test on its tax payable, but pays monthly, on its own fiscal year.
The CRA's reminder notice shows one option, but all three are allowed. Interest only applies if you pay less than the option you chose required.
Instalments prepay the same tax you'd owe in April; they don't add to it. The threshold that triggers them depends on where you live.
The hard part isn't dividing by four; it's knowing what you've actually earned. ReInvestWealth tracks your income and expenses automatically, so every instalment is based on real numbers.
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You must make quarterly instalment payments when your net tax owing is more than $3,000 in the current year AND in either of the two previous years ($1,800 for Quebec residents, who also make separate instalments to Revenu Québec). CRA instalments mostly affect people without tax withheld at source: self-employed workers, incorporated owners paying themselves dividends, landlords, and investors.
Personal instalments are due March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15, moving to the next business day when the date lands on a weekend or holiday (in 2026, March 15 is a Sunday, so the first payment is due March 16). The dates don't follow your business's fiscal year; they're the same for everyone.
Roughly, your total tax for the year minus everything withheld at source (payroll withholdings) and refundable credits. An employee with proper withholdings usually has net tax owing near zero; a self-employed person with no withholdings usually owes their whole tax bill, which is why instalments hit the self-employed hardest.
No. The reminder uses the no-calculation option (based on your past returns), but you can instead pay based on last year's actual tax, or on your estimate of this year's tax, in four equal payments. Paying the reminder amounts is the safe harbour: the CRA charges no interest even if the amounts turn out too low. If you estimate lower and you're wrong, instalment interest applies.
The CRA charges instalment interest at its prescribed rate, compounded daily, on each shortfall from its due date. If the interest passes $1,000, an additional instalment penalty can apply on top. Missing instalments doesn't change your April 30 balance; it just makes the same tax more expensive.
A common starting point is 25% to 30% of net self-employment income, adjusted for your province and bracket, plus the GST/HST you collect once registered. The cleanest habit is moving the percentage to a separate account every time you're paid, so each quarterly payment is already sitting there. ReInvestWealth keeps your income and expenses categorized all year, so your estimate stays honest.
Yes. Quebec is the only province that collects its own personal income tax, so Quebec residents run two parallel instalment systems on the same four dates: federal tax goes to the CRA (which uses a lower $1,800 threshold for Quebec residents) and Quebec tax goes to Revenu Québec (its own $1,800 threshold). Pick Quebec in the calculator above and it splits the schedule into a CRA column and a Revenu Québec column. Everywhere else, including Alberta, personal instalments go to the CRA in one combined payment; Alberta's separate tax collection (Alberta TRA) applies only to corporations.
Yes, and the calculator above covers them: switch it to “Corporation”. Corporate instalments start once tax payable tops $3,000 in the current year and the previous one. They're monthly by default, or quarterly for an eligible small CCPC, and they follow your own fiscal year instead of the fixed personal dates, so the calculator asks for your year-end and builds the schedule from it. The balance is due two months after year-end, or three for a CCPC claiming the small business deduction.
An eligible small CCPC. The CRA's conditions are that the corporation claims the small business deduction in the current or previous year, has taxable income of $500,000 or less and taxable capital of $10 million or less (counting associated corporations), and has a perfect compliance history over the previous 12 months: every GST/HST, payroll, CPP, and EI amount remitted on time and every return filed on time. Miss any of those and instalments are monthly. Tick the small-CCPC box in the calculator to switch the schedule to four payments.
Both provinces collect their own corporate tax, so an Alberta or Quebec corporation runs two instalment streams: the federal portion to the CRA, and the provincial portion to Alberta TRA (on the AT1) or Revenu Québec (on the CO-17). The provincial rules aren't copies of the federal ones. Alberta uses a $2,000 threshold, is monthly only, and exempts a CCPC claiming the Alberta small business deduction with taxable income of $500,000 or less from Alberta instalments entirely, so that corporation pays its Alberta tax as one balance three months after year-end. Quebec uses $3,000 and follows the federal monthly-or-quarterly pattern. Pick your province in the calculator and it splits the schedule by authority.
Close, but the thresholds differ. Annual GST/HST filers whose net tax was $3,000 or more must pay quarterly GST instalments, due one month after the end of each fiscal quarter. This calculator covers income tax instalments; the same set-money-aside habit funds both.
Yes, it's free with no sign-up required. ReInvestWealth is accounting software that tracks your self-employment income and expenses automatically through the year, so when an instalment date arrives you know what you've actually earned instead of guessing. You can start a free 30-day trial anytime.
ReInvestWealth tracks your income and expenses automatically all year, so each quarterly payment is based on what you actually earned.