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BC income tax on $60,000 of taxable income comes to $2,822.28 for the province, after the basic personal credit. Add the federal share of $6,192.73 and the total is $9,015.01, or 15.0% of that income. Those figures use the 2026 rules, where the lowest BC rate is 5.60% on the BC government’s rate page.
What are the BC income tax rates for 2026?
British Columbia charges seven rates, and each one applies only to the slice of income inside its band. The lowest rate on the BC government’s 2026 page is 5.60%. The bands were indexed by 2.2% for 2026, and the page says indexing is frozen for 2027 to 2030.
| Taxable income | BC rate |
|---|---|
| Up to $50,363 | 5.60% |
| $50,363 to $100,728 | 7.70% |
| $100,728 to $115,648 | 10.50% |
| $115,648 to $140,430 | 12.29% |
| $140,430 to $190,405 | 14.70% |
| $190,405 to $265,545 | 16.80% |
| Over $265,545 | 20.50% |
One warning. Some sources still print a lower first rate of 5.06%, which was the 2025 rate. Use the government’s own page.
How is BC income tax worked out, step by step?
Take that $60,000. The first $50,363 is taxed at 5.60%, which is $2,820.33. The next $9,637 is taxed at 7.70%, which is $742.05. That gives $3,562.38 before credits.
Now the credit, which is where a lot of people lose the thread if they only look at the bracket table and never at what comes off the tax at the end. The BC basic personal amount is $13,216, and the credit is 5.60% of that, or $740.10. Take it off and the bill is $2,822.28. It’s a small number, and most of your tax at this income goes to Ottawa instead. Federal tax on the same $60,000 is more than double BC’s.
The income tax calculator runs this for any income and province. Try $100,000 and it shows $5,902.23 for BC, because you cross into the second band.
Let’s do one more by hand. Take Noor in Burnaby with $80,000 of taxable income. The first $50,363 costs $2,820.33. The remaining $29,637 at 7.70% costs $2,282.05. That’s $5,102.38 before credits, and after the $740.10 credit it’s $4,362.28. Add the federal share and you have her full income tax bill.
What does the next dollar cost in BC?
For most people the answer is the BC band plus the federal band. At $80,000 that’s 20.5% federal plus 7.7% BC, or 28.2%. So if Noor picks up a $3,000 side job, about $846 of it goes to income tax and the rest is hers. It’s worth remembering when you weigh overtime or an RRSP deposit: a deposit at that income saves tax at that same 28.2%.
Who pays less because of the BC tax reduction credit?
If your income is low, BC takes a further amount off. The BC page says Budget 2026 raised the maximum from $575 to $690, for 2026 to 2030. It starts to shrink when net income passes $25,570, falls by 3.56 cents per dollar, and disappears at $44,952.
That creates a bump. Between about $25,570 and $44,952, each extra dollar loses you the credit as well as the 5.60% tax. Our maths puts the combined marginal rate at about 23.2% at $35,000 (federal 14%, BC 5.6%, and the credit phase-out). At $50,000 it’s 19.6%. So a raise near $35,000 is worth less than one at $50,000, which surprises people.
Other BC credits on the same page include the age amount of $5,927 for people 65 and over, reduced once income passes $44,119. We couldn’t confirm the exact reduction rate for it, so check the page if you’re in that group.
Does the tax on your pay stub match the return?
Not exactly. Your employer withholds tax using CRA payroll tables, and those tables were adjusted during 2026. The CRA’s January tables used the older 5.06% rate, and its July tables used a blended 6.14% rate, so that the year averages out to the 5.60% BC uses on your return. If your stubs looked odd this year, that’s likely why. The difference settles when you file.
The take-home pay calculator gives a cleaner picture of what lands in your account. To see how a raise or RRSP deposit changes the combined rate, use the marginal tax rate calculator.
Common BC income tax mistakes
People often quote 5.06% from last year’s guide. Others read a bracket top as the amount taxed at that rate, when it’s only the edge of a band.
Another one is treating the pay stub as the final answer. And in BC, the tax reduction credit only shows up on the return, so check that your software applied it if your income was under $44,952.
The RRSP calculator helps if you’re trying to lower taxable income before the year ends, and the tax refund calculator shows how withholding and final tax compare.
Where we got these figures
The rates, personal amount and tax reduction credit come from the Government of British Columbia’s 2026 pages on rates and credits. The payroll rates come from the CRA‘s T4032BC tables. We rechecked them in September 2026, and 2027 figures aren’t published yet. This site isn’t tied to any government.
Frequently asked questions
What is the lowest BC income tax rate for 2026?
5.60% on the first $50,363 of taxable income, according to the BC government's 2026 rate page.
What is the BC basic personal amount in 2026?
$13,216, which is worth 5.60% of that amount, or $740.10 off your BC tax.
How does the BC tax reduction credit work?
The maximum is $690 for 2026 to 2030. It shrinks by 3.56% of net income above $25,570 and reaches zero at $44,952.
Why does my pay stub tax differ from my return?
The CRA payroll tables used different lowest rates in early and late 2026. Your return uses 5.60% for the whole year.
Will BC brackets be indexed in 2027?
The BC page says indexation is frozen for 2027 to 2030. We found no 2027 figures published yet.
- How Canadian income tax works: brackets and credits
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- British Columbia income tax and PST in 2026
How British Columbia income tax works in 2026: seven brackets starting at 5.6%, the tax reduction credit, the 7% PST and the BC calculators