Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Corporate tax rates by country cluster around 21% to 24% on average, according to the OECD’s 2025 data. Its average combined statutory rate across the jurisdictions it covers was 21.2%, and 24.1% for OECD members. In Canada, a general-rate corporation in Ontario pays 26.5% once federal and provincial tax are added, but a small business can pay far less.
What do corporate tax rates by country look like?
The OECD publishes a yearly statistics report with the combined rate for 145 jurisdictions, which adds national and regional taxes together. I could only read summaries of it, not the full country table, and the OECD site refused a direct request. So there’s no rate listed here for every country. That table is the place to look if you need one, and check the year, because rates move.
Here’s what the summaries did say.
| Group | Average combined rate, 2025 |
|---|---|
| All jurisdictions covered | 21.2% |
| OECD members | 24.1% |
| Africa | 26.7% |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 21.1% |
| Asia and Pacific | 20.5% |
Twenty-six of the 145 jurisdictions were at 30% or more. Colombia and Malta were at 35.0%, and France at 36.1%.
What does a Canadian corporation pay?
Canada has two layers. The federal general rate is 15%. A Canadian-controlled private corporation gets the small business rate of 9% on its first $500,000 of active business income. Provinces then add their own rate, and the total is what you compare with other countries.
| Province | Provincial general rate | Combined general rate | Combined small business rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 11.5% | 26.5% | 11.2% from 2027 |
| British Columbia | 12% | 27% | 11% |
| Manitoba | 12% | 27% | 9% |
| New Brunswick | 14% | 29% | 11.5% |
| Nova Scotia | 14% | 29% | 10.5% |
Ontario’s small business rate fell from 3.2% to 2.2% on July 1, 2026. For a calendar 2026 year the blend is about 11.7%, a figure calculated by days rather than published, and 11.2% applies in full from 2027. Quebec and a few other provinces are left out because their rates couldn’t be confirmed from the official pages.
How does Canada compare with the OECD average?
Put the table next to the 24.1% OECD figure. A general-rate corporation in Ontario at 26.5% sits 2.4 points above it. In British Columbia, at 27%, it’s 2.9 points above. A small Canadian-controlled private corporation in Ontario at about 11.7% is roughly 12.4 points below it.
So the honest answer is that it depends which Canadian company you mean. The big general-rate firm is a little above the pack, and the small one is well under, which is the whole point of the small business rate. A single Canada number for the “country rate” hides that split.
How much is that on $300,000 of profit?
Run a Canadian-controlled private corporation with $300,000 of active business income through the corporate tax calculator. In Ontario for 2026 the bill is $35,088, an average of 11.7%. In British Columbia it’s $33,000, or 11.0%. In Nova Scotia it’s $31,500, or 10.5%.
Now take a corporation that isn’t a private Canadian company, with the same profit in Ontario. It pays $79,500, or 26.5%. That gap is why company type matters more than the country headline. And at $800,000 in Ontario, the first $500,000 is taxed at the small rate and the rest at the general rate, for $137,980 in total, or 17.2%.
Why a headline rate misleads
A statutory rate is the law’s number. The OECD reports effective rates separately, because credits, deductions and timing change what a company pays. Two countries with the same rate can produce different bills.
The corporation’s tax is also only the first layer. When profit is paid out to owners, personal tax follows. The dividend tax calculator shows what you’d keep from a dividend, and the self-employed tax calculator is the better test if you haven’t incorporated. Before you decide, compare your net income under both. The corporate calculator shows only the company’s tax.
What the calculators leave out
Our corporate tool ignores credits. It also ignores the phase-out for large taxable capital, but it has optional boxes for passive investment income and for sharing one small business limit among associated companies, which it splits equally, so a group with investments can at least see which way the limit moves. It also skips Quebec’s paid-hours condition. Ontario’s rate is a blend for calendar years only, so a company with another year end will differ.
This page says nothing about moving a company abroad. Foreign tax, treaties, withholding on dividends and residency rules all sit on top of the headline rate, and none of them has been checked here. For a real cross-border decision, talk to a cross-border tax lawyer or accountant. It’s not a job for a rate table, and a ballpark comparison like this one is only the start.
Sources, and how they were checked
The average rates and the count of high-tax jurisdictions come from search summaries of the OECD’s Corporate Tax Statistics 2025 report. The federal and provincial Canadian rates come from Canada Revenue Agency pages on corporation tax rates, and the calculator results use 2026 data on this site. No government body is connected to this website.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average corporate tax rate worldwide?
The OECD reports an average combined statutory rate of 21.2% across the jurisdictions it covers in 2025, and 24.1% for OECD members.
What is the corporate tax rate in Canada?
The federal general rate is 15%. With provincial tax, the combined general rate is 26.5% in Ontario and higher in some other provinces.
What is the small business rate in Canada?
The federal small business rate is 9% on the first $500,000 of active business income for a Canadian-controlled private corporation. Provinces add their own rate.
Which countries have the highest corporate tax rates?
In the OECD's 2025 data, Colombia and Malta were at 35.0% and France at 36.1%.
Is a statutory rate what a company really pays?
Not always. Credits, deductions and timing change the effective rate, which the OECD reports separately.
- Self-employed taxes in Canada: income, CPP and GST
How tax works when you are self-employed in Canada: reporting income and expenses, paying both halves of CPP, instalments and when to register for GST