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CRA payroll means three duties for an employer: work out CPP, EI and income tax on each cheque, hold that money back, and send it to the CRA on time with your own share added. A regular remitter pays by the 15th of the following month, so April’s deductions are due May 15.
What does the CRA expect on every pay run?
You deduct from the employee and you add the employer portion of CPP and EI. The remittance covers both. For the employer side of EI, our engine uses the CRA’s 1.4 multiplier, which the CRA’s 2026 page confirms, with a maximum employer premium of $1,572.30. On CPP the employer matches the employee rate of 5.95%.
Three CRA tools help you calculate the amounts. The Payroll Deductions Online Calculator covers every province and territory except Quebec. The T4127 formulas are for in-house software, and the CRA lists a 122nd edition for 1 January 2026 and a 123rd for 1 July 2026. Tax tables are there for people who prefer paper. Quebec employers use Revenu Quebec’s WebRAS for provincial deductions.
Our payroll deductions calculator gives a quick estimate before you open the official tool. It’s a planning aid. Run the official one for the real cheque.
When is the money due?
That depends on your remitter type, and the CRA assigns it, not you. It looks at your average monthly withholding amount from two calendar years back and reviews it every November.
| Remitter type | Average monthly withholding | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly (new small employer) | Under $1,000 | 15 Apr, 15 Jul, 15 Oct, 15 Jan |
| Quarterly (small employer) | Under $3,000 | Same four dates |
| Regular | Under $25,000 | 15th of the next month |
| Accelerated, threshold 1 | $25,000 to $99,999.99 | 25th of the same month and 10th of the next |
| Accelerated, threshold 2 | $100,000 or more | Up to four times a month |
A due date on a weekend or a CRA-recognized holiday moves to the next business day. Quarterly status also takes a clean record for the past 12 months: no late payments, no penalties, no late information returns.
We haven’t tried to name the 2026 deadlines for year-end slips, since we didn’t confirm those dates.
What does one employee cost in remittances?
Try $3,000 before deductions, every two weeks, in Ontario. The payroll remittance calculator shows $521.48 of income tax, $167.94 of CPP and $43.20 of EI held back from the employee. You then add $167.94 of CPP and $60.47 of EI. Your employer share is $228.41 and the total to remit each period is $961.03.
One quirk: the EI line looks low at first glance. At 1.63% you’d expect $48.90 on $3,000. But $3,000 every two weeks is $78,000 a year, which is above the 2026 maximum insurable earnings of $68,900, so the premium stops partway through the year. The tool shows the average over all 26 periods, which works out to $43.20. The same cap applies to the employer side. Your first cheques of the year will take the full rate and the last ones will take none.
So the payroll costs $3,228.41 per period, before workers’ compensation and other levies the tool leaves out.
What would that do to your remitter type? Across 26 periods the remittances come to about $2,082 a month on average, which sits inside the under-$3,000 range in the table. But the CRA decides, and it uses your record from two years ago, so a new business can’t just pick quarterly.
What happens if you pay late?
The CRA’s Employers’ Guide to payroll deductions and remittances sets out the tiers. Its rule for the regular schedule is blunt:
We have to receive your deductions on or before the 15th day of the month after the month you paid your employees.
CRA, Employers’ Guide, Payroll Deductions and Remittances, canada.ca
The CRA lists a penalty that grows with the delay: 3% when you’re one to three days late, 5% for four to five days, 7% for six to seven days, and 10% for anything later or nothing paid. A second failure with gross negligence can carry 20%. Interest builds daily on what’s unpaid.
Put numbers on it. Say the $961.03 from the example above lands five days late. That’s the 5% tier, so the penalty is about $48.05 on top of the interest. It isn’t ruinous on one employee, but on a payroll of ten it adds up fast.
The fix is boring. Set a calendar reminder a few days before each date and pay early.
Where do employees fit in?
The employee sees the result as a stub. If staff ask what to expect from a salary, send them to the take-home pay calculator, which shows the kept pay for a year.
And if you’re budgeting for a hire, work backwards with the net to gross calculator, then add the employer share from the remittance tool.
What are the limits of these numbers?
They assume steady pay in one province for a full year. Part-year hires, bonuses, taxable benefits and unusual pay cycles will move the amounts. We left out registration steps, year-end slips and workers’ compensation, because we didn’t confirm them on official pages for this update.
Where this information comes from
Due dates, remitter types, penalty rates and tool names come from the CRA‘s payroll remittance and calculation pages. CPP and EI rates are the CRA’s 2026 figures. Examples are our own calculator results. We checked on 30 September 2026, and this site has no connection with the CRA or any government body.
Frequently asked questions
When are CRA payroll remittances due?
A regular remitter pays by the 15th of the following month. Quarterly remitters pay on 15 April, 15 July, 15 October and 15 January.
Who decides if I am a quarterly or regular remitter?
The CRA does, based on your average monthly withholding from two calendar years ago. It reviews this each November.
What are the late remittance penalties?
The CRA lists 3% for 1 to 3 days late, 5% for 4 to 5 days, 7% for 6 to 7 days and 10% after that. A repeat failure with gross negligence can carry 20%.
What does the employer pay on top of the employee's deductions?
Matching CPP and 1.4 times the employee EI premium. On $3,000 biweekly in Ontario our calculator shows $228.41 per period.
Which CRA tool calculates deductions?
The Payroll Deductions Online Calculator covers all provinces and territories except Quebec, where employers use Revenu Quebec's WebRAS for provincial amounts.
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