Canada tax brackets, 2021
Five federal brackets in 2021, topping out at 33.0% above $216,511, and a different provincial scale in each of the twelve jurisdictions the CRA publishes. These are the rates as they applied to that year’s return — not a calculator, because brackets alone cannot produce a tax bill.
The federal rates for 2021
Five brackets, applied in slices. The first slice of taxable income is taxed at the lowest rate, the next slice at the next, and so on. Reaching the top bracket never meant the whole income was taxed at the top rate.
15% — on the first $49,020
20.5% — from $49,020 to $98,040
26% — from $98,040 to $151,978
29% — from $151,978 to $216,511
33% — on everything above $216,511
The top rate of 33% started at $216,511 that year. Everyone in Canada paid these rates, whichever province they lived in — the federal half of an income tax bill does not vary by province, only the provincial half does.
How much you could earn tax-free in 2021
In 2021 the federal basic personal amount was $13,808 at most. That is the figure behind "how much can you earn before paying tax", and for federal tax the answer that year was exactly that: $13,808.
It works as a non-refundable credit at the lowest rate, not as a bracket taxed at zero. $13,808 at 15% is $2,071 of tax cancelled — and because the first bracket is also taxed at 15%, the credit exactly wipes out the tax on the first $13,808 of income. The arithmetic lands in the same place as a zero-rate band, which is why people describe it that way, but it is not one: it does not move the brackets above it and it does not change anyone's marginal rate.
Up $579 on 2020's $13,229 — and that rise was legislated rather than indexed, part of the increase to $15,000 announced in December 2019.
And from 2020 the amount itself is means-tested, which is the part almost nobody knows. Above $151,978 of net income — the point where the 29% bracket starts — the basic personal amount is clawed back on a straight line, reaching its floor of $12,421 at $216,511, where the 33% bracket begins. Earn $184,245 in 2021 and your basic personal amount is $13,114, not $13,808.
The reduction is worth $208 of extra tax at the top of that range — small against the sums involved, but it is a genuine extra marginal rate hidden inside a band that the rate table shows as a flat 29%.
Read off Form 5000-R, T1 return, line 30000.
Your province had its own amount on top of that, and for 2021 it is below.
And the provincial amount, which is nothing like uniform
Every province and territory sets its own basic personal amount on top of the federal one, and the gap between them is wider than anything in the rate tables. In 2021:
Alberta — $19,369. Federal and provincial together: $33,177.
Nunavut — $16,304. Federal and provincial together: $30,112.
Saskatchewan — $16,225. Federal and provincial together: $30,033.
Northwest Territories — $15,243. Federal and provincial together: $29,051.
Yukon — $13,808, falling to $12,421 at higher incomes — which is the federal figure exactly, because Yukon adopts it rather than setting one. Federal and provincial together: $27,616.
Nova Scotia — $11,481, falling to $8,481 at higher incomes. Federal and provincial together: $25,289.
British Columbia — $11,070. Federal and provincial together: $24,878.
Ontario — $10,880. Federal and provincial together: $24,688.
New Brunswick — $10,564. Federal and provincial together: $24,372.
Prince Edward Island — $10,500. Federal and provincial together: $24,308.
Manitoba — $9,936. Federal and provincial together: $23,744.
Newfoundland and Labrador — $9,536. Federal and provincial together: $23,344.
Alberta exempted $9,833 more than Newfoundland and Labrador that year — more than twice as much, on the same federal salary. Stack each on the federal $13,808 and the amount you could earn before any income tax at all ran from $23,344 to $33,177, depending only on which side of a provincial boundary you slept on 31 December.
Two of them do not have a single figure at all.
Nova Scotia reduces its amount as income rises, and on a rule of its own: $11,481 less 6% of every dollar of annual income above $25,000, bottoming out at $8,481 once you pass $75,000. On $50,000 that works out at $9,981. Note where it bites: this is a claw-back aimed at ordinary salaries, not at high earners — it is finished by $75,000, where the federal one has not even started.
Yukon does not set an amount. It takes the federal one, phase-out and all — $13,808 down to $12,421 — so a Yukon taxpayer has the same figure twice, once against each scale. No other jurisdiction does this.
Read off the 2021 edition of the T4032 payroll tables for each province, on 2026-09-21.
And the provincial and territorial rates for 2021
Your province of residence on 31 December 2021 decided which of these applied — not where you worked, not where you were paid, and not where you lived in January.
Twelve jurisdictions, from the flattest to the steepest at the top:
Nova Scotia — 5 brackets, from 8.79% to 21% above $150,000. Combined with the federal top rate: 54%.
British Columbia — 7 brackets, from 5.06% to 20.5% above $222,420. Combined with the federal top rate: 53.5%.
New Brunswick — 5 brackets, from 9.4% to 20.3% above $162,383. Combined with the federal top rate: 53.3%.
Newfoundland and Labrador — 5 brackets, from 8.7% to 18.3% above $190,363. Combined with the federal top rate: 51.3%.
Manitoba — 3 brackets, from 10.8% to 17.4% above $72,885. Combined with the federal top rate: 50.4%.
Prince Edward Island — 3 brackets, from 9.8% to 16.7% above $63,969. Combined with the federal top rate: 49.7%.
Alberta — 5 brackets, from 10% to 15% above $314,928. Combined with the federal top rate: 48%.
Yukon — 5 brackets, from 6.4% to 15% above $500,000. Combined with the federal top rate: 48%.
Saskatchewan — 3 brackets, from 10.5% to 14.5% above $130,506. Combined with the federal top rate: 47.5%.
Northwest Territories — 4 brackets, from 5.9% to 14.05% above $144,362. Combined with the federal top rate: 47.05%.
Ontario — 5 brackets, from 5.05% to 13.16% above $220,000. Combined with the federal top rate: 46.16%.
Nunavut — 4 brackets, from 4% to 11.5% above $151,978. Combined with the federal top rate: 44.5%.
So the spread between the two ends of the country was 9.5% of every dollar at the top of the scale — Nova Scotia at 54% against Nunavut at 44.5%.
Quebec is not in that list either, and its absence is not an oversight. The Canada Revenue Agency does not publish Quebec's rates in this table; it links to a Revenu Québec document instead, because Quebec administers its own income tax. So the count runs three ways: twelve jurisdictions on this page, twelve that the CRA publishes, and thirteen that Canada actually has.
The 2021 tax tables in full, one jurisdiction at a time
Alberta, 2021 — 5 brackets:
10% — on the first $131,220
12% — from $131,220 to $157,464
13% — from $157,464 to $209,952
14% — from $209,952 to $314,928
15% — on everything above $314,928
British Columbia, 2021 — 7 brackets:
5.06% — on the first $42,184
7.7% — from $42,184 to $84,369
10.5% — from $84,369 to $96,866
12.29% — from $96,866 to $117,623
14.7% — from $117,623 to $159,483
16.8% — from $159,483 to $222,420
20.5% — on everything above $222,420
Manitoba, 2021 — 3 brackets:
10.8% — on the first $33,723
12.75% — from $33,723 to $72,885
17.4% — on everything above $72,885
New Brunswick, 2021 — 5 brackets:
9.4% — on the first $43,835
14.82% — from $43,835 to $87,671
16.52% — from $87,671 to $142,534
17.84% — from $142,534 to $162,383
20.3% — on everything above $162,383
Newfoundland and Labrador, 2021 — 5 brackets:
8.7% — on the first $38,081
14.5% — from $38,081 to $76,161
15.8% — from $76,161 to $135,973
17.3% — from $135,973 to $190,363
18.3% — on everything above $190,363
Northwest Territories, 2021 — 4 brackets:
5.9% — on the first $44,396
8.6% — from $44,396 to $88,796
12.2% — from $88,796 to $144,362
14.05% — on everything above $144,362
Nova Scotia, 2021 — 5 brackets:
8.79% — on the first $29,590
14.95% — from $29,590 to $59,180
16.67% — from $59,180 to $93,000
17.5% — from $93,000 to $150,000
21% — on everything above $150,000
Nunavut, 2021 — 4 brackets:
4% — on the first $46,740
7% — from $46,740 to $93,480
9% — from $93,480 to $151,978
11.5% — on everything above $151,978
Ontario, 2021 — 5 brackets:
5.05% — on the first $45,142
9.15% — from $45,142 to $90,287
11.16% — from $90,287 to $150,000
12.16% — from $150,000 to $220,000
13.16% — on everything above $220,000
Prince Edward Island, 2021 — 3 brackets:
9.8% — on the first $31,984
13.8% — from $31,984 to $63,969
16.7% — on everything above $63,969
Saskatchewan, 2021 — 3 brackets:
10.5% — on the first $45,677
12.5% — from $45,677 to $130,506
14.5% — on everything above $130,506
Yukon, 2021 — 5 brackets:
6.4% — on the first $49,020
9% — from $49,020 to $98,040
10.9% — from $98,040 to $151,978
12.8% — from $151,978 to $500,000
15% — on everything above $500,000
What changed between 2020 and 2021
Ottawa did not move. The federal rates in 2021 were the same 15%, 20.5%, 26%, 29%, 33% as in 2020. The thresholds rose with inflation — that happens every year and is not a policy decision — but no rate changed.
And 1 of the 12 provinces and territories on this page changed a rate, a bracket count or the whole system:
New Brunswick — 9.68% became 9.4%.
Thresholds are left out of that list on purpose. Almost every jurisdiction indexes its brackets to inflation, so almost every threshold moves every year, and a list of them would bury the handful of changes that were actually decisions.
What this page deliberately will not do
It will not work out what you owed in 2021, and the reason is worth more than a calculator would be.
A tax bill is not the brackets. It is the brackets minus the basic personal amount, minus the provincial credits, plus Ontario's surtax where it applies, alongside CPP and EI with their own ceilings — and every one of those figures was different in 2021 from what it is now. The CRA's rate table carries none of them.
So a calculator built on this page would take the one piece of 2021 that is published, pair it with 2026 values for everything else, and produce a number that looks authoritative and is wrong. That is a worse outcome than no number at all, and it is the commonest way historical tax pages mislead.
What the table is genuinely good for: checking a rate you half-remember, seeing which bracket a figure fell into, and comparing 2021 with the year before or after. For an actual figure, the 2026 calculator has every piece it needs — basic amounts, surtax, contributions and all.
And if you are reassessing a 2021 return, the authority is your own notice of assessment and the CRA, not this page or any other. 3 years on, the figures here are a reference, not a filing.
The years either side
The federal top rate across every year on this site, so you can see where 2021 sits:
2000 — 3 brackets, top rate 29% above $60,009.
2001 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $100,000.
2002 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $103,000.
2003 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $104,648.
2004 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $113,804.
2005 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $115,739.
2006 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $118,285.
2007 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $120,887.
2008 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $123,184.
2009 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $126,264.
2010 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $127,021.
2011 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $128,800.
2012 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $132,406.
2013 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $135,054.
2014 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $136,270.
2015 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $138,586.
2016 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $200,000.
2017 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $202,800.
2018 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $205,842.
2019 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $210,371.
2020 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $214,368.
2021 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $216,511 ← this page.
2022 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $221,708.
2023 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $235,675.
2024 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $246,752.
Read down that list and the federal top rate is 29% for sixteen straight years and 33% for the nine after it. The thresholds, meanwhile, moved every single year — the point at which the top rate begins rose from $60,009 in 2000 to $246,752 in 2024. Almost all of that is indexation doing its work rather than a government doing anything.
Next to this one: 2020 and 2022. And the current year, in full, at 2026 tax brackets.
Where the 2021 figures came from
CRA — All years tax rates and income brackets, federal and provincial or territorial, 2015 onward — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/tax-rates-brackets/all-years.html
Every rate and threshold on this page was taken from that table and checked for internal consistency before publication: each bracket's ceiling has to be the next one's floor, rates have to rise, and the first bracket has to start at zero. Any table that failed those checks would not be here.
The basic personal amount comes from different documents again, because the CRA publishes it nowhere near the rate table:
CRA — Income Tax Folio S1-F4-C1, Basic Personal and Dependant Tax Credits, indexation amounts table (2015 and 2016) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/technical-information/income-tax/income-tax-folios-index/series-1-individuals/series-1-individuals-1/income-tax-folio-s1-f4-c1-basic-personal-dependant-tax-credits.html
CRA — Form 5000-S1, Schedule 1 Federal Tax, and each province's Form 428, for the 2013 and 2014 brackets and amounts, read from the PDFs in layout mode — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/tax-packages-years.html
CRA — Form 5000-S1, Schedule 1 Federal Tax, line 300 (2017 and 2018 editions) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5000-s1/5000-s1-18e.pdf
CRA — Form 5000-R, Income Tax and Benefit Return, line 30000 (2019 to 2022 editions) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5000-r/5000-r-22e.pdf
CRA — Indexation adjustment for personal income tax and benefit amounts, non-refundable tax credits (2023 and 2024) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/frequently-asked-questions-individuals/adjustment-personal-income-tax-benefit-amounts.html
CRA — Form 428 for each province and territory, one per year (2015 to 2020), and T4032 Payroll Deductions Tables, previous-year editions (2021 to 2024) — read 2026-09-21. For 2021 the figures come from the 2021 edition of the T4032 payroll tables for each province. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/tax-packages-years.html
And what this does not cover:
— Quebec is not here. The CRA does not publish Quebec rates in this table — it links to a Revenu Québec document instead — so these pages cover twelve jurisdictions rather than thirteen, and say so rather than quietly listing twelve and calling it Canada.
— No tax is calculated on these pages, and that is deliberate. The basic personal amount, Ontario's surtax, the provincial credits, CPP and EI all change from year to year as well, and none of them is in this table. A figure worked out from the brackets alone would be wrong, and confidently wrong is the worst kind.
— Rates and thresholds are as published for the tax year, not as they may later have been amended. Where a province legislated a change part-way through a year, the CRA table shows the rate that applied to the return for that year.
— For tax years before 2015 there is no single CRA table: the rates live inside each year's income tax package, one form per province per year. Those forms were downloaded and read individually — the federal Schedule 1 and every provincial Form 428 back to 2000 — and validated the same way as the later years. Two gaps survived that work and are named rather than filled: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have no 2000 or 2002 Form 428 on canada.ca and no copy in the Internet Archive, so those three jurisdictions are absent from those two years and the pages say which.
— In 2000 four provinces had no tax brackets at all. Alberta, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan still charged a percentage of the federal tax you had already calculated rather than setting rates of their own, so their rows in the 2000 table give that percentage instead of a scale. By 2001 all four had moved to rates of their own. This is a fact about the tax, not a hole in the data.
Where to go next
Questions
- What were the tax brackets in Canada in 2021?
- Federally, five: 15% on the first $49,020; 20.5% from $49,020 to $98,040; 26% from $98,040 to $151,978; 29% from $151,978 to $216,511; 33% above $216,511. Each province and territory then applied its own scale on top, and your province of residence on 31 December 2021 decided which.
- What was the highest tax rate in Canada in 2021?
- The federal top rate was 33% above $216,511. Combined with the provincial top rate the highest was Nova Scotia at 54% and the lowest Nunavut at 44.5%.
- What were the Ontario tax brackets for 2021?
- Five of them: 5.05%, 9.15%, 11.16%, 12.16%, 13.16%, the top one starting at $220,000. Ontario also charged a surtax on its own provincial tax that year, which is not in the CRA's rate table and therefore not on this page.
- Can I use this to work out what I owed in 2021?
- Not in full. The federal side is closer than it was — the brackets and the basic personal amount of $13,808 are both here — but the provincial credits, Ontario's surtax and the CPP and EI ceilings for 2021 are not, and your province's own basic personal amount is not either. Use this to check a rate or a threshold, not to produce a bill. For a real calculation use the 2026 calculator, which has every piece.
- How much could you earn tax-free in 2021?
- $13,808 federally, provided your net income stayed under $151,978. Above that the amount is clawed back on a straight line to $12,421 at $216,511. It is a non-refundable credit at 15% rather than a zero-rate band, which comes to the same thing on that first slice of income. Adding each province's own amount, the real threshold ran from $23,344 in Newfoundland and Labrador to $33,177 in Alberta.
- Why is Quebec missing from the 2021 table?
- Because the Canada Revenue Agency does not publish it. Quebec administers its own income tax, and the CRA's all-years table links to a Revenu Québec document rather than listing Quebec rates. This page covers twelve jurisdictions, which is what the CRA publishes, rather than presenting twelve as if it were all of Canada.
- Did tax rates change in 2021?
- Yes. The federal rates were unchanged. Provincially, New Brunswick changed a rate or a bracket count.