Compute employee CPP + CPP2 + EI for 2026.
Total CPP + EI
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CPP (5.95%)
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CPP2 (4%)
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EI (1.64%)
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Your breakdown
Updates live as you type| Component | Base amount | Rate | Contribution |
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The three deductions hiding in your paycheque
Most Canadian employees see CPP and EI come off every cheque and never look closely. There are actually three things going on for 2026, and this tool separates them so you can sanity-check your T4 in January. The base CPP contribution runs at 5.95 percent on pensionable earnings, which are your salary minus the $3,500 basic exemption, up to the year’s maximum pensionable earnings of $71,300. Above that ceiling and up to the second ceiling of $81,200, you pay CPP2 at 4 percent on that narrow band. EI is separate: 1.64 percent on insurable earnings up to $64,500. Each contribution stops once you hit its own cap, which is why a $300,000 earner pays exactly the same CPP and EI as someone at $85,000.
A $85,000 salary, line by line
Take the default $85,000 income. Because that sits above both CPP ceilings and the EI ceiling, you max out all three deductions. CPP base earnings are $71,300 minus the $3,500 exemption, which gives $67,800 taxed at 5.95 percent. CPP2 applies to the full $9,900 between $71,300 and $81,200 at 4 percent. EI is the $64,500 cap at 1.64 percent. Here is the arithmetic the calculator runs, rounded the way it displays the result.
So roughly $5,488 leaves your gross before any income tax is even calculated. The chart below shows how the three pieces stack, with the towering CPP base dwarfing the much smaller CPP2 and EI slices.
Quebec runs its own version
If you work in Quebec the numbers differ in three ways. Quebec replaced CPP with the Quebec Pension Plan, which charges a higher 6.40 percent base rate rather than 5.95 percent, so a Quebec worker contributes more to the pension side on the same salary. Quebec also runs a lower provincial EI rate, because part of the parental coverage that EI provides elsewhere is carved out into the separate Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, the QPIP, which charges its own premium on top. This calculator uses the rest-of-Canada CPP and EI figures, so a Quebec resident should treat the output as an approximation and check Revenu Quebec for the current QPP, EI, and QPIP rates. The CPP2 band between the two ceilings works the same way under the QPP, but the base pension contribution will always read higher than the figure shown here.
When your deductions stop for the year
One thing the annual view hides is timing. Because each contribution has a yearly cap, a higher earner reaches the ceiling partway through the year and then sees CPP and EI vanish from later cheques, which makes those paycheques noticeably larger. Someone earning well above the ceilings might max EI by the summer and CPP a little later, so their take-home pay quietly rises in the back half of the year even though their salary never changed. Knowing this prevents the common surprise of a bigger November cheque being mistaken for a raise.
Who this helps and a quick tip
This is built for salaried employees verifying a pay stub, new hires modelling their first net cheque, and anyone returning to work mid-year who wants to know when their deductions will stop. A practical note many people miss: if you change employers partway through the year, the new payroll restarts CPP and EI from zero because it cannot see what the old job already withheld. You can easily overcontribute. The CRA refunds excess CPP and EI when you file your return, so do not panic, but it does mean a temporarily smaller net cheque at the new job until the totals catch up.
Do I get CPP2 back, or is it lost money?
CPP2 is not a tax. It buys additional future CPP benefits, the same way base CPP does. The enhanced contributions you and earlier cohorts pay are slowly lifting the maximum CPP retirement pension over time. You will see it again as a larger monthly cheque in retirement, not as a refund.
Why is my EI deduction capped so much lower than CPP?
The EI insurable maximum of $64,500 is well below the CPP ceiling of $71,300, and the rate of 1.64 percent is far lower than 5.95 percent. EI is short-term wage insurance, not a pension, so the program caps the earnings it will ever replace. Once your salary passes $64,500, no further EI comes off no matter how much more you earn.