All the Numbers

Taxes are per person

From the All the Numbers wiki · Tax

Under ITA s.2(1) tax is charged on the income of a person, not a household. There is no joint return in Canada, and a salary cannot simply be assigned to whichever partner is in a lower bracket.

What the engine does

Each person in the plan is taxed on their own income, from age 18 to 110.[1] A plan with someone outside that range is rejected rather than approximated. Each has their own:

  • federal and Ontario brackets
  • basic personal amount, including its phase-out
  • CPP, CPP2 and EI ceilings, see CPP and EI contributions — each person gets a full set, which is why two people earning $60,000 each pay more in contributions than one person earning $120,000
  • Ontario surtax and health premium

Only the resulting net amounts are pooled, in the cash the plan spends.

The one credit that crosses persons is the ITA 118(1)(a) spousal amount, claimed by the higher earner when the other's income is low enough, federally[2] and in Ontario.[3] Only one person claims it, and not together with the eligible-dependant amount.[4] The engine can claim it, but only when a plan carries household facts, and All the Numbers does not send them. A plan from All the Numbers therefore includes no spouse amount. See age, spouse and caregiver credits. The same missing facts are why children's benefits are absent.

What it deliberately does not

  • Pension income splitting (ITA 60.03), which lets a couple move up to half of eligible pension income after 65. This is the big one for retired couples.
  • Spousal RRSPs, where the higher earner takes the deduction and the lower earner is eventually taxed on the withdrawal.
  • Prescribed-rate loans between partners.

Each of these could lower a real couple's lifetime bill, so the projection is the figure you would pay without planning for them.

See also

  • Age, spouse and caregiver credits · Some credits depend on who you are or who you support. The age amount starts at 65 and shrinks with income; the spouse amount is the basic personal amount less your partner's income. All the Numbers applies the age amount, and the spouse amount for a couple; not the caregiver credits.
  • Benefits tested on family income · The Canada Child Benefit, the GST/HST credit, the provincial child benefits and the Ontario Trillium Benefit are calculated on family net income and on facts about children and rent. All the Numbers pays the child benefits for the children you enter, and the GST/HST credit and your province's sales-tax and low-income credits to every household; Ontario's energy and property tax credit is not yet in a plan.
  • Combined marginal tax rates · The marginal rate is the federal and Ontario tax on the next dollar of income. In 2026 it runs from 19.05% to 53.53% on ordinary income, and the top rate is lower on capital gains and dividends than on interest.
  • CPP and EI contributions · Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance contributions come out of each paycheque up to a yearly ceiling. The plan calculates both from salary, and treats the self-employed as paying both halves of CPP.
  • How dividends are taxed · Canadian dividends are grossed up by 38% (eligible) or 15% (other), taxed as income, then reduced by a federal and Ontario dividend tax credit. The credits make dividends tax less than interest at the same income.
  • Income tax brackets and your marginal rate · Federal and Ontario tax are each charged in slices of income at rising rates, then reduced by credits, with an Ontario surtax and health premium on top. The marginal rate is what the next dollar costs; the average rate is total tax over income.
  • Pension income splitting · Spouses can jointly elect to move up to half of one partner's eligible pension income onto the other's return, lowering combined tax when incomes are uneven. CPP and OAS are not eligible.
  • Renting out part of your home · Suite income is taxable and its expenses are deductible on the rented portion, but renting can also limit the principal-residence exemption on the eventual sale. All the Numbers taxes the gain on the rented share when the home is sold, unless you tick that the rental needed no structural change and you claim no capital cost allowance; then the whole gain stays exempt.
  • RRSP room, deduction and withdrawals · Room accrues at 18% of earned income up to the annual cap, contributions earn a deduction refunded the following April, and withdrawals are taxed as income. The plan assumes you start with no carried-forward room unless you say otherwise.
  • Spousal RRSPs · A spousal RRSP is held by one partner and funded by the other, who takes the deduction. Withdrawals within three years of a contribution are taxed to the contributor. All the Numbers does not offer one, so each person's RRSP is their own.
  • The Guaranteed Income Supplement · A tax-free top-up to Old Age Security for pensioners with little other income. It falls by 50 cents for every dollar of other income (75 cents through part of the range); RRSP and RRIF withdrawals count against it, TFSA withdrawals do not. The projection estimates it on the previous year's income.
  • Where you live on 31 December · The province where you live on 31 December sets your provincial income tax for the whole calendar year. The plan uses one province for the household in every year, Ontario until you choose one, and does not model a move part way through the plan.
  • Who the plan is about · A plan covers one person or two. Where a birth year is missing the plan assumes the person is 40 and born on 1 January, says so on the page, and uses that age for tax, pension and account rules until the real one is entered.

References

  1. ↑engine boundary (no statute sets these bounds) · The core assessment accepts year-end ages 18–110; outside that range the plan is rejected rather than approximated · See the source · effective 2026-09-17
  2. ↑ITA 118(1)(a) for the C + C.01 - C.1 formula; 2026 dollar amount from TaxTips 2026 non-refundable credits · Federal spouse or common-law partner amount (ITA 118(1)(a); tracks the BPA, reduced dollar-for-dollar by the spouse's net income) · $16,452 · effective 2026-01-01
  3. ↑TD1ON 2026 lines 5–6 ("Enter $11,029 … net income for the year will be $1,103 or less") · Ontario spouse or common-law partner amount / amount for an eligible dependant (ON428 lines 58120/58160), in full while the dependant's net income is at or below the threshold · $11,029 · effective 2026-01-01
  4. ↑ITA 118(1)(a)–(b) · Federal spouse or eligible-dependant amount: the claimant's basic personal amount minus the dependant's net income (plus the caregiver add-on if infirm), floored at nil; one claim per person, never both 118(1)(a) and (b) · See the source · effective 2020-01-01