Canada self-employed CPP calculator: CPP, CPP2 and what you can deduct

If you're self-employed in Canada outside Quebec, you pay both the employee and the employer share of Canada Pension Plan contributions on your net business income, with your tax return. Type in your net self-employment income and the calculator works it out the way Schedule 8 does: 11.9% on earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, and 8% on earnings from there up to $85,000. It also shows how much is a deduction and how much is a tax credit.

Figures for 2026, 2025, 2024, checked against the CRA's and Service Canada's pages on canada.ca, Schedule 8 and the Canada Pension Plan and Income Tax Act on the Justice Laws website on 2026-10-11. Not written by an accountant.

The short answer

• Base and first additional CPP: for 2026, 11.9% on your net self-employment earnings over the $3,500 basic exemption, up to the $74,600 maximum pensionable earnings (CRA: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions). "If you are self-employed, you pay the full 11.9%" (Service Canada: Contributions to the CPP).
• Second additional CPP (CPP2): 8% on earnings between $74,600 and $85,000 (CRA: CPP2 rates and maximums). Nothing above $85,000.
• The most you can owe for 2026: $8,460.90 plus $832.00 of CPP2, $9,292.90 in all (the CRA's self-employed maximums).
• How you pay: on your income tax return, using Schedule 8 (line 42100). Part of it is a deduction (line 22200) and part a non-refundable credit (line 31000) (CRA: line 22200, line 31000, line 42100).

The CPP calculator

Pick the year and type in your net self-employment income for that year. It starts with a made-up example: $80,000 in 2026.

The example's numbers are made up to show how it works; they aren't typical. Amounts are worked to the cent; Schedule 8 (or your tax software) is the final word.

1. How it's worked out (Schedule 8, Part 4)

Self-employed people work out their CPP on Schedule 8. Part 4 is for "self-employment income or other earnings only (no employment income)" (Schedule 8, Canada Pension Plan Contributions and Overpayment). It goes like this, with 2026's figures:

• Pensionable earnings: your net self-employment income (a loss counts as zero), capped at the additional maximum pensionable earnings, $85,000 (lines 3 and 4). Contributions are "based on your net business income (after expenses)", not investment income (Service Canada).
• CPP2 band: the part over the maximum pensionable earnings, $74,600 (line 6).
• Base band: the rest, minus the $3,500 basic exemption (lines 7 to 9). The Act fixes it at $3,500 for every year after 1997 (CPP, s. 20).
• Contributions: base CPP at 9.9% and first additional CPP at 2% of the base band, and CPP2 at 8% of the CPP2 band (lines 10 to 12). Their total goes on line 42100 of your return (line 14).
• The law: the base, first additional and second additional contributions on self-employed earnings are set by CPP, s. 10; the rates by s. 11.1 and s. 11.2 and the Act's schedules (CPP, Schedules 1 and 2): 4.95% each for employees and employers (so 9.9% self-employed), plus 1% each first additional and 4% each second additional.

In the example above: $71,100.00 of earnings is in the base band, so base CPP is $7,038.90 and first additional CPP is $1,422.00; $5,400.00 is in the CPP2 band, so CPP2 is $432.00. Together: $8,892.90.

2. Deduction or credit?

The CRA splits what you pay in two (CRA: the CPP enhancement, what it means for you): "Claim a non-refundable tax credit on 4.95% of the base CPP contributions, and claim a tax deduction on the other 4.95%. Claim a tax deduction on the enhanced portion of your contributions (2%)", and "All CPP2 contributions are tax deductible".

• Line 31000, credit: half of the base contributions (Schedule 8 line 15). The credit for CPP on self-employed earnings comes from ITA, s. 118.7.
• Line 22200, deduction: the other half of the base contributions plus all the first additional and CPP2 contributions (line 17). The deduction comes from ITA, para. 60(e): half of the base contribution under s. 10(1) of the CPP, plus the contributions under s. 10(1.1) and (1.2).
• In the example: a credit on $3,519.45 and a deduction of $5,373.45.

3. Rates and limits by year

From the CRA's two payroll tables (CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions, CPP2 rates and maximums). The rates there are per side; the self-employed pay both.

Swipe or scroll sideways to see more →

• The rates and the basic exemption are the same in all 3 years; only the two earnings limits change. CPP2 started in 2024 (s. 10(1.2)), so the calculator starts at 2024. The first additional contribution started in 2019 (Service Canada: CPP enhancement) and reached its full rate in 2023 (Schedule 2).
• The maximum pensionable earnings follow average wages (CPP, s. 18); the additional maximum is 1.07 times it for 2024 and 1.14 times it from 2025, rounded down to the nearest $100 (CPP, s. 18.1).
• Next year: the CRA hadn't published figures after 2026 on 2026-10-11. We'll add the next year when it does, not before.

4. Checked against the CRA's maximums

The CRA doesn't publish a worked example for a self-employed person, but its tables give the most a self-employed person pays each year. Run with earnings at each year's additional maximum, the calculator's code comes out the same:

5. If you also had a job (T4)

• "The amount of the contributions you have to make, or choose to make, depends on how much you have already contributed to the CPP or QPP as an employee. These amounts are shown in boxes 16, 16A, 17 and 17A of your T4 slips" (CRA: line 22200).
• Schedule 8 handles that in Part 5, which starts from your T4 pensionable earnings and the contributions already deducted, and can end in an overpayment refunded on line 44800 (Schedule 8 (2025, PDF)). It has dozens of lines, and doing it from a single number would get it wrong, so this calculator doesn't. Your tax software, or the schedule itself, works it out from your slips.
• "You cannot use self-employment or partnership losses to reduce your CPP or QPP contributions paid on employment earnings" (CRA: line 22200).

6. Age 18 and 70, disability and other exceptions

• Turning 18 or 70, or a disability pension: in that year only some months count. The Act prorates your self-employed earnings (CPP, s. 13) and the basic exemption (CPP, s. 19) by the months "after" you reach 18 or "before" you reach 70, and the same for a disability pension that starts or stops. Schedule 8, Part 2, line A turns that into a number of months and a monthly table of limits (Schedule 8). The calculator doesn't prorate.
• 70 or older: "At the age of 70, you no longer contribute to the CPP, even if you are still working" (Service Canada).
• Receiving a CPP disability pension: "You do not contribute while you are receiving a CPP Disability benefit" (Service Canada).
• 60 to 70 and getting a CPP or QPP retirement pension: you're a "CPP working beneficiary" and keep contributing, but from 65 you can elect to stop; with self-employment income only, you make the election on Schedule 8, Part 1 (Schedule 8, line 22200).
• Partnerships: "include on Schedule 8 or Form RC381 only your share of the net profit" (CRA: line 22200).

7. Quebec: the QPP instead

• If you lived in Quebec on December 31, line 42100 doesn't apply: you pay Quebec Pension Plan contributions on your Revenu Québec return instead (CRA: line 42100). This calculator doesn't cover the QPP; the CRA notes that CPP and QPP base rates are different (CRA: line 22200).
• Revenu Québec: QPP on self-employment income is worked out on Schedule U, Part C and goes on line 445 of the Québec return (Revenu Québec: line 445).
• If you contributed to both the CPP and the QPP in the year, the CRA's Form RC381 applies instead of Schedule 8 (CRA: line 22200).

8. Income tax is separate

• CPP is only part of what you owe on your self-employment income. Income tax is worked out on your taxable income after deductions (including the line 22200 deduction), and you pay both when you file. This calculator doesn't estimate income tax.
• Our CRA tax instalments guide explains when the CRA asks for quarterly payments and how much; the amounts it uses include CPP contributions on self-employment.

If you'd like the records behind your net income kept in one place, our paid Freelance Billing Kit by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) tracks invoices, payments and expenses, with a tax set-aside at the percentage you choose and an optional GST/HST tab. It doesn't work out CPP; it's a record-keeping tool, not tax advice.

Where the sources differ

We read the pages listed under Sources on 2026-10-11. A few details don't line up neatly; here's how this page handles them:

• A year label on Service Canada's page. Its contributions page says "The employee and employer second additional contribution rate for 2025 is" 4%, "and the maximum contribution will be $416" each ($832 self-employed) (Service Canada). Those are the CRA's 2026 maximums; for 2025 the CRA table and Schedule 8 give $396.00 each and $792.00 self-employed. The calculator uses the CRA's tables.
• "Approximately YMPE plus 14%". The CRA's infographic for the self-employed describes the second ceiling that way (CRA: Self-employed individuals and CPP2). The Act's rule is exact: 1.14 times the YMPE (1.07 for 2024), rounded down to $100 (CPP, s. 18.1). The calculator uses the published figures, which match the Act's rule.
• Different names for the same limits. The CRA's payroll tables say "maximum annual pensionable earnings" and "additional maximum annual pensionable earnings" (defined there as "AYMPE"); the line 22200 page and the infographic say YMPE and YAMPE. Same numbers.
• No 2026 Schedule 8 yet. The newest Schedule 8 is for 2025; the 2026 one comes with the 2026 tax package. For 2026, the calculator follows the 2025 form's Part 4 steps with the CRA's 2026 figures. Check the new form when it's out.
• Half a cent. Schedule 8 line 15 is half of the base contributions; when those end in an odd cent, it doesn't say which way to round. The calculator rounds half a cent up, so the credit and deduction can add up to a cent more than the total.
• A change that isn't in force. Justice Laws lists, under "Amendments not in force", S.C. 2026, c. 22, ss. 42–43: they would end the base rate of 4.95% each at 2026 and set 4.75% each (9.5% self-employed) for 2027 and later (Canada Pension Plan, full text). They weren't in force on 2026-10-11 (Act current to 2026-09-21), and the CRA hasn't published 2027 figures, so the calculator doesn't use them.

How the calculator works

• It follows Schedule 8, Part 4, line by line, with the year's figures: pensionable earnings, the CPP2 band, the base band after the basic exemption, then 9.9%, 2% and 8%. Each amount is rounded to the nearest cent. A loss or zero gives no CPP.
• The credit is half of the base contributions; the deduction is the rest (Schedule 8 lines 15 and 17).
• If you tick either box, it stops and says why instead of showing a number that could be wrong.
• It doesn't know about Part 5 (a T4 job as well), prorated years, the election to stop at 65 to 70, CPP on employment income you elect to pay it on (Form CPT20), Form RC381, or the QPP.

When to talk to an accountant

• you had a job as well as self-employment income, or more than one T4, and want to understand an overpayment or what you owe;
• you turned 18 or 70, started or stopped a disability pension, or are 65 to 70 with a retirement pension and thinking about stopping contributions;
• you moved to or from Quebec, or worked in Quebec and elsewhere in the same year;
• you're in a partnership, have business losses from other years, or aren't sure whether you're self-employed at all.

Related free resources

• CRA tax instalments for freelancers: whether you have to pay quarterly, the due dates and the three options, with a checker.
• Freelance tax set-aside calculator (Canada): how much of each payment to hold for GST/HST and income tax.
• GST/HST and setting money aside for taxes: the small-supplier rule, returns and deadlines.
• Freelance hourly rate calculator: a rate that covers your taxes and time off, with an optional CPP line.
• US self-employment tax calculator and UK self-employed National Insurance calculator, if you also work there.
• All free tools.

Sources

CRA and Service Canada pages on canada.ca, Schedule 8, the Canada Pension Plan and the Income Tax Act on the Justice Laws website (current to 2026-09-21), and Revenu Québec, read on 2026-10-11. The figures change every January; check the live pages before you rely on them.

• CRA: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions · CPP2 contribution rates and maximums · CPP and the CPP enhancement · Self-employed individuals and CPP2 · The CPP enhancement: what it means for you
• Your return: Line 22200 · Line 31000 · Line 42100 · Schedule 8 (form page) · Schedule 8, 2025 (PDF)
• Service Canada: Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan · Canada Pension Plan enhancement
• Legislation: CPP, s. 10 · CPP, s. 11.1 · CPP, s. 11.2 · CPP, s. 13 · CPP, s. 18 · CPP, s. 18.1 · CPP, s. 19 · CPP, s. 20 · CPP, full text (schedules) · ITA, para. 60(e) · ITA, s. 118.7
• Quebec: Revenu Québec: line 445, QPP on self-employment income

canada.ca page dates when read: CPP rates and CPP2 tables 2025-10-31; lines 22200, 31000 and 42100 and Schedule 8 2026-01-20; Service Canada contributions 2026-08-03.

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