PDOC asks you to enter each employee’s TD1 claim amounts, so our TD1 form guide can help you understand where those numbers come from before you run a calculation.
The CRA’s Payroll Deductions Online Calculator, known as PDOC, is the official free tool for calculating federal and provincial payroll deductions in Canada. Employers use it to figure out how much income tax, CPP and EI to withhold from each paycheque. If you want a quicker estimate of your own take-home pay without the CRA’s employer-focused workflow, our payroll deductions calculator gives you the same breakdown in seconds.
What Is PDOC?
PDOC is the Canada Revenue Agency’s official online calculator for payroll deductions. It applies the exact 2026 federal and provincial tax brackets, CPP contribution rates and exemptions, and EI premium rates to a given salary and pay frequency. Because it uses the CRA’s own tables, its results are the reference standard that payroll software and accountants reconcile against. The CRA updates PDOC every January with the new year’s figures.
How to Use PDOC: Step by Step
Using the CRA’s calculator takes about five minutes if you have the employee’s details ready:
- Open the CRA’s Payroll Deductions Online Calculator and select the 2026 tax year.
- Choose the province or territory of employment. This determines the provincial tax brackets applied.
- Enter the pay frequency: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly. PDOC annualizes correctly for each.
- Enter the gross salary or wages for the pay period.
- Enter any additional amounts: taxable benefits, bonuses, overtime or retroactive pay.
- Input the employee’s TD1 claim amounts (federal and provincial) if they differ from the basic personal amount.
- Review the results: federal tax, provincial tax, CPP/QPP, EI/QPIP and net pay per period.
For Quebec employees, PDOC handles QPP and QPIP instead of CPP and EI, plus Quebec’s separate provincial tax calculation. Our Quebec paycheck calculator covers the same ground with a simpler interface.
What PDOC Calculates
PDOC computes federal income tax using the 2026 federal brackets, provincial or territorial income tax using that jurisdiction’s brackets and credits, CPP contributions up to the 2026 maximum pensionable earnings (including CPP2 on earnings above the first ceiling), and EI premiums up to the 2026 maximum insurable earnings. It also factors in the basic personal amounts and any TD1 claims you enter.
What PDOC Does Not Do
PDOC is a deductions calculator, not a full payroll system. It does not handle pension adjustments, union dues, garnishments, or employer-specific deductions like group benefits and RRSP contributions. It also does not store results or integrate with accounting software. For a broader picture of everything that can come off a Canadian paycheque, see our Canadian payroll guide.
When Employers Must Get This Right
Employers are legally required to withhold the correct amounts and remit them to the CRA on schedule. Under-deducting leaves the employer liable for the shortfall plus penalties and interest. Most small employers either use PDOC for each pay run or rely on payroll software that embeds the same CRA tables. If you are an employee checking your employer’s math, compare your pay stub against PDOC or against our pay stub guide to verify each deduction line.
PDOC vs Our Calculator
PDOC is built for employers running payroll: it asks for TD1 claims, handles special payments and follows the CRA’s exact calculation order. Our calculators are built for employees who want a fast, clear answer to “what hits my bank account?” Both use the same 2026 CRA figures, so the numbers should agree. Use PDOC when you need the CRA’s official worksheet; use ours when you want the answer in under a minute.
When PDOC Beats Manual Calculation
PDOC shines in three situations. First, mid-year hires, where the annual claim amounts need prorating and the manual tables get fiddly. Second, employees with uneven pay, such as hourly workers whose hours change every period, because PDOC recalculates from actual year-to-date figures. Third, Quebec and multi-jurisdiction cases, where two tax systems interact and the tables require careful cross-referencing.
For a straightforward salaried employee with no changes all year, the T4032 tables and PDOC will agree to the cent. The tool earns its keep on the exceptions, which is most of real payroll. Our payroll deduction tool covers the employee-facing side of the same math.
T4032 Tables: The Offline Alternative
The CRA publishes the same formulas as paper tables in guide T4032, Payroll Deductions Tables, updated every January and July. Each province has its own booklet with weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, and monthly tables. You look up the pay period earnings, read across to the claim amount column, and find the federal and provincial tax to withhold.
Tables are slower than PDOC but useful when the internet is not, and they are the authoritative reference behind the tool. If PDOC ever produces a figure that looks wrong, the T4032 table for that pay period is the tiebreaker. Keep the current edition bookmarked alongside PDOC rather than relying on memory from a previous year, because the brackets and rates change.
PDOC for Bonuses and Retroactive Pay
Lump sums get special treatment in PDOC. Select the bonus or retroactive pay option and enter the amount separately from regular salary. PDOC annualizes the payment to find the right marginal bracket, then applies the lump-sum withholding logic. This matters because a $5,000 bonus added to a regular $2,000 biweekly cheque would otherwise be overtaxed if it were run through the normal pay-period formula.
The common error is running a bonus as if it were regular pay, which withholds too much and shrinks the bonus cheque unnecessarily. The employee gets the difference back at tax time, but nobody wants to wait a year for their own bonus. Always use the dedicated lump-sum path for one-time payments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the CRA payroll deductions calculator free?
Yes. PDOC is completely free and available on the CRA’s website. No account or sign-in is required.
What is PDOC in Canada?
PDOC stands for Payroll Deductions Online Calculator. It is the CRA’s official tool for calculating how much federal tax, provincial tax, CPP and EI to deduct from an employee’s pay.
Does PDOC work for Quebec?
PDOC handles federal deductions and provincial tax outside Quebec. For Quebec employees, use Revenu Quebec’s WebRAS or the TP-1015.3-V source deduction tables for the provincial portion, and PDOC for the federal portion.
How accurate is the CRA payroll deductions calculator?
It is the reference standard. PDOC uses the CRA’s own 2026 tax tables, so its results match what the CRA expects employers to withhold.
Can employees use PDOC to check their pay?
Yes. Anyone can use PDOC. Enter your province, pay frequency and gross pay to verify the deductions on your pay stub.
Last updated: October 14, 2026 • Author: Paycheck Calculator Team