British Columbia Tax Brackets 2026

Ottawa's five brackets and B.C.'s seven

Both schedules apply to the same taxable income at the same time, and each rate reaches only the slice of income inside its own band. B.C. cuts its schedule finer than any province except Newfoundland and Labrador, into seven bands, with the top rate of 20.5% starting at $265,545.

Every B.C. threshold above went up this January with the province's consumer price index. That is the last increase for a while. Budget 2026 paused indexation for the 2027 to 2030 tax years, so these seven thresholds stay put until 2031 while the federal ones keep rising. A pay increase that only matches inflation will move a little more income into B.C.'s higher bands in each of those four years.

Why 2026 began at the wrong rate

The budget tabled on February 17 raised B.C.'s lowest rate from 5.06% to 5.60% for 2026 and every year after. CRA's payroll tables for January 1 were already in use with the old rate, so through June most employers withheld on the bottom band at 5.06%. The edition effective July 1 makes up the difference by withholding 6.14% on that band for the rest of the year. Halfway between the two is 5.60%, which is the point: 6.14% is a catch-up device for the second half, not a rate anyone owes, and the return taxes the whole year at 5.60%.

B.C. values the basic personal amount and most other non-refundable credits at its lowest rate, so the same change raised what they are worth. The $13,216 basic personal amount now removes $740 of B.C. tax. For anyone whose income stays inside the first band, the higher rate and the larger credit partly cancel.

The reduction that taxes low incomes at 9.16%

B.C. cancels up to $690 of provincial tax for lower incomes through the B.C. tax reduction. The whole amount goes to anyone with net income up to $25,570. Past that, it shrinks by 3.56% of each extra dollar and is gone at $44,952. Each of those lost cents is B.C. tax, so on that stretch the province takes 9.16% of a dollar rather than 5.60%, and the combined rate of 23.16% is higher than the 19.60% that applies just past $44,952.

The reduction also hides B.C.'s basic personal amount from view. On its own, the credit would start B.C. tax once income passed $13,216. With the reduction on top, there is no B.C. tax at all until income passes $25,537. The calculators here test the reduction against taxable income, which is the same figure as net income for a salary or a pension with no special deductions.

Every band, read off the engine

Add the two published rates and you get most of this table right and its bottom rows wrong. Each rate below was measured, not added: calc-hq's engine priced every income from zero upward and recorded what one more dollar would cost, which is how the B.C. tax reduction and the shrinking federal personal amount near the top find their way in. It counts only federal and B.C. income tax, on income like a pension, rent or bank interest that has nothing taken off for CPP or EI.

Paid as salary, the same dollar is cheaper up to $85,000, because a paycheque dollar brings contribution credits with it and the enhanced CPP is deducted before tax is worked out. A $40,000 salary pays 21.64% on its next dollar, against 23.16% in the table. Above $85,000 the two rates agree, but each threshold arrives $1,127 later on a pay stub than it does here, because that much enhanced CPP has already been deducted.

What $85,000 of pay owes

On an $85,000 salary the engine charges $10,227 of federal tax and $4,401 of B.C. tax, $14,627 together, which is 17.2% of the salary. The marginal rate on that pay is 28.20%: the federal 20.5% plus B.C.'s 7.70%. Only the dollars above $58,523 pay that federal rate, though, and only those above $50,363 pay that B.C. one. Everything underneath sits in a cheaper band or under a credit.

CPP and EI are both at their annual maximums by $85,000, so a $5,000 raise from there loses nothing to them. It adds $1,410 of income tax and keeps the rest, because it stays inside the same two bands.

Two basic personal amounts

Ottawa forgives tax on the first $16,452 of income through its basic personal amount; B.C. forgives it on the first $13,216. Each government turns its amount into a credit at its own lowest rate:

Only the federal amount depends on income. It begins to shrink at $181,440 of net income and bottoms out at $14,829 by $258,482, which is why the table charges 46.09% between $190,405 and $258,482 rather than the plain sum of 29% and 16.8%. B.C.'s doesn't change with income at all.