What CPP takes off your pay
5.95% on what you earn between $3,500 and $74,600, then 4% on the next $10,400. Two rates, two ceilings and one exemption — which is why the number on your pay stub matches no single percentage.
Your 2026 contributions
- Base tier at 5.95%
- $4,230.45
- CPP2 at 4%
- $16.00
- Your employer also pays
- $4,246.45
- Share of your gross earnings
- 5.66%
Past the first ceiling. Contributions continue at the CPP2 rate up to $85,000, where they stop at $4,646.45 for the year.
Two ceilings, not one
Until 2024 there was a single ceiling and contributions simply stopped at it. Now there are two. Earnings up to $74,600 are charged at 5.95%; earnings from there to $85,000 are charged at 4% instead, as a separate line called CPP2.
The second band is worth $416.00 a year at most, so it is small next to the $4,230.45 below it. It is not small in what it buys: CPP2 is the piece that lifts the eventual pension above the old quarter-of-earnings design.
The exemption is why your rate is never 5.95%
The first $3,500 of annual earnings is exempt. Everyone gets it, so the headline rate always overstates what actually comes off: at $40,000 the true share is about 5.43% of gross pay, and it falls further as earnings pass the ceilings.
It also explains the other common surprise: contributions stop part-way through the year for higher earners, because the cap is annual rather than per paycheque. Net pay rises for the last few periods and resets in January.
What you are buying
Contributions are not a tax on the way to nothing — they buy a specific, indexed, lifelong pension, and the calculation from one to the other is published. A year at or above the ceiling adds a full year of maximum earnings to the average that decides your pension; a year at half the ceiling adds half. The estimator runs that calculation across a whole career, and the methodology page shows every step of it.
Common questions
What is the maximum CPP contribution for 2026?
$4,646.45 for an employee — $4,230.45 on the base tier plus $416.00 of CPP2. Your employer pays the same again, so $9,292.90 reaches the plan. A self-employed person pays both halves: $9,292.90.
What is the CPP contribution rate for 2026?
5.95% for employees and the same for employers, on earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the first ceiling of $74,600. Between $74,600 and $85,000 a second rate of 4% applies instead. Self-employed people pay both shares, so 11.9% and 8%.
What is CPP2?
A second contribution on a second band of earnings, introduced in 2024 as the last stage of the CPP enhancement. Earnings between the first ceiling and the second — $74,600 to $85,000 in 2026 — attract 4% rather than 5.95%. It appears as its own line on a pay stub, which is why it looks like a new deduction rather than part of CPP.
Why is my CPP deduction not exactly 5.95% of my pay?
Because the first $3,500 you earn is exempt, so the rate applies to less than your full salary. Someone earning $50,000 contributes 5.95% of $46,500, which works out at about 5.53% of gross pay. The share falls further above the ceilings.
Why did CPP stop coming off my pay part-way through the year?
You reached the annual maximum. Contributions are capped for the year, not per paycheque, so a higher earner finishes paying CPP before December and their net pay rises for the remaining periods. It starts again in January.
Do self-employed people pay double?
Yes — both the employee and employer shares, because there is no employer. That is $9,292.90 at the maximum in 2026. Half of it is deductible against income, and the other half gives a tax credit, which softens the figure but does not halve it.
How much did the ceiling rise in 2026?
The first ceiling went from $71,300 to $74,600, a rise of 4.6%. It tracks average wage growth rather than prices, which is why it usually moves faster than inflation and why the maximum contribution rises most years even when the rate does not change.
Rates, ceilings and maximums are the CRA's published contribution rates and maximums and CPP2 figures, checked on 20 August 2026. This site's own tests reproduce the published annual maximums to the cent. Quebec operates the Quebec Pension Plan, whose rates differ and are not covered here. Estimates only, and not tax or payroll advice.