Capital Gains Tax Calculator 2026

Enter what you sold something for and what it cost you. See the tax on the gain and what you keep, using 2026 rates for your province or territory.

✓ 2026 rates · verified Oct 21–27, 2026

How capital gains are taxed

A capital gain is what you sell something for, minus what it cost you and the costs of selling it. Only 50% of the gain is taxable: that half is added to your income for the year and taxed at your usual federal and provincial rates. The other half is yours, tax-free.

1. Gain = sale price − adjusted cost base − selling costs.
2. Net gain = gain − capital losses you apply this year.
3. Taxable capital gain = 50% × net gain (line 12700 of your return).
4. Tax = the tax on your other income plus the taxable gain, minus the tax on your other income alone, worked out with our income tax engine for your province and 2026 rates.

That’s why your rate on a gain is half your usual top rate. With a $70,000 job in Alberta, each extra dollar of salary is taxed at 30.50%, so each dollar of gain is taxed at 15.25%.

Your adjusted cost base and selling costs

The adjusted cost base (ACB) is what you paid, including commissions and legal fees on the purchase. If you bought the same shares or units several times, the ACB is the average cost of all of them, not the cost of the ones you think you sold. Reinvested distributions and return-of-capital amounts change it too, so check your records or your broker’s statement.

Selling costs (outlays and expenses) come off the gain: sale commissions, legal fees, and finders’ fees. Interest on money borrowed to buy the investment doesn’t; it may be deductible separately as a carrying charge.

Capital losses

Losses first offset gains in the same year. Unused net capital losses can be carried back to the three previous years or forward with no time limit, but only against taxable capital gains, never against your salary or pension. In this calculator, enter losses at their full amount (not halved) in “Losses to apply”: with a $10,000 gain and $4,000 of losses, the net gain is $6,000 and the tax is $915.00.

Tax on a $10,000 gain by province

On top of a $70,000 job, 2026 rates:

At this income, the tax runs from $1,375.00 in Nunavut to $1,858.50 in Nova Scotia. The tax on the gain is the engine’s tax with the gain minus without it, so it includes Ontario’s surtax and Health Premium and, in Quebec, Quebec tax with the federal abatement. In Ontario the gain also moves the Health Premium up a step, which adds $150: that’s why Ontario’s share (16.33%) is higher than its rate on the last dollar of the gain (14.83%).

Worked example

You live in Alberta, earn $70,000 from your job, and sell shares for $30,000 that cost you $20,000.

• Gain: $30,000 − $20,000 = $10,000.00.
• Taxable part: 50% × $10,000.00 = $5,000.00, added to your income.
• Federal tax rises by $1,025.00 and Alberta tax by $500.00: $1,525.00 in all, 15.25% of the gain.
• You keep $8,475.00. The same $10,000 as salary would cost $2,920.00 in income tax.

Selling your home

The principal residence exemption makes the gain on your home tax-free for each year it was your principal residence. A family can designate only one home per year, so a cottage and a city home can’t both be exempt for the same years. Set “Your home?” to “Yes, always” above for a home that was your principal residence every year you owned it; if it wasn’t, part of the gain is taxable, and CRA’s Form T2091 works out how much.

Where you hold investments matters

Gains inside a TFSA are never taxed, and gains inside an RRSP or RRIF aren’t taxed as capital gains: the whole withdrawal is taxed as income later. Small-business shares and farm or fishing property may qualify for the lifetime capital gains exemption ($1,250,000 for 2025, indexed from 2026; line 25400); this calculator doesn’t apply it.

What this calculator assumes

• You were resident in the province or territory you choose on December 31, 2026.
• Your other income is either employment income (CPP, EI and the Canada employment amount) or other income such as a pension, with the basic personal amounts. With an age of 65 or more, the federal and provincial age amounts are included (and Saskatchewan’s senior supplement; outside Quebec); the pension income amount isn’t.
• The gain is a capital gain, not business income (frequent trading or flipping can be business income, fully taxed).
• No alternative minimum tax, lifetime capital gains exemption, reserves, or carry-back of losses is calculated.

Rates for tax year 2026, verified October 21 to October 27, 2026 · Page updated October 28, 2026