Calculator
Salary or dividends from your corporation
Pay yourself a salary, dividends or a mix, and see what each leaves you over your career and retirement. Kilter works out every year's personal and corporate tax, your CPP or QPP and the tax at death, across 2,000 simulations of markets.
Your numbers
Kilter works this out right here in your browser, so the numbers you type stay on your device.
What each choice leaves you
Worked out with 2,000 simulations for the numbers above.
- Dividends only. No salary. The corporation pays you what you need to live on as dividends.
- Salary of $204,800. Your corporation pays you $204,800 a year until you retire, enough for what you spend and the RRSP room the salary earns. Kilter worked it out for your numbers.
- Refundable tax first, then salary. First the dividends that get back the corporation's refundable tax, then a salary for the rest.
After you retire, each choice draws on your accounts and the corporation however Kilter works out for you. A salary earns CPP and RRSP room, and a dividend doesn't.
With dividends only, your chance of success is 78%. You'd leave $4.2 million after tax, and tax over a lifetime comes to $3 million.
A salary of $204,800 leaves $3.6 million after tax, about $590,000 less than dividends only. Tax over a lifetime comes to $3.5 million, about $452,000 more. The chance of success is the same.
Refundable tax first, then salary leaves $4.1 million after tax, about $102,000 less than dividends only. Tax over a lifetime comes to $3.1 million, about $46,000 more. The chance of success is 1 point higher.
Compared with dividends only, the $204,800 salary puts your personal tax over a lifetime at $2 million (about $1.1 million more) and your corporation's at $691,000 (about $624,000 less).
| Choice | Chance of success | Estate after tax | Tax over a lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dividends only | 78% | $4.2 million | $3 million$895,000 yours, $1.3 million the corporation's, $794,000 at death |
| Salary of $204,800 | 78% | $3.6 million | $3.5 million$2 million yours, $691,000 the corporation's, $753,000 at death |
| Refundable tax first, then salary | 79% | $4.1 million | $3.1 million$1.3 million yours, $1 million the corporation's, $758,000 at death |
Estate and tax in today's dollars, assuming typical returns.
- Dividends only
- Salary of $204,800
- Refundable tax first, then salary
- Half the simulations end inside the band (Dividends only)
Why the answer depends on your numbers
A salary is deducted from the corporation's income, and you pay personal tax on it. It earns CPP or QPP and RRSP room. A dividend comes out of profit the corporation has already paid tax on, and earns neither.
What the corporation keeps invested is taxed again when it comes out, or at death. So which choice leaves you more depends on your province, what you spend, when you retire and how long the money stays invested. Kilter works through every year with your numbers rather than following a rule.
In Quebec, Kilter assumes your corporation pays too few hours of work a year for Quebec's small business rate, as a corporation of one does. The federal small business rate still applies.
Your own plan
This calculator is one person and a few numbers. A plan in Kilter has your real accounts, your partner, your home and every event ahead, worked out the same way, and the assistant to try ideas with.
How Kilter works it out
Kilter runs your numbers month by month from November 2026 to age 95, with each year's federal and provincial tax, the corporation's own tax and the tax at death. The chance of success is the share of 2,000 market simulations in which every expense is paid. Everything else assumes typical returns, in today's dollars with 2.5% inflation. Every account is invested 80% in stocks and 20% in bonds. It's one person, without a partner, children or a home.