What should you charge to actually take home a living?
Every tax calculator goes one way: income in, tax out. This one runs backwards — tell it the pay you want in your pocket, and it works out the hourly and day rate you have to charge to get there, after income tax, both halves of CPP, unpaid non-billable time and overhead. To keep $70,000 in Ontario for 2026, billing 30 hours a week, that's about $76.14 an hour — and here's why it's that high.
To take home $70,000 in Ontario, billing 30 hours a week, you need to charge about:
$76.14/hour
or roughly $609.10/day · before HST
At that rate you actually keep 63.8% of every dollar you invoice — the rest is tax, CPP and overhead.
See exactly where every dollar goes
You have the number. The 2026 Tax-Year Pass shows the working behind it:
- Line-by-line breakdown with the CRA rule cited for each amount
- An accountant-ready PDF of your numbers to hand over or keep
- The incorporation break-even tool — should you incorporate, and what it saves
- Your numbers saved on this site through the whole filing season
$5 · one time · covers the entire 2026 tax year
Get the 2026 Pass →Already paid? Restore your pass →Checking for an existing pass…
What this assumes (read before you rely on it)
- Tax and CPP use the same sourced, unit-tested 2026 engine as the province calculators — federal brackets, provincial brackets, and both halves of self-employed CPP.
- Billable hours, weeks worked and overhead are your inputs, not tax facts. The defaults (30 billable hours, 48 weeks) are typical for the trades but adjust them to your reality.
- The rate is before HST. If you're registered, you add HST on top of this — it's the customer's tax, not part of your rate.
- Overhead here is the cost of being in business, not job materials you re-bill to a client.
- A planning estimate, not tax or pricing advice.
Why “my wage was $35, so I'll charge $35” goes broke
The number one mistake going out on your own is pricing your rate off your old employee wage. An employee wage quietly hides three things that are now yours to carry:
- Both halves of CPP. As an employee you paid ~5.95% and your boss matched it. Self-employed, you pay the whole 11.9% — see the 11.9% CPP surprise.
- No paid anything. No vacation, no sick days, no stat holidays, no slow weeks covered. If you take four weeks off, that's four weeks with no income.
- Unpaid hours. You bill maybe 30 of the 45 hours you work. Quotes, driving, invoicing, chasing late payers and buying materials are all real work that no one pays for.
Add tax and overhead on top and the honest keep-rate on every dollar you invoice is often around 63.8%. The calculator above prices all of that in so your rate reflects what you actually keep, not a fantasy.
The rate to take home $70,000, by province (2026)
Same target — $70,000 in your pocket, 30 billable hours a week, $12,000 of overhead — priced for four provinces. Provincial tax is the only thing that changes here; the rate moves with it.
| Ontario | $76.14/hr |
|---|---|
| Alberta | $75.88/hr |
| British Columbia | $74.87/hr |
| Nova Scotia | $81.54/hr |
Figures from the same 2026 engine as the province calculators. Change any assumption in the tool above to price your own situation.
Once you know your rate
- Check the tax on that incomeRun the forward calculator to see the full tax and CPP bill.
- The $30,000 HST decisionWhen you add HST on top of your rate — and when to register early.
- Lower your overhead with write-offsThe truck, tool and home-office deductions that cut your real cost.
- Quarterly installmentsOnce you're earning, the CRA wants it four times a year.
Common questions
How much should a self-employed contractor charge per hour in Canada?
It depends on the take-home you need, your province and — the part people forget — how many hours you actually bill. To keep $70,000 in your pocket in Ontario for 2026, billing 30 hours a week with $12,000 of overhead, you'd need to charge about $76.14 an hour. Want $90,000 take-home instead? About $97.55. Enter your own numbers above for your figure.
Why is my required rate so much higher than my old hourly wage?
Three reasons an employee wage hides: you pay both halves of CPP (11.9%), not one; you get no paid vacation, sick days or slow weeks; and you only bill a fraction of the hours you work — quoting, driving, invoicing and chasing payment are all unpaid. At 30 billable hours a week you actually keep about 63.8% of every dollar you invoice. That gap is exactly why a $35/hour job doesn't mean a $35/hour rate.
How do non-billable hours change the rate?
Enormously — it's the biggest lever, bigger than tax. Same $70,000 take-home in Ontario: at 40 billable hours a week your rate is about $57.10, but at 30 it climbs to about $76.14, because you're spreading the same yearly income over fewer paid hours. Most trades bill far fewer hours than they work, so pricing off a 40-hour week quietly underpays you.
Does this rate include HST?
No — the rate is what you charge before HST. If you're registered for GST/HST you add it on top of your rate; it's the customer's tax that you collect and remit, not part of your pay. See the $30,000 HST threshold guide for when you must register.
What counts as overhead versus expenses I re-bill?
Overhead is the cost of simply being in business — insurance, your work vehicle, tools, phone, software, accounting fees. That has to be baked into your rate. Materials you buy for one specific job and re-bill to that client aren't overhead; they pass through separately on that invoice.
Is it better to raise my rate or work more hours?
Raise the rate, almost always. Extra hours are taxed at your marginal rate — at this income about 29.6% — and they cost you time you can't get back. A rate increase drops almost entirely to your bottom line and doesn't add a single hour. The math strongly favours charging correctly over grinding longer.
Charging right is only half of it — you still have to bill it. Blue Crane builds the quotes and invoices at your new rate and captures the receipts behind your overhead, and its form maker builds the printable contractor paperwork.