Quick answer
Vacation pay in Canada in 2026 is a legislated minimum percentage of the gross wages for your vacation year: usually 4% to start and 6% after a longer-service threshold that varies by jurisdiction, with 8% after 10 years for federally regulated employees only. In the calculator's example, a federally regulated employee with 6 years of service and $62,000 of wages is owed 6%, or $3,720.00.
How this calculator works
Every Canadian jurisdiction sets vacation pay as a percentage of the gross wages you earned during the relevant 12-month vacation year, and the percentage steps up with years of continuous service: 4% for a 2-week minimum almost everywhere to start, 6% once you cross that jurisdiction's long-service threshold, and — federally only — 8% after 10 completed years. Saskatchewan, and Alberta for employees paid by the month, use an equivalent fraction of weeks-over-52 instead of a round percentage. Pick your jurisdiction and years of service, enter your gross wages for the vacation year, and the calculator applies the matching rate.
After-tax value = Net pay(wages + vacation pay) − Net pay(wages)
Statutory minimums vs. your actual contract
Every figure here is a legislated floor, not a typical or average outcome. Many employers — especially unionized workplaces, government jobs and senior roles — offer more than the statutory minimum: extra weeks of paid time off, a higher percentage than the law requires, or vacation time on top of the vacation pay itself. A contract or collective agreement can always improve on the statutory minimum; it can never fall short of it. If your own vacation benefit is richer than what this calculator shows, that's your employer choosing to exceed the law, not an error in the math.
What counts as "wages," and why it differs by province
The percentage is the easy part; the wage base it's applied to is where jurisdictions genuinely disagree. Every jurisdiction includes your regular earnings, and most name tips and gratuities as excluded — but Quebec goes the other way for tipped staff of restaurants, bars, hotels and similar establishments: under section 50 of its Act respecting labour standards, the annual leave indemnity is worked out on the wages increased by the tips the employee reports to the employer (or that the employer attributes under the Taxation Act), so a server with $30,000 of wages and $25,000 of reported tips and 3 or more years of service is owed 6% of $55,000, which is $3,300.00, not 6% of $30,000, which is $1,800.00. Whether vacation pay you already received counts as wages for the next year's calculation differs too. Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island exclude it, so it doesn't compound. The Canada Labour Code (which deems vacation pay to be wages), British Columbia, Alberta (for the following year), Saskatchewan, Quebec, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut include it, which means, for example, that Saskatchewan's formula effectively compounds on itself year after year; Newfoundland and Labrador's definition of "wage" includes the payments the Act provides for vacation pay and holiday pay "if the context so admits". Most jurisdictions include overtime and commissions; a few (like Alberta and Manitoba) leave overtime pay out of this specific calculation even though it's part of your regular pay. The table further down lists each jurisdiction's own wording, sourced and dated — the note under the wages field above updates with whatever jurisdiction you pick.
Paid on every cheque, or saved for vacation time
Employers have two ways to actually pay this out. One is to fold vacation pay into every regular paycheque as a separate, identified line — common for casual, seasonal or part-time work where a traditional "vacation" may never happen. That is not the employer's free choice everywhere: Ontario requires the employee's agreement (in writing or electronically), British Columbia a written agreement between the employer and the employee or a collective agreement, Quebec limits it to employers whose activities are seasonal or otherwise intermittent (or where a collective agreement or decree provides for it), and Prince Edward Island provides for it only at the employee's election, open to those hired to work under 90% of standard weekly hours or for less than one continuous year, by written notice before the end of their first pay period. The other way is to bank it and pay the accumulated amount out around the vacation itself, and the deadline is set by each jurisdiction's own law: federally, on a day within the 14 days before the vacation begins (or on the regular payday during or just after it where that is not practicable or is the established practice); in British Columbia, at least 7 days before; in Ontario, in a lump sum before the vacation begins, or on or before the payday for the pay period the vacation falls in where wages are paid by direct deposit or the vacation is not taken in complete weeks; in Quebec, in a lump sum before the leave begins or in the way the regular wages are paid, on the pay that covers the leave; in Manitoba, no later than the last working day before; in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, at least one day before; in Saskatchewan, before the vacation if the employee asks, otherwise on the normal payday; in Alberta, no later than the next regular payday after the vacation starts; and in Prince Edward Island, by the last day of the next pay period after the vacation ends. The distinction matters for withholding: CRA calculates tax and CPP/QPP using the regular pay-period method when vacation pay is tied to an actual leave period, but switches to the "bonus or irregular payments" method when it's paid as a lump sum or spread across every cheque with no corresponding time off — EI and QPIP premiums use the regular-salary method either way.
What you're owed when you leave a job
Vacation pay you've earned doesn't evaporate if you resign, get laid off or are terminated. The pattern spelled out explicitly for federally-regulated employees — and mirrored in spirit across the provinces — is that any vacation pay already earned for completed years must be paid out in full, plus a prorated share for whatever part of the current vacation year you actually worked, calculated at the percentage your years of service already qualify for — except in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (and, on this page's reading of its new Act, Prince Edward Island), where it is the percentage for the year of employment you are in, so wages earned during your sixth year are already at 6%. This calculator doesn't attempt that proration automatically (see "not modelled" above); use it to check the percentage and rate that should apply to your final partial year, then apply it to the wages you actually earned in that stretch.
Worked example — a federally-regulated employee, 6 years, $62,000
A federally-regulated employee (say, a bank or telecom employee) has completed 6 consecutive years with the same employer. Gross wages for the relevant year of employment — regular pay, overtime and commissions, excluding tips — total $62,000. Six years passes the federal 5-year mark, so the rate is 6% for 3 weeks' vacation:
- Vacation pay: $62,000 × 6% = $3,720.00, payable on a day within the 14 days before the vacation begins (or, where that is not practicable or is the established practice, on the regular payday during or just after it).
- If this employee lives and files taxes in Ontario, adding that $3,720 on top of a $62,000 income nets out to about $2,392.70 after federal and Ontario tax, CPP and EI — a 64.3% keep-rate, because the vacation pay is taxed at the marginal rate on top of the $62,000, not blended into the average rate the way the whole paycheque is.
- All $3,720 is pensionable (CPP), insurable (EI) and taxable income, reported the same as any other pay.
Worked example — Saskatchewan's fractional formula
Saskatchewan, and Alberta for employees paid by the month, are the cases that don't use a round 4%/6%/8% figure — they pay weeks-of-vacation ÷ 52 of a year's wages, which lands close to, but not exactly on, the percentages everyone else uses (Alberta's Code words it as each week being the monthly wage ÷ 4 1/3, which comes to the same 1/52). Saskatchewan's own published example, for an employee with less than 10 years' service and $28,000 in wages plus commission for the 12-month period:
- $28,000 × 3/52 = $1,615.38 for 3 weeks' vacation. (Saskatchewan's own guide states this as $1,615.39 — a one-cent difference from independently re-deriving the exact fraction, likely a rounding step in their own worked example.)
- At 10 or more completed years, the rate steps up to 4/52: $28,000 × 4/52 = $2,153.85 — this one matches Saskatchewan's own published figure exactly.
Vacation pay by jurisdiction, all 14, 2026
Every jurisdiction's percentage, minimum time off, and the threshold that separates them — sourced and dated individually, because several of these figures moved or were reconfirmed during 2025 and 2026.
| Jurisdiction | Vacation pay rate | Min. weeks | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal (Canada Labour Code) | 4% under 5 yrs · 6% at 5–9 · 8% at 10+ | 2 · 3 · 4 | Canada Labour Code, ss. 184, 184.01, current to 21 Sep 2026 |
| Alberta | 4% under 5 yrs · 6% at 5+ § | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Code, ss. 34–34.2, current as of 26 Nov 2025 |
| British Columbia | 4% under 5 yrs · 6% at 5+ | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Act, ss. 57–58, current to 22 Sep 2026 |
| Manitoba | 4% under 5 yrs · 6% at 5+ | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Code, ss. 34, 39, current as of 5 Oct 2026 |
| New Brunswick | 4% under 8 yrs · 6% at 8+ | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Act, ss. 24–25, consolidated to 12 Jun 2026 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 4% under 15 yrs · 6% at 15+ | 2 · 3 | Labour Standards Act, ss. 8–10, consolidated to 7 Jul 2026 |
| Northwest Territories | 4% on wages of years 1–5 · 6% on wages from year 6 | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Act, ss. 24–25, office consolidation dated 21 Sep 2026 |
| Nova Scotia | 4% under 8 yrs · 6% at 8+ ‡ | 2 · 3 | Labour Standards Code, s. 32, consolidation of 1 Jan 2025 |
| Nunavut | 4% on wages of years 1–5 · 6% on wages from year 6 | 2 · 3 | Labour Standards Act, ss. 15–19, official consolidation of 13 Jun 2022 |
| Ontario | 4% under 5 yrs · 6% at 5+ | 2 · 3 | Employment Standards Act, 2000, ss. 33, 35.2, consolidation from 1 Jan 2026 |
| Prince Edward Island | 4% on wages of years 1–5 · 6% on wages from year 6 † | 2 under 5 yrs · 3 at 5+ | Employment Standards Act, ss. 29–30, current to 30 Jun 2026 |
| Quebec | 4% under 3 yrs · 6% at 3+ | 2 · 3 | Act respecting labour standards, ss. 66–77, current to 12 Aug 2026 |
| Saskatchewan | 5.77% (3/52) under 10 yrs · 7.69% (4/52) at 10+ | 3 · 4 | Saskatchewan Employment Act, ss. 2-24, 2-27, consolidated to 2025, c. 17 (PDF dated 12 Feb 2026) |
| Yukon | 4% flat — no step-up | 2 | Employment Standards Act, ss. 19–22, unofficial consolidation of 21 Apr 2023, no later amendment |
† Prince Edward Island's Employment Standards Act (S.P.E.I. 2024, c. 66, consolidated as Cap. E-6.3) replaced the former Act and was proclaimed in force on 30 June 2026 (Royal Gazette, 13 June 2026, p. 863). Its third week of vacation is granted after five completed years (s. 30(1)(b)), but vacation pay accrues pay period by pay period, at 6% only "where the employee has completed five or more years of continuous employment" (s. 29(1)), so wages earned before the fifth anniversary accrue at 4% and the 6% starts with the sixth year's wages. The table and the calculator therefore show 3 weeks but still 4% at exactly 5 completed years, and 6% from 6. That is this page's own reading of the wording: the Act has been in force only since 30 June 2026, the one government guide read (May 2025) describes the former Act, and nothing official was read that confirms or contradicts it. If the five-year test were instead applied when the vacation is granted, the fifth year's wages would earn 6% ($3,720.00 rather than $2,480.00 on $62,000); the Employment Standards Branch can say which it applies. The Act has no transitional rule for vacation pay, and the government's May 2025 guide to the former Act gave three weeks and 6% only after more than eight years of service, so the wages of a vacation year that began before 30 June 2026 are not modelled here: on the wages earned before that date the former Act's 4% (until more than eight years of service) is the minimum, so the 6% shown at 6 or 7 completed years overstates it.
‡ Nova Scotia's Labour Standards Code (s. 32(1)(a) and (c)) gives three weeks and 6% to an employee who "has been in the employ of the employer for more than eight years", measured when the vacation is given and paid, which is after the twelve-month period ends (the pay is due at least one day before the vacation begins). An employee who has completed 8 years has by then been employed more than eight years, so this calculator applies 3 weeks and 6% when the year whose wages you enter is the eighth completed year of service. That is how novascotia.ca's vacation page (last modified 18 December 2025) and the Guide to the Nova Scotia Labour Standards Code (cover dated October 2026) read it: three weeks in the ninth year of service, having completed 8 years, and 6% on pay from the start of the eighth year, after completing 7. Until 7 October 2026 this page started both a year later, at 9 completed years.
§ Alberta's Employment Standards Code (s. 34.1) does not use 4% or 6% for an employee paid by the month (alberta.ca: paid by monthly salary, as opposed to hourly, weekly, commission or other incentive pay): for each week of vacation it pays the wages for the normal hours of a work month divided by 4 1/3. Selecting Alberta shows what that comes to on the wages entered. Before a first year is complete, and for the part-year on leaving, the Code's 4% or 6% applies however the employee is paid (s. 42).
FAQ
Is the percentage in this calculator a legal minimum, or can my employer pay less?
It's a legislated floor, not a starting point your employer can negotiate downward. Every jurisdiction in the table below sets its own minimum vacation percentage and minimum time off by years of service, and an employment contract or company policy can only improve on it — more paid vacation, or a higher percentage of wages — never less. A pay stub showing a lower percentage than your jurisdiction's minimum for your years of service is a labour standards violation, not something you happened to agree to.
What exactly counts as "wages" when calculating vacation pay?
It depends on the jurisdiction, and the differences are real: most provinces include overtime, commissions and non-discretionary bonuses in the wage base (Alberta and Manitoba leave overtime out), and most name tips and gratuities as excluded — but Quebec adds the tips an employee reports to the employer, or that the employer attributes, to the wages, so for tipped employees such as restaurant and bar staff the 4% or 6% is worked out on wages plus those tips. Whether vacation pay you were already paid counts as wages for the next year also differs: Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island exclude it; the Canada Labour Code, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut include it (Saskatchewan's formula compounds on itself as a result); and Newfoundland and Labrador's definition of "wage" includes vacation and holiday pay "if the context so admits". This calculator applies your jurisdiction's percentage to whatever gross figure you enter — use the note under the wages field, and the sourced table below, to see what your jurisdiction includes.
Can my employer pay vacation pay on every cheque instead of saving it for when I take time off?
Only where the law allows it, and the rules differ. Ontario allows vacation pay on each pay cheque only if the employee has agreed (in writing or electronically); British Columbia only if the employer and employee agreed in writing, or a collective agreement provides for it; Quebec only where the employer's activities are seasonal or otherwise intermittent, or a collective agreement or decree provides for it; and Prince Edward Island only at the election of an employee hired to work under 90% of standard weekly hours or for less than one continuous year, made in writing before the end of the first pay period. Where it is allowed, the pay statement should show the amount separately from other wages (Ontario requires this). The alternative is to pay the accumulated amount around the vacation itself, and the timing differs too: at least 7 days before in British Columbia, within the 14 days before in the federal rules, at least one day before in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and the three territories, and by the next regular payday after the vacation starts in Alberta (the section above on how it is paid gives every jurisdiction). Either way, CRA treats the two methods differently for withholding: vacation pay tied to an actual leave period is taxed like a regular pay period, while vacation pay paid on every cheque or as a lump sum with no corresponding leave uses the "bonus or irregular payments" method instead — EI premiums are calculated the same way regardless of which method applies.
What happens to unused vacation pay when I leave a job?
You're owed it — employers can't treat unpaid vacation pay as forfeited on resignation, layoff or termination. The common pattern across jurisdictions (spelled out explicitly for federally-regulated employees) is that any vacation pay already earned for completed years must be paid out in full, plus a prorated amount for whatever part of the current vacation year you actually worked, calculated at whatever percentage applied to your years of service. In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (and, on this page's reading of its new Act, Prince Edward Island) it is the percentage for the year of employment you are in, so wages earned during your sixth year are already at 6%. This is separate from any severance or termination pay you might also be owed.
Is vacation pay taxed differently than my regular pay?
No — it's fully taxable employment income, and it's pensionable (CPP/QPP) and insurable (EI/QPIP) the same as any other pay, reported in the same T4 boxes (in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut it also carries the 2% payroll tax, which is not a T4 box). What can differ is the withholding method: tax and CPP/QPP are calculated using your regular pay-period method if the vacation pay is paid for an actual vacation period, or using CRA's bonus-payment method if it's paid as a lump sum or continuously without you taking the corresponding leave. EI/QPIP premiums use the regular-salary method in every case. This calculator's after-tax figure shows the net effect of adding the vacation pay to your income for the year, not a specific payroll withholding calculation.
This page is general information based on published 2026 federal and provincial labour standards and CRA payroll guidance, not legal, tax or financial advice. Your own employment contract, collective agreement or employer's actual payroll practice may differ — talk to your provincial or federal labour standards office, or a licensed professional, about your specific situation.