Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) Calculator

What the Canada Workers Benefit calculator does

The Canada Workers Benefit is the federal top-up for people whose work does not pay enough. Enter working income, adjusted family net income, whether you are single or part of a family, and whether the disability tax credit applies, and the calculator separates the basic amount, the disability supplement, and what the income test takes back.

One income figure builds the benefit up and a different one reduces it. Getting them the right way round is most of the work.

Working income builds it, family net income removes it

The basic amount phases in on working income, meaning employment and self-employment earnings, at 27% of everything above $3,000. Someone earning very little gets a small benefit, because the credit is designed to reward work. Earnings keep raising the entitlement until it reaches the 2026 maximum: $1,665 for a single person, $2,869 for a family.

Then the second test applies. Adjusted family net income above $27,392 for a single person, or $31,251 for a family, reduces the benefit by 15 cents for every dollar over. That is a real marginal cost: a dollar of extra income in the phase-out band costs 15 cents of benefit on top of any tax on the dollar itself. A single person’s basic amount runs out at about $38,492 of net income.

A family here means a spouse, common-law partner or eligible dependant, and both the maximum and the threshold are higher for families. Choosing the wrong family situation is the most common way to get a wrong CWB estimate.

With the default inputs (a single person with $25,000 of working income and $27,000 of net income), the phase-in would allow far more than the maximum and net income is below the threshold, so the benefit is the full $1,665, about $139 a month.

The disability supplement

A person approved for the disability tax credit who also has working income receives a supplement, up to $860 for 2026, on top of the basic amount. It works the same way with three different settings: a smaller maximum, a lower working-income floor so it starts sooner, and a higher phase-out threshold ($38,495 single, $50,377 family) so it lasts further up the income scale.

Where both spouses are approved for the disability tax credit, each receives a supplement, and the reduction rate applied to each is halved so the couple is not clawed back twice at the full rate. The calculator handles this when both spouses are marked as approved.

The working-income floor for the supplement is an input rather than a fixed value, because the CRA publishes a separate, lower floor for the supplement that is not in the maintained parameter set. The default is the published figure; confirm it on the CRA page for the year you are filing.

Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut

Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut have agreements that let them reconfigure the benefit for their residents, redistributing the same funding with different amounts and thresholds.

The calculator does not model those variants, because they are published as separate schedules rather than as adjustments to one formula. It shows the federal baseline and flags the result when one of the three is selected, so read it as an approximation.

What the phase-out really costs

For anyone in the phase-out band, the reduction rate is the number to watch. Each extra dollar of family net income removes 15 cents of benefit, on top of income tax and any other income-tested benefit reduction hitting the same dollar.

Added together, these can produce marginal effective rates on low incomes that exceed the rates at the top of the tax scale. The calculator reports the reduction as its own figure so you can see when a raise triggers a clawback.

For a household near the threshold, an RRSP contribution is often the practical lever. It reduces net income, which the phase-out is measured against, without reducing working income, which earned the benefit.

Reading your result

The headline is the annual entitlement. The monthly figure spreads it across the year for budgeting, though the benefit does not arrive in equal monthly instalments: part comes as advance payments during the year and the balance is settled on assessment.

The bar chart shows the basic amount, the disability supplement and the amount lost to income testing side by side. In a household above the threshold, the third bar is often the largest.

All figures are estimates based on the numbers entered and current published amounts. This is general information, not financial advice; the CRA calculates the actual benefit when your return is assessed.

About This Tool: Canada Workers Benefit

Canada Workers benefit: use this tool to get an instant, accurate estimate. The figures follow official CRA guidance and every rate and threshold is kept up to date for 2026. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.