PDOC (Payroll Deductions Online Calculator)

What PDOC does

PDOC calculates deductions such as income tax, CPP and EI for pay in every province and territory except Quebec, which administers its own provincial income tax, QPP and QPIP. It offers calculation types for salary, commission and pension income, and a separate option to verify CPP and EI.

The CRA describes the result as confirmation of the deductions you include on your official statement of earnings. That makes it a useful second opinion on a payroll run, a new hire or a change in pay, even if you normally use payroll software.

Limits to keep in mind

The CRA states that you assume the risk of using the calculator, and that the results are only as reliable as the information you enter. A wrong pay date, province or pay period gives a wrong answer that looks precise.

A printout is not a statement of earnings. An official statement needs information the calculator does not include, so follow your province’s employment standards when you create one. Ontario employers should also not treat PDOC as a remittance schedule: it calculates deductions, while due dates are covered under payroll remittance.

The rates inside PDOC change over time. The CRA updated them for July 2026, and what applies depends on the date the employee is paid. For the formulas behind the tool, the CRA points to its T4127 payroll deductions guide, and to T4001 for the employer’s guide.

An illustrative example

Suppose you pay a new Ontario employee a regular salary every two weeks and your software shows a deduction that looks high. You open PDOC, accept the terms, choose the calculation type, enter the province, pay date and pay details, and compare the result with the software line by line. A difference usually points to a data entry problem such as the wrong pay frequency, a missing TD1 claim or an old tax setting, rather than an error in the tool. The numbers here are not calculated, because they depend on the inputs.

Because what you enter can stay in your browser session for up to 30 minutes of inactivity, the CRA suggests clearing the cache and closing the browser when you finish, especially on a shared computer.

What to discuss with your accountant

Ask who checks the payroll software’s deductions, how often, and what you do when the figures differ from PDOC. Keep a note of the check with the pay run date.

Bring the employee’s TD1, the pay schedule and the payroll register. These let your accountant tell quickly whether a difference comes from the tool, the settings or the paperwork.