TD1 Form 2026: How to Fill Out Your Personal Tax Credits Return

What the TD1 does, and when you must fill one out

Form TD1 tells your employer or payer your "total claim amount": the personal tax credits they can apply when they work out the federal tax on each paycheque. A higher claim means less tax is deducted. According to the CRA's 2026 form, you only need to fill one out if one of these applies:

If you do not hand in a TD1, the form says your deductions "will only include the basic personal amount, estimated by your employer or payer based on the income they pay you." For a single person with one job, that usually gives the right result anyway. Give the signed form to your employer or payer, not to the CRA, and file a new one within the year whenever your situation changes (a new dependant, a spouse whose income drops, a second job).

• you have a new employer or payer (salary, wages, commissions, pension, EI benefits or other pay)
• you want to change amounts you claimed before, for example because the number of eligible dependants changed
• you want to claim the deduction for living in a prescribed northern zone
• you want more tax deducted at source

How to fill out the TD1 form, line by line (2026 amounts)

Fill in your name, address, date of birth and SIN at the top, then claim the lines that apply and add them on line 13. The 2026 federal amounts are below. Line 1 comes from the CRA indexation figures; the other amounts are printed on the 2026 TD1.

Line 1 needs care at higher incomes. If your net income from all sources will be more than $181,440, the full $16,452 is too much: the federal basic personal amount shrinks to $14,829 by $258,482. Use the TD1-WS worksheet to work out a partial claim, or expect to owe tax in April.

Two jobs or a pension plus a job: claim zero on the second TD1

If you have more than one employer or payer at the same time, you cannot claim your personal credits twice. The TD1 says that if you already claimed them on another TD1 for 2026 and your total income will be more than those credits, you should tick the box, enter "0" on line 13 and leave lines 2 to 12 blank. People who skip this step are the ones who end up with a tax bill in April.

Here is a worked example for Ontario in 2026. Your main job pays $45,000 and a weekend job pays $20,000, and you claim the basic personal amount at both. Each payroll treats its pay as your only income, so neither one deducts enough. Using our calculator engine, the federal and Ontario tax on $65,000 is about $4,650 more than the two jobs work out separately. That gap comes due when you file. Claiming "0" on the second job's TD1 and TD1ON closes most of it.

The same applies to retirees with a workplace pension and a part-time job, and to people who get EI benefits while they work. If one payer still deducts too little even with a zero claim, use the "Additional tax to be deducted" box on page 2. Enter a fixed dollar amount for each pay. The CRA suggests this when you have other income with no tax withheld, such as CPP or OAS.

Provincial forms: TD1ON, TD1BC, TD1AB and the rest

Every province and territory except Quebec has its own TD1 (TD1ON, TD1BC, TD1AB, TD1MB, TD1SK, TD1NS, TD1NB, TD1NL, TD1PE, TD1YT, TD1NT, TD1NU). According to the federal form, you must also fill out the provincial one if your federal claim on line 13 is more than $16,452. If you claim only the basic amount, payroll uses the provincial basic personal amount automatically. Employees use the form for the province where they work; pensioners use the form for the province where they live.

The provincial amounts differ quite a bit from the federal ones, so read the provincial form carefully. Some 2026 figures:

Saskatchewan is the exception for parents. The federal form points out that you may be able to claim the child amount on the TD1SK if you support children under 18, so it can be worth filing even if you claim only the basic amount federally.

• TD1ON (Ontario): basic personal amount $12,989; age amount $6,342 (net income up to $47,210); pension amount up to $1,796; spouse or eligible dependant amount $11,029.
• TD1BC (British Columbia): basic personal amount $13,216; age amount $5,927 (net income up to $44,119); pension amount up to $1,000; spouse amount $11,317.
• TD1AB (Alberta): basic personal amount $22,769, the highest provincial amount in Canada; age amount $6,345; pension amount up to $1,753; disability amount $17,563.

Quebec: TD1 plus TP-1015.3-V

Quebec employees fill out two forms. The federal TD1 controls federal tax. Revenu Québec's TP-1015.3-V, Source Deductions Return, controls Quebec tax. You "complete this form and give it to your employer or payer so that they can determine how much income tax to withhold." There is no TD1QC. The Quebec basic personal amount for 2026 is $18,952, which payroll applies if you do not claim anything else. Federal tax withheld in Quebec is also reduced by the 16.5% Quebec abatement, so federal deductions on a Quebec paycheque look lower than in other provinces.

Getting less tax deducted: Form T1213

The TD1 cannot reduce your withholding for deductions and credits that are not on the form. The CRA's examples are periodic RRSP contributions you make yourself, child care or employment expenses, charitable donations, and tuition and education amounts carried forward from the previous year. For these, the CRA's process is Form T1213, Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source. If approved, the tax services office sends you a letter of authority, and you give that letter to your employer. You do not need a letter when your employer deducts RRSP contributions straight from your pay, because payroll already takes them out before calculating tax.

Northern residents can claim the prescribed zone deduction on page 2 of the TD1. It is $11 a day, or $22 a day if you maintain a dwelling and are the only person in it claiming the deduction, when you live in a prescribed northern zone for more than six months in a row. Residents of intermediate zones claim 50%.

Common TD1 mistakes

Each of these leads to too little tax being withheld, or too much, during the year:

• Claiming the full basic personal amount at two jobs at the same time.
• Claiming the full $16,452 when net income will be well above $181,440.
• Claiming the spouse amount while your spouse is earning, which can cut your withholding by more than the credit you will actually get.
• Forgetting to file a new TD1 when a dependant leaves home or a child is no longer eligible.
• Sending the TD1 to the CRA instead of giving it to your employer or payer.
• Not filing the provincial TD1 when you claim more than the basic amount on the federal form.