Form TD1 (2026) — Personal Tax Credits Return

What is Form TD1?

Form TD1, the 2026 Personal Tax Credits Return, is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) form you hand to a new employer or payer. It lists the federal non-refundable tax credits you expect to claim for the year — the basic personal amount, the age amount, the pension income amount, amounts for a spouse or dependant and several others — and adds them up to a total claim amount on line 13. Your employer or payer uses that total to work out how much federal income tax to deduct at source.

Getting the TD1 right matters because it shapes every pay cheque for the rest of the year. Claim too little and more tax than necessary comes off your pay until you get it back as a refund; claim too much, or claim your credits twice with two employers, and you may owe money when you file your income tax and benefit return. The form itself says that if you don't fill it out, your deductions will only allow for the basic personal amount.

FileIt walks you through the TD1 as a short series of plain-language questions and prints your answers into the CRA's own fillable PDF (edition TD1 E (26)). Your name and date of birth can be pre-filled from the People records in your vault, and FileIt works out the lines that follow set rules — including a partial basic personal amount or age amount using the same method as Form TD1-WS. The finished PDF is saved in that person's vault folder, and you can sign it with FileIt's optional e-signature or print it and sign by hand. FileIt never sends the form anywhere: you give it to your employer or payer yourself. Filling forms is included on every FileIt plan, including the free one.

Who needs to fill out Form TD1?

• Anyone starting with a new employer and receiving salary, wages or commissions in Canada.
• People who start receiving a pension, employment insurance benefits or other remuneration from a new payer.
• Employees who want to change the amounts they claimed earlier — for example because the number of eligible dependants has changed.
• Residents of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon or another prescribed northern or intermediate zone who want to claim the deduction for living in a prescribed zone.
• Anyone who wants extra tax deducted from each payment, for example because they have other income with no tax taken off.
• Non-residents working in Canada, who must answer the page 2 question about whether 90% or more of their world income will be taxable in Canada.
• People with two jobs or payers at once, who need to make sure they only claim their credits on one TD1.

When to use Form TD1

• On your first day, or before your first pay, with any new employer or payer.
• Whenever your situation changes in a way that affects your claim — marriage, separation, a new dependant, turning 65 or starting a pension.
• When you want to increase the tax deducted at source; you can fill out a new TD1 later to change the extra amount again.
• When you begin or stop living in a prescribed northern zone for more than six months in a row.
• At the start of a new tax year if your employer asks for an updated form — the amounts are set for each year, which is why this is the 2026 edition.

What you need before you start

• Your social insurance number (SIN).
• Your full legal name, date of birth and current home address with postal code.
• Your employee number, if your employer has given you one.
• A realistic estimate of your 2026 net income from all sources, if you might claim a partial basic personal amount or the age amount.
• Your expected annual pension income from a pension plan or fund, if you receive one.
• The tuition fees you will pay this year, if you are a student at a qualifying institution.
• Your spouse's or common-law partner's, or eligible dependant's, estimated net income for 2026, if you support them.
• Whether you, your spouse or a dependant will claim the disability amount using Form T2201.
• Any unused amounts your spouse or a dependant plans to transfer to you.
• Days lived in a prescribed zone, if you claim the northern residents deduction.

What’s on Form TD1

The 2026 edition has 2 pages. FileIt asks for it in 4 parts, and it is signed by Employee:

1. Your detailsEmployee
2. Lines 1–13: Your claim amountsEmployee
3. Other choices (page 2)Employee
4. CertificationEmployee

How to fill out Form TD1, step by step

1 Identification

The top of page 1 asks for your last name, first name and initial(s), date of birth (printed YYYY/MM/DD), employee number, address, postal code and social insurance number. There is also a box for your country of permanent residence, which only non-residents fill in.

Use the same name your employer has on file and double-check the SIN — a wrong number is one of the most common reasons payroll records don't match the CRA's. In FileIt, the name and date of birth can come straight from the person's People record.

2 Line 1 – Basic personal amount

Every resident of Canada can enter the basic personal amount, which is $16,452 on the 2026 edition. The form warns that if your net income from all sources will be more than $181,440 and you still enter the full amount, you may owe tax when you file your return.

If your income will be above that threshold you may instead calculate a partial claim using the line 1 section of Form TD1-WS, the CRA's worksheet. FileIt can do that calculation for you from your estimated net income.

3 Line 2 – Canada caregiver amount for infirm children under age 18

For the 2026 edition, one parent may claim $2,740 for each infirm child born in 2009 or later who lives with both parents throughout the year. If the child doesn't live with both parents, the parent who can claim the amount for an eligible dependant on line 8 may also claim this amount for that child.

Only one parent claims it — agree between you who will, so it isn't claimed twice.

4 Line 3 – Age amount

If you will be 65 or older on December 31, 2026, and your net income for the year will be $46,432 or less, the 2026 edition says to enter $9,208. Between $46,432 and $107,819 you may enter a partial amount worked out on the line 3 section of Form TD1-WS; above that, the amount is nil.

FileIt asks your age and estimated net income and fills in line 3 using the same method, so you don't have to fill in the worksheet separately.

5 Line 4 – Pension income amount

If you will receive regular payments from a pension plan or fund, enter whichever is less: $2,000 or your estimated annual pension income. Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Pension Plan, old age security and guaranteed income supplement payments do not count here.

6 Line 5 – Tuition (full-time and part-time)

Fill this in if you are a student at a university, college or an educational institution certified by Employment and Social Development Canada and you will pay more than $100 per institution in tuition fees. Enter the total tuition fees you will pay for the year, whether you study full-time or part-time.

7 Line 6 – Disability amount

If you will claim the disability amount on your income tax and benefit return using Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, the 2026 edition says to enter $10,341. Only claim it if you have, or expect to have, an approved certificate for the year.

8 Line 7 – Spouse or common-law partner amount

If you support a spouse or common-law partner who lives with you, and their net income for the year will be less than your line 1 amount, enter the difference between the two. If your spouse or partner is infirm, add $2,740 to your line 1 amount before subtracting.

If your spouse or partner is infirm and their net income will be $29,374 or less, you should also look at line 9.

9 Line 8 – Amount for an eligible dependant

This is for people who don't have a spouse or common-law partner (or have one who doesn't live with them and who they neither support nor are supported by), and who support a related dependant living with them. The calculation mirrors line 7: your line 1 amount (plus $2,740 if the dependant is infirm) minus the dependant's estimated net income.

You can't claim both line 7 and line 8, and FileIt will warn you if you try. If the dependant is 18 or older, infirm and has net income of $29,374 or less, look at line 9 as well.

10 Lines 9 and 10 – Canada caregiver amounts

Line 9 is for supporting an infirm eligible dependant aged 18 or older, or an infirm spouse or common-law partner, whose net income will be $29,374 or less. Line 10 covers other infirm dependants aged 18 or older; the full amount on the 2026 edition is $8,773 if their net income will be $20,601 or less, with a partial amount between $20,601 and $29,374.

Both lines are worked out on Form TD1-WS, dependant by dependant, and line 10 can be shared with another caregiver. FileIt shows the rules from the form next to these lines, but you enter the result yourself.

11 Lines 11 and 12 – Amounts transferred

Line 11 is for the unused part of your spouse's or common-law partner's age amount, pension income amount, tuition amount or disability amount. Line 12 is for the unused part of a dependant's disability amount, or the unused tuition amount of your (or your spouse's) dependent child or grandchild.

Only enter what they genuinely won't need on their own return — an estimate is fine, but be conservative.

12 Line 13 – Total claim amount

Add lines 1 to 12. Your employer or payer uses this total to decide how much federal tax to deduct. FileIt adds the lines for you.

If your total is more than $16,452 (the basic personal amount on this edition), the form says you also have to fill out a provincial or territorial TD1 — for your province or territory of employment if you are an employee, or of residence if you are a pensioner.

13 Page 2 – More than one employer, total income and non-residents

If you already claimed your credits on another 2026 TD1 with a different employer or payer at the same time, and your total income will be more than those credits, tick the "More than one employer or payer" box and enter 0 on line 13. Tick the "Total income is less than the total claim amount" box if everything you'll earn from all employers and payers this year will be less than line 13 — your employer then won't deduct tax.

Non-residents answer whether 90% or more of their world income will be included in their taxable income earned in Canada. If the answer is no, you enter 0 on line 13 because you are not entitled to these personal tax credits.

14 Page 2 – Prescribed zone deduction and additional tax

If you live in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon or another prescribed northern zone for more than six months in a row beginning or ending in 2026, you can claim $11.00 for each day you live there, or $22.00 a day if you maintain your own dwelling and are the only person in it claiming the deduction. In a prescribed intermediate zone you claim 50% of that.

The "Additional tax to be deducted" box lets you ask for a fixed extra amount off every payment — useful if you have CPP or QPP benefits, old age security or other income with no tax taken off.

15 Certification

Sign and date the form to certify that the information is correct and complete. The form reminds you that it is a serious offence to make a false return. You can sign with FileIt's e-signature or print the PDF and sign it by hand, depending on what your employer accepts.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Claiming the full basic personal amount with two employers at the same time — only one TD1 should carry your credits; tick the "more than one employer" box on the other.
• Forgetting the provincial or territorial TD1 when your line 13 total is more than the basic personal amount.
• Including CPP, QPP, old age security or guaranteed income supplement payments as pension income on line 4.
• Claiming both the spouse or common-law partner amount (line 7) and the amount for an eligible dependant (line 8).
• Entering the disability amount without a Form T2201 that has been or will be approved.
• Transferring amounts from a spouse or dependant that they will actually use on their own return.
• Leaving the form unsigned or undated, or sending it to the CRA instead of giving it to your employer or payer.
• Not updating the form after a change in circumstances, which can leave you with a balance owing at tax time.

After you fill it out

Review the filled PDF, then sign and date the Certification on page 2 — either with FileIt's optional e-signature or by printing the form and signing by hand. Give the signed form to your employer or payer, usually through their HR or payroll team. The form says clearly that it goes to your employer or payer; you do not send it to the CRA, and FileIt does not send it anywhere for you.

If your line 13 total is more than $16,452, fill out the TD1 for your province or territory of employment as well (of residence if you are a pensioner) and hand both in together. To have less tax deducted for things that aren't on the TD1 — such as regular RRSP contributions, child care expenses or charitable donations — you need a letter of authority from the CRA, which you request with Form T1213.

Your filled TD1 stays in the person's FileIt vault folder, so you have a copy of exactly what you told your employer. Fill out a new one whenever your situation changes, and be ready to do a fresh one when the amounts change for a new tax year.

Form TD1: frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Blank form (PDF), published by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/td1/td1-fill-26e.pdf
• Official instructions and guidance: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/td1-personal-tax-credits-returns/td1-forms-pay-received-on-january-1-later/td1.html
• Edition shown on this page: TD1 E (26) (checked 2026-09-25).

FileIt is not affiliated with or endorsed by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or any government. This page explains the form in general terms and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Always read the official instructions, and check that you are using the edition the recipient accepts. Page last reviewed 2026-09-25.

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