Tax years bring a steady drip of changes, and 2026 is no exception. Some are genuine reductions worth planning around; one widely feared increase was cancelled outright; and one compliance burden has quietly disappeared. For Alberta owners — already operating in one of the country's most competitive tax environments — knowing what actually changed (and what did not) is the difference between planning on rumour and planning on fact.
This is a roundup of the changes that matter for 2026, each tied to the source so you can plan with confidence.
A lower federal personal rate: 14 percent in 2026
The federal lowest personal income tax rate is 14 percent for 2026. This reflects a cut from 15 percent to 14 percent that took effect July 1, 2025 — which is why 2025 was a partial year, taxed at a blended full-year rate of 14.5 percent, while 2026 is the first full year at the lower 14 percent.
For owner-managers who draw salary and for every individual filing personally, the lower rate on the first tax bracket modestly reduces personal tax. It also feeds into the salary-versus-dividend and remuneration planning that incorporated Alberta owners revisit each year.
Source: CRA T4127 — Payroll Deductions Formulas.
The capital gains inclusion rate stays at 50 percent
This is the most important "non-change" of the year. There was a proposal to raise the capital gains inclusion rate to 66.67 percent. That proposal was cancelled on March 21, 2025. For 2026, the capital gains inclusion rate remains 50 percent.
It is worth being precise here, because the proposed increase generated a great deal of anxiety and some owners made hurried decisions in anticipation of it. The increase is not happening — it was cancelled. The inclusion rate is 50 percent. That stability matters across the board: it underpins the value of the capital dividend account (which captures the non-taxable half of corporate capital gains), the lifetime capital gains exemption on a business sale, and ordinary investment planning inside and outside a corporation.
Source: Government of Canada — cancellation of the proposed capital gains inclusion-rate increase.
A larger SR&ED expenditure limit: $6 million
For research-active Alberta companies — manufacturers, agri-processors, technology firms — the SR&ED enhanced expenditure limit is $6,000,000 for taxation years beginning after December 15, 2024. This is the figure that applies now.
The enhanced refundable investment tax credit available to qualifying Canadian-controlled private corporations is calculated on eligible expenditures up to this limit, so a higher limit means more of a company's R&D spend can earn the enhanced refundable credit. For Alberta firms that can also stack the provincial Innovation Employment Grant, the larger federal limit improves an already strong R&D incentive position.
Source: CRA — Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives.
The Underused Housing Tax is gone for 2025 and onward
The Underused Housing Tax (UHT) has been eliminated for 2025 and subsequent years — meaning no tax and no return for those years. The UHT still applied for 2022 through 2024, so historical-year obligations remain relevant if a prior-year filing was missed, but going forward the annual UHT filing burden that caught many corporations and partnerships off guard is no longer there.
For Alberta owners who held residential property through a corporation or partnership and wrestled with UHT filings in earlier years, this is a genuine simplification: one fewer annual return to track from 2025 onward.
Source: CRA — Underused Housing Tax: what has changed.
LCGE indexation resumes in 2026
The lifetime capital gains exemption — the shelter on qualifying small business corporation shares that matters so much in a business sale — has indexation resuming in 2026. The exemption now grows with indexation from 2026 forward. (Because the indexed amount is not a single fixed figure to quote here, the practical point is simply that the exemption rises from 2026 rather than staying frozen.)
For owners contemplating a future sale, the direction is favourable: a growing exemption shelters more gain over time — though, as always, the shares must qualify as QSBC shares to access it.
Source: CRA — Line 25400, Capital gains deduction.
A note for owner-managers planning remuneration
One more 2026 figure worth keeping in view alongside these changes: the 2026 RRSP dollar limit is $33,810, relevant if you fund an RRSP through salary as part of your remuneration mix.
Source: CRA — MP, RRSP, DPSP, TFSA limits and the YMPE.
Key takeaways
- The federal lowest personal rate is 14 percent for 2026 (cut from 15 percent effective July 1, 2025; 2025 was a blended 14.5 percent full-year rate).
- The capital gains inclusion rate stays at 50 percent in 2026 — the proposed 66.67 percent increase was cancelled on March 21, 2025.
- The SR&ED enhanced expenditure limit is $6,000,000 for tax years beginning after December 15, 2024.
- The Underused Housing Tax is eliminated for 2025 and onward (no tax, no return); it still applied for 2022–2024.
- LCGE indexation resumes in 2026, so the exemption grows from 2026 forward.
The 2026 landscape is, on balance, favourable for Alberta owners: a lower personal rate, a feared capital gains increase taken off the table, a bigger R&D incentive, and one annual filing gone. If you want these changes mapped onto your own remuneration, R&D, and exit planning for the year, RN Canada works with Alberta business owners to turn the headlines into a concrete plan.