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Canada | New Brunswick Budget 2026
- On 17 March 2026, New Brunswick's Minister of Finance tabled the 2026 budget, which includes no new taxes or income tax increases, with corporate and personal tax rates remaining unchanged.
- The corporate income tax rates for 2026 remain at 2.5% for small businesses and 14% for general corporations, with no changes to the CA$500,000 small-business limit.
- Proposed legislative amendments to the Small Business Investor Tax Credit program will be introduced in spring 2026 to encourage productivity and investment, though details are yet to be announced.
- The budget includes plans to comprehensively review property tax exemptions to ensure they remain equitable and justified.
On 17 March 2026, New Brunswick Minister of Finance and Treasury Board René Legacy tabled the province's fiscal 2026 budget. The budget contains no new taxes and no income tax increases.
The minister anticipates a deficit of CA$1.39b for 2026–2027 and projects deficits for each of the next two years.
The budget states that a full economic growth plan will be shared in the coming weeks.
Following is a brief summary of the key tax measures.
Business tax measures
Corporate income tax rates
No changes are proposed to the corporate income tax rates or the CA$500,000 small-business limit.
New Brunswick's 2026 corporate income tax rates are summarized in Table A.
Table A — 2026 New Brunswick (NB) corporate income tax rates1
|
NB |
Federal and NB combined |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Small-business tax rate2 |
2.50% |
11.50% |
|
General corporate tax rate3,4 |
14.00% |
29.00% |
1 The rates represent calendar-year-end rates unless otherwise indicated.
2 The federal corporate income tax rates for manufacturers of qualifying zero-emission technology are reduced to 7.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 15% federal general corporate income tax rate or 4.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 9% federal small-business corporate income tax rate. These reductions are not reflected in the combined federal and New Brunswick rates above.
3 Ibid.
4 federal tax applies to banks and life insurers at a rate of 1.5% on taxable income (subject to a CA$100m exemption to be shared by group members).
Small Business Investor Tax Credit
The budget announced that proposed legislative amendments to the New Brunswick Small Business Investor Tax Credit program to help encourage productivity and investment will be tabled this spring. No further details were provided in the budget.
Personal tax
Personal income tax rates
The budget does not include any changes to personal income tax rates.
The 2026 New Brunswick personal income tax rates are summarized in Table B.
Table B — 2026 New Brunswick personal income tax rates
|
First-bracket rate |
Second-bracket rate |
Third-bracket rate |
Fourth-bracket rate |
|---|---|---|---|
|
CA$0 to CA$52,333 |
CA$52,334 to CA$104,666 |
CA$104,667 to CA$193,861 |
Above CA$193,861 |
|
9.40% |
14.00% |
16.00% |
19.50% |
For taxable income exceeding CA$181,440, the 2026 combined federal-New Brunswick personal income tax rates are outlined in Table C.
Table C — Combined 2026 federal and New Brunswick personal income tax rates
|
Bracket |
Ordinary income1 |
Eligible dividends |
Non-eligible dividends |
|---|---|---|---|
|
CA$181,441 to CA$193,8612 |
45.29% |
22.46% |
38.54% |
|
CA$193,862 to CA$258,4823 |
48.79% |
27.29% |
42.57% |
|
Above CA$258,482 |
52.50% |
32.40% |
46.83% |
1 The rate on capital gains is one-half the ordinary income tax rate.
2 The federal basic personal amount comprises two elements: the base amount (CA$14,829 for 2026) and an additional amount (CA$1,623 for 2026). The additional amount is reduced for individuals with net income exceeding CA$181,440 and is fully eliminated for individuals with net income exceeding CA$258,482. Consequently, the additional amount is clawed back on net income exceeding CA$181,440 until the additional tax credit of CA$227 is eliminated; this results in additional federal income tax (e.g., 0.29% on ordinary income) on net income between CA$181,441 and CA$258,482.
3 Ibid.
Other tax measures
Property tax
The budget proposes to comprehensively review property tax exemptions to ensure they remain equitable and justified. No further details were provided.
For up-to-date information on the federal, provincial and territorial budgets, visit ey.com/ca/Budget.
For additional information concerning this Alert, please contact:
Ernst & Young LLP (Canada), New Brunswick
- Pauline Vautour, Dieppe
- Marc Léger, Dieppe
- Natacha Poirier, Dieppe
- Troy Stanley, St. John's
For a full listing of contacts and email addresses, please click on the Tax News Update: Global Edition (GTNU) version of this Alert.
Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor