Major classification variables

We used the following variables in one or more of the tables in this publication:

• taxable or non-taxable
• income classification
• major source of income
• age and sex
• province or territory of residence

Taxable or non-taxable classification

We considered a return taxable if there was at least $2 of tax payable. We considered a return non-taxable when the sum of federal tax and provincial tax was less than $2.

Some returns are classified as taxable even when the return showed a total income less than the allowable basic personal amount of $10,320. This happened for:

• individuals subject to the minimum tax;
• individuals who withdrew a forward-averaging amount;
• returns filed by certain non-residents for income earned in Canada that's not subject to personal amounts;
• individuals who resided in Canada for only part of a tax year (these individuals paid tax on the income they earned during their period of residence in Canada, and as a result they are entitled to tax credits only for that period).

A small number of individuals classified in the upper income ranges used a variety of deductions and tax credits that may have resulted in their achieving a non-taxable status. Among the deductions they used to reduce taxable income were: carrying charges (such as interest paid to earn investment income); business or farm losses of previous years; and allowable business investment losses.

Taxfilers can use non-refundable tax credits -- such as charitable donations, gifts to Canada or a province or territory, or dividend and foreign tax credits -- to reduce their net tax to zero.

Income classification

The income classes presented in the tables are based on the total income assessed. This corresponds to line 150 of the return and includes:

• employment income
• pension income
• investment income
• self-employment income
• income from certain other sources
• tax-exempt income

Total income assessed may differ from the true economic income presented in other publications because it doesn't include certain non-taxable income and it may include grossed-up income such as income from eligible dividends which is the value plus 45%.

You will find a detailed list of non-taxable incomes in Item 30: Total income assessed.

Major source of income classification

Taxfilers do not have to report their type of work or occupation. For these classification statistics, we based the major source of income classification on the largest source of gross income.

For example, if a taxfiler earned a salary but received more income from investments, we classified the taxfiler as an investor, not as an employee.

For self-employment income, we used only the gross income to determine the major source of income. If a taxfiler was involved in a business partnership, we used only the taxfiler's share of the gross income.

Gross income was not available for some self-employed people. In these cases, we multiplied net income by a factor to arrive at an estimated gross income. We used this estimated gross income to code only the major source of income.

This list describes the majority of taxfilers who make up each of the nine major income classifications we use:

• Employment - taxfilers employed by a business, institution, school, federal or provincial Crown corporation, or some form of government body.
  
  
• Farming - self-employed taxfilers who earned their major source of income from farming.
  
  
• Fishing - self-employed taxfilers whose major source of income is from fishing as boat owners or crew members or from fishing from shore.
  
  
• Professional income - self-employed taxfilers whose major source of income is professional fees (including accountants, doctors and surgeons, dentists, lawyers and notaries, engineers and architects, as well as entertainers, artists, etc.).
  
  We classify professionals who earn most of their income in the form of salaries as employees. As a result, the number of professionals shown in the publication may be less than the number shown in professional directories.
  
  
• Sales - taxfilers whose major source of earnings is commission income from self-employment.
  
  
• Business proprietorship or partnership - taxfilers whose major source of income is business income.
  
  
• Investment - taxfilers whose major source of income is interest, taxable dividends from Canadian corporations, taxable capital gains, and other investment income.
  
  
• Pension - taxfilers whose major source of income is pensions.
  
  
• Benefit - taxfilers whose major source of income is employment insurance, social assistance payments, Universal Child Care Benefits, workers' compensation benefits, and net federal supplements.
  
  
• Other - taxfilers whose major source of income is alimony, RRSP income, registered disability savings plan income or other unspecified income.

Age and sex classification

We derive the age figures from the taxfiler's reported year of birth on page 1 of the return. We included returns with no reported date of birth in the total.

We also identify the sex of the taxfiler from information we have on file (information provided by the Social Insurance Registry). We included returns with no reported sex in the total.

Provincial or territorial classification

Province or territory of residence - used in tables 5 and 5A - refers to the province or territory in which the taxfiler resided on December 31, 2009, as indicated in the T1 General Income Tax and Benefit Return.

Province or territory of taxation - used in Table 1 - refers to the province or territory in which provincial or territorial tax is payable. It is possible for a taxfiler to reside in one province or territory of Canada, but all or part of their income for the year was earned and can be allocated to a permanent establishment outside that province or territory, or outside Canada. Such individuals are referred to as "multiple jurisdiction" filers. In Table 1, multiple jurisdiction filers are reassigned to the province in which they have allocated the highest percentage of their net income. In cases where it is not possible to distinguish in which they have allocated the highest percentage of their net income, they are then redistributed by their province of residence.

Date modified:

2011-02-11