How Many Paycheques in a Year? Biweekly vs Semi-Monthly Pay in Canada

Canadian payroll counts 52 pay periods a year for weekly pay (53 in some years), 26 for biweekly pay (27 in some years), 24 for semi-monthly pay and 12 for monthly pay. On a set salary, each cheque’s gross pay is the year’s pay divided by that number. The converter below shows a pay amount as annual, hourly, weekly, biweekly and monthly figures; it has no semi-monthly result, so the semi-monthly cheque is in the table under it. For pay after income tax, CPP and EI on each cheque, use the paycheque calculator, which has a semi-monthly setting.

Pay per cheque at each schedule

Pay periods from the CRA’s payroll formulas; the per-cheque amounts and extra paydays are our arithmetic. For an hourly wage, see how to work out a salary from an hourly rate and the salary converter.

Semi-monthly vs biweekly

Semi-monthly pay comes on the same two dates each month, such as the 15th and the last day, for 24 cheques a year. Biweekly pay comes at 14-day intervals, on the same weekday, for 26 cheques in most years. With two fewer cheques, a semi-monthly cheque is larger: on $60,000, $2,500.00 against $2,307.69.

Semi-monthly periods aren’t the same length. With paydays on the 15th and the last day, the first period of the month is 15 days and the second runs from 13 days in February to 16 in the longest months (our count). A salary pays the same on each cheque, but a cheque for hourly work reflects the hours in its period, so the two cheques in a month can differ.

For a monthly budget figure, the converter’s monthly result (the year divided by 12) is larger than two biweekly cheques: $5,000.00 against $4,615.38 on $60,000 (our arithmetic).

Months with three biweekly paydays

A biweekly schedule has 26 paydays in most years, so 2 months a year bring a third cheque. A month has three when its first payday falls on the 1st or 2nd, or the 3rd in a 31-day month; February has three only when the first falls on February 1 in a leap year (our count from the calendar). Weekly pay works the same way, with 4 months a year bringing a fifth cheque.

For the two biweekly Friday schedules, the three-payday months are:

Our count from the calendar. The third cheque in a month adds no pay for the year; it is one of the 26. Budgeting on a biweekly paycheque covers planning monthly bills around it.

Years with an extra biweekly payday

A 365-day year holds 26 periods of 14 days with 1 day left over (2 in a leap year), so a biweekly payday falls earlier in the calendar each year (our arithmetic). A biweekly schedule has 27 paydays in a year when its first payday falls on January 1, or on January 1 or 2 in a leap year, and a weekly payday falls 53 times on the same condition (our count from the calendar).

Our count from the calendar. Of the two biweekly schedules on that weekday, the one paid on that date gets the extra payday; on a Friday schedule paid January 2, 2026, 2027 has 27 paydays. The CRA tells employers to settle the number of pay periods at the start of the year, 26 or 27 for biweekly pay and 52 or 53 for weekly pay, and its formulas use that number as the count.

If a salary is divided over 27 cheques that year, $60,000 pays $2,222.22 a cheque; if each cheque stays at a 26th, 27 cheques pay $62,307.69 for the year (our arithmetic).

Deductions on each cheque

The CRA’s payroll formulas take CPP from each cheque on its pay minus a share of the year’s $3,500 basic exemption: the exemption divided by the number of pay periods in the calendar year, with the third decimal dropped.

Source: CRA, T4127, Table 6.1.

Each cheque’s CPP and EI are capped by what is left of the year’s maximum (prorated for the months CPP is deducted, in a part year) after the contributions already deducted by that employer, so once the year’s maximum is reached (for 2026, $4,230.45 of CPP and $1,123.07 of EI), that deduction stops for the rest of the year. The second CPP contribution (CPP2) comes off only on the year’s earnings between $74,600 and $85,000 in 2026. In Quebec the QPP takes the CPP’s place in the same formula, at its own rate and maximum, and EI has a lower rate and a $895.70 maximum.

The CRA’s own example for 2026 is a semi-monthly employee paid $4,200 a cheque, $100,800 a year. CPP is $241.22 on each of the first 17 cheques, $129.71 on cheque 18 and nothing after, while CPP2 starts on cheque 18 and ends on cheque 21. The same pay worked out with the formulas on both schedules:

Our calculation with the CRA’s formulas: each deduction is in full on the cheques before its last one, and the last one takes what is left of the year’s maximum. At this pay, cheques late in the year are larger than early ones once CPP and EI stop. The paycheque calculator spreads the year’s deductions evenly over the cheques, so above these maximums it shows an average cheque. Income tax on each cheque is the year’s tax worked out on annual taxable income (mainly the cheque’s taxable pay times the number of pay periods), divided by that number. The payroll deductions guide covers each one.

Switching schedules and how often you must be paid

If your salary stays the same when your employer moves from biweekly to semi-monthly pay, each cheque gets larger and there are fewer of them: $2,500.00 instead of $2,307.69 on $60,000. Pre-authorized payments timed a day or two after a biweekly payday may no longer follow a payday.

In four provinces, the employment standards rules on how often you are paid are:

• Ontario: your employer must set a regular pay period and a regular pay day.
• Quebec: wages are paid at regular intervals of no more than sixteen days, or a month for managerial personnel and certain other workers.
• British Columbia: at least semi-monthly, within 8 days after the end of the pay period (overtime banked in a time bank and vacation pay are excepted).
• Alberta: at least once a month; daily, weekly, biweekly and semi-monthly pay periods are also allowed.

Other provinces and territories, and federally regulated employers, have their own employment standards.

Related pages

• Paycheque calculator (take-home pay per cheque)
• Salary converter
• Payroll deductions in Canada
• How to Read Your Pay Stub in Canada
• Gross vs net income
• Budgeting on a biweekly paycheque
• All income calculators