On 22 March 2022, New Brunswick Minister of Finance and Treasury Board Ernie Steeves tabled the province’s fiscal 2022–23 budget. The budget contains no new taxes and no tax increases other than carbon-tax-related measures described below.
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 $500,0001 small-business limit.
New Brunswick’s 2022 corporate income tax rates are summarized in Table A.
Table A – 2022 New Brunswick corporate income tax rates*
| 2022 | ||
| NB | Federal and NB combined |
|
| Small-business tax rate** | 2.50% | 11.50% |
| General corporate tax rate** | 14.00% | 29.00% |
* Rates represent calendar-year rates.
** The 2021 federal budget proposed to temporarily reduce the federal corporate income tax rate for qualifying zero-emission technology manufacturers by 50% (i.e., to 7.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 15% general corporate income tax rate or 4.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 9% small-business corporate income tax rate), applicable for taxation years beginning after 2021. The reduced tax rates are proposed to be gradually phased out for taxation years beginning in 2029 and fully phased out for taxation years beginning after 2031.
Personal tax
Personal income tax rates
The budget does not include any changes to personal income tax rates.
The 2022 New Brunswick personal income tax rates are summarized in Table B.
Table B – 2022 New Brunswick personal income tax rates
| First bracket rate | Second bracket rate | Third bracket rate | Fourth bracket rate | Fifth bracket rate |
| $0 to $44,887 | $44,888 to $89,775 | $89,776 to $145,955 | $145,956 to $166,280 | Above $166,280 |
| 9.40% | 14.82% | 16.52% | 17.84% | 20.30% |
For taxable income in excess of $155,625, the 2022 combined federal-New Brunswick personal income tax rates are outlined in Table C.
Table C – Combined 2022 federal and New Brunswick personal income tax rates
| Bracket | Ordinary income* | Eligible dividends | Non-eligible dividends |
| $155,626 to $166,280** | 47.22% | 25.12% | 40.76% |
| $166,281 to $221,708** | 49.68% | 28.51% | 43.58% |
| Above $221,708 | 53.30% | 33.51% | 47.75% |
*The rate on capital gains is one-half the ordinary income tax rate.
**The federal basic personal amount comprises two elements: the base amount ($12,719 for 2022) and an additional amount ($1,679 for 2022). The additional amount is reduced for individuals with net income in excess of $155,625 and is fully eliminated for individuals with net income in excess of $221,708. Consequently, the additional amount is clawed back on net income in excess of $155,625 until the additional tax credit of $252 is eliminated; this results in additional federal income tax (e.g., 0.38% on ordinary income) on net income between $155,626 and $221,708.
Personal tax credits
This budget proposes changes to the following personal credits/amounts effective for the 2022 taxation year:
Increase in the basic personal amount from $10,817 to $11,720
Increase in the Low-Income Tax Reduction threshold from $18,268 to $19,177
Other tax measures
Property tax
Previously announced measures from the 2020–2021 budget that were put on hold as a result of the global pandemic will move forward as part of this budget.
The budget proposes the following three phased-in rate reductions:
A 50% reduction of property tax rates on non-owner-occupied residential properties
A 15% reduction of property tax rates on other residential properties, including nursing homes
A 15% reduction of property taxes on nonresidential properties
These measures will be phased in over a three-year period. It is expected that property tax bills for the 2022 taxation year will be issued on 1 April and will reflect the first phase of tax rate reductions.
Other measures
The minimum wage will increase by $1 per hour on 1 April 2022 to $12.75 per hour and by October 2022 is expected to be $13.75 per hour. The minimum wage is currently $11.75 per hour.
For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:
Ernst & Young LLP (Canada), Dieppe
- Dan LeBlanc
- Pauline Vautour
- Marc Léger
- Natacha Poirier
For a full listing of contacts and email addresses, please click on the Tax News Update: Global Edition (GTNU) version of this Alert.
