Line 58040 on the Tax Return: Provincial Basic Personal Amount

Line 58040 on your tax return is where you enter your province or territory’s basic personal amount on Form 428, the provincial or territorial tax form that files alongside your federal T1. It’s a non-refundable credit every resident of Canada gets, letting you earn a baseline amount of provincial income before any provincial tax kicks in. For 2026, the figure ranges from roughly $12,000 to over $22,000 depending on where you lived on December 31.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30000 – Basic Personal Amount

What the Credit Actually Does

The amount you enter on Line 58040 is not subtracted from your tax bill directly. It gets multiplied by your province’s lowest income tax rate to produce the credit. If your province’s basic personal amount is $13,000 and its lowest rate is 5%, the credit reduces your provincial tax by about $650. Bigger base amount, higher lowest rate, larger real-dollar credit.

Because it’s non-refundable, the credit can only bring your provincial tax to zero. If your total non-refundable credits exceed what you owe, the excess doesn’t come back as a refund.2Government of British Columbia. B.C. Basic Personal Income Tax Credits

2026 Amounts by Province and Territory

Each province and territory sets its own basic personal amount and indexes it annually for inflation. Your province of residence on December 31 controls which figure you use. Available 2026 amounts:

The approximate figures above combine the 2025 base amounts with the 2026 provincial indexation factors.6Canada Revenue Agency. Income Tax Rates and Income Thresholds Confirm the exact number against your province’s Form 428 or the CRA’s Line 30000 page before filing. Provincial budgets sometimes override the standard indexed amount.

Income-Tested Reductions for Higher Earners

Most provinces give the full basic personal amount to every resident. Manitoba is the exception. If your net income from Line 23600 of the federal return is below $200,000, you claim the full Manitoba amount. Between $200,000 and $400,000, the credit gradually phases out. At $400,000 and above, it’s gone.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30000 – Basic Personal Amount Manitoba residents in that income band work through a worksheet on Form 428 to calculate the reduced amount before entering it on Line 58040.

Residency, Moves, and Newcomers

Your province of residence on December 31 dictates the Form 428 you use and the basic personal amount on Line 58040. If you moved between provinces during the year, you file using the year-end province. The credit doesn’t get split.

The rules differ for people who arrived in Canada or left during the year. Non-refundable credits, including the basic personal amount, are prorated based on the number of days you were a Canadian resident that calendar year.7Canada Revenue Agency. Federal Non-Refundable Tax Credits for Newcomers and Emigrants Arrive on July 1 and you’d claim roughly half. The same proration applies to the provincial credit, so your Line 58040 entry drops proportionally.

People whose income is largely exempt from Canadian tax, such as certain diplomats or those covered by tax treaties, may face additional restrictions on claiming the credit.

Quebec Residents Don’t Use Line 58040

Quebec residents don’t file Form 428. If you lived in Quebec on December 31, you file a separate provincial return directly with Revenu Québec.8Canada Revenue Agency. Line 42800 – Provincial or Territorial Tax Quebec has its own basic personal amount and its own line numbers. Line 58040 does not appear on the Quebec return.

How to Enter Line 58040

Certified tax software handles this automatically. It reads your province of residence, pulls the correct basic personal amount, applies any income-tested reduction, and populates Line 58040 without input from you.

Filing by hand? Pull the Form 428 for your province from the T1 tax package. The form prints the current year’s basic personal amount right on it, so a separate lookup usually isn’t needed. Where an income-tested reduction applies, the form or its worksheet walks through the calculation using Line 23600 of your federal return. Enter the result on Line 58040.

Getting the number wrong ripples through the rest of Form 428. Overstate the credit and you underpay provincial tax, which draws interest on the balance. Understate it and you overpay; the CRA may catch and correct the error during assessment, but that isn’t guaranteed on every return.

Line 58040 Is Not the Spouse Credit

Line 58040 is always your own basic personal amount. If your spouse or common-law partner earns less than the basic personal amount, a separate credit is available on Line 58120 of Form 428 for the difference between their net income and that amount.9Canada Revenue Agency. Spouse or Common-Law Partner Amount That is a distinct credit, not a transfer of any unused portion of your Line 58040. The two are frequently confused, but they sit on separate lines and follow separate rules.