I'm with Playfelt. My first year I only made 17,000 and I think I paid less than 2 grand in taxes. I stressed myself to death over it though - worrying about how much I was going to owe, and worrying that I hadn't saved up enough money to pay the bill.....What provided me with some peace of mind is I did my taxes in January. (I didn't submit them until March, but I did them so I ahd the numbers for my own sanity) I figured that if the bill was going to be more than what I had saved I would still have three months before things were due on April 30th, to save up a bit more money. =) Also, you don't have to pay the full amount of your taxes by the April deadline. If you need to, talk to a CRA rep and arrange a payment schedule. Yes, you'll pay a token amount of interest, but as long as you send them a few post dated cheques you will not be considered in arrears on your taxes, and it is one way to buy yourself some flexibility.