Calculator
Firewood Business Calculator: Simulate Your Year
Try a year of a firewood business before you live it. Change any number and see where you come out.
Last reviewed November 7, 20267 min readBy Lorne Wanamaker, firewood seller
Sample numbers: a made-up small side business. Replace them with yours.
It stays in this browser. Nothing you type is sent to us.
Profit in a normal year
$2,130
After every cost, with machines counted as wear. Before income tax.
Per face cord / rick: sold at $140.00, costs $124.34, leaves $15.66.
- Cash, year one
- -$1,820
- After $4,500 of purchases
- Cash, each year after
- $2,680
- Before replacing a machine
- Per hour of your time
- $10.44
- 204 hours a year, before tax
- Break-even, face cords / ricks a year
- 85
- You plan to sell 136
Your purchases are paid back after about 1.7 years of that cash.
What if…
Where the money goes
Selling 136 face cords / ricks, about 45.3 full cords.
| A year | Of sales | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $19,040 | 100% |
| Wood | $12,000 | 63% |
| Fuel, chains, oil and supplies | $1,360 | 7% |
| Yearly costs | $3,000 | 16% |
| Machine wear | $550 | 3% |
| Profit in a normal year | $2,130 | 11% |
Before you trust it
This is before income tax and pension contributions, which depend on your total income. The money guide explains how they work. These are your estimates, not a promise, and not tax advice.
On this page· What the results mean
What the results mean
- Profit in a normal year is what the business makes after every cost, with each machine counted as wear over the years you use it. It is before income tax.
- Cash is what actually moves through your bank account: year one, with your purchases, and each year after.
- Per hour of your time is the profit divided by your own hours. A business can show a profit and still pay you less than a part-time job.
- Break-even is how much you have to sell before a normal year stops losing money.
Then move the sliders. In the sample, a 10% higher price almost doubles the profit, and logs 10% dearer cut it by more than half. That is worth knowing before you buy a machine.
Why profit and cash are different numbers
A machine is paid for once and used for years. Counting it all in year one makes a good business look bad, and leaving it out makes a bad one look good. So the calculator shows both views. Here is the sample it opens with, which is a made-up small side business:
The sample business
| Normal year (profit) | Year one (cash) | Each year after (cash) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | $19,040 | $19,040 | $19,040 |
| Logs, fuel, yearly costs | -$16,360 | -$16,360 | -$16,360 |
| Machine wear | -$550 | ||
| Machines paid for | -$4,500 | ||
| What you end with | $2,130 | -$1,820 | $2,680 |
Sales
- Normal year (profit)
- $19,040
- Year one (cash)
- $19,040
- Each year after (cash)
- $19,040
Logs, fuel, yearly costs
- Normal year (profit)
- -$16,360
- Year one (cash)
- -$16,360
- Each year after (cash)
- -$16,360
Machine wear
- Normal year (profit)
- -$550
- Year one (cash)
- Each year after (cash)
Machines paid for
- Normal year (profit)
- Year one (cash)
- -$4,500
- Each year after (cash)
What you end with
- Normal year (profit)
- $2,130
- Year one (cash)
- -$1,820
- Each year after (cash)
- $2,680
Made-up numbers for a small side business. Replace them with yours.
It loses money in the bank in year one, then makes some every year after, until a machine has to be replaced. That is normal for a business that buys its machines up front, as long as you have the cash to get through year one.
A machine or more help?
Give each machine how much it does in an hour and how many people it takes, and the calculator works out the hours for you: yours, your helpers’, and what the helpers cost at the pay you enter. A machine that costs more to buy can cost less a year than the wages and hours it saves, once you make enough wood.
To see where that happens, press Compare two setups. Setup B starts as a copy of your plan. Change it, for example a processor in place of the splitter and the helper, and the calculator shows both side by side, the amount of wood a year where one starts coming out ahead, and how long the extra purchase takes to pay back.
Your own hours count too. Enter what an hour of your time is worth and the comparison counts it as a cost, so a faster machine comes out ahead sooner. Left blank, the hours each setup takes are still shown.
How the tax estimate works
Under Tax estimate, pick Canada or the United States. The calculator works out what the business adds to your tax: tax on your other income plus the business, less tax on the other income alone, plus CPP or QPP (or self-employment tax). It uses 2026 rates.
Canada
- Federal tax from 14% to 33%, with the basic personal amount of up to $16,45212.
- Provincial and territorial tax with each one’s 2026 brackets and basic personal amount, Ontario’s surtax and Health Premium, and Quebec’s 16.5% federal abatement13. Newfoundland and Labrador’s basic personal amount is $13,0944.
- Quebec’s own income tax with its 2026 brackets, from 14% to 25.75%5. Its basic personal amount of about $18,950 is our arithmetic: Revenu Québec’s 2025 amount of $18,571, indexed like the brackets. It already takes QPP into account, so on the Quebec return QPP is a deduction only.
- CPP: 11.9% of earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, and 8% from there to $85,00067. Half of the base contribution is a tax credit and the rest is a deduction7. QPP is 12.6% and 8% on the same bands8.
- Write-offs: each machine in its CCA class, with half the normal amount in the year you buy it9. A machine you already own claims what is left to write off (its UCC), which you type in Detailed.
- The proposed Productivity Mega Deduction, if you tick it: the full cost of eligible property acquired after September 14, 2026, deducted in the year it is available for use, but not more than the income of the business it is used in10. It is not law yet.
United States
- Federal tax with the 2026 brackets and the standard deduction of $16,100 single or $32,200 married filing jointly11.
- Self-employment tax: 15.3% (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of your profit, the Social Security part up to $184,500 with wages counted first, once earnings reach $4001213. You deduct the employer-equivalent half12.
- The QBI deduction: 20% of the business income, limited to 20% of taxable income14, with the 2026 thresholds of $201,750 single and $403,500 joint and the new $400 minimum11.
- Write-offs: machines bought this year come off in year one, under the permanent 100% bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 202515.
- State tax uses a rate you type.
The year-by-year table shows how the tax moves as write-offs shrink. Your accountant’s figure will differ: this is an estimate to plan with, not a return.
Machine wear is not tax depreciation
Wear here is plain arithmetic: the price, less what the machine is worth at the end, divided by the years you use it. It answers "what does this machine really cost me a year?" Tax rules spread a machine’s cost their own way, which the money guide explains. With the tax estimate on, tax uses those write-offs instead of wear.
What this doesn’t count yet
- Your whole tax return. The tax estimate counts the main parts only. Other credits and deductions, low-income reductions, the Alternative Minimum Tax and the tax when you sell a machine aren’t in it.
- Sales tax. Enter prices before sales tax. In Canada, firewood is taxable for GST/HST16, and you don’t have to register while taxable sales stay at or under $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters17. The calculator tells you when a plan passes that amount.
- Replacing machines. The years ahead don’t count a new machine when one wears out, or what you get for the old one.
Questions
Are the starting numbers real?
No. They are a made-up small side business, there to show how the calculator works. Your log prices, machines and hours will be different, so replace them with yours.
Do you see or keep what I type?
No. It is worked out in your browser and remembered only in this browser, so you can come back to it. Nothing is sent to us. Start empty clears it.
What should I choose, Simple or Detailed?
Start with Simple if you are thinking of starting. Detailed adds what running sellers usually know: deliveries, paid help, machines you already own, what a machine is worth at the end, upkeep, and more yearly costs. Both show the same plan, and numbers you entered in Detailed keep counting in Simple.
Can I plan in full cords instead of face cords or ricks?
Yes. At the top of What you sell, pick Face cord / rick or Full cord. Switching converts your prices, loads and machine speeds, so the plan stays the same. A face cord or rick is a single row, so its size depends on the piece length you enter.
Is a firewood processor cheaper than hiring help?
It depends on how much wood you make. A processor costs more to buy, but it can take fewer people and fewer hours for each cord. Enter both ways with Compare two setups and the calculator shows, with your own numbers, the amount a year where the processor starts coming out ahead.
Does the calculator work out my tax?
Roughly. Under Tax estimate, pick Canada (and your province) or the United States, and enter your other income. You see the tax and CPP, QPP or self-employment tax the business adds, year one and after, with machines written off the way tax rules do. Ask your accountant before you rely on it.
How do I enter a loan, or wood I keep for next year?
In Detailed. Under Loans, enter the amount, the rate and the years: the interest becomes a cost and the payments come out of your cash. Wood kept to sell next year lowers year one’s sales without changing a normal year.
I already own my machines. What do I enter?
In Detailed, tick I already own it. The machine still counts as wear in your profit, but it doesn’t come out of your cash in year one.
Sources
- 1.Canadian income tax rates for individuals: current and previous years, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 2.Adjustment of personal income tax and benefit amounts, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 3.T4127 Payroll Deductions Formulas, 123rd Edition, effective July 1, 2026, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 4.Personal Income Tax, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador ↩
- 5.Income tax rates, Revenu Québec ↩
- 6.CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 7.The Canada Pension Plan enhancement: what it means for you, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 8.Quebec Pension Plan: contributions, Retraite Québec ↩
- 9.T4002: Chapter 4, Capital cost allowance, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 10.Draft Legislative Proposals Relating to the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Regulations (September 15, 2026), Department of Finance Canada ↩
- 11.Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments), Internal Revenue Service ↩
- 12.Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes), Internal Revenue Service ↩
- 13.Schedule SE (Form 1040) 2026, Self-Employment Tax, Internal Revenue Service ↩
- 14.Qualified business income deduction, Internal Revenue Service ↩
- 15.Working Families Tax Cuts: businesses, Internal Revenue Service ↩
- 16.GST/HST Memorandum 4.4, Agriculture and Fishing, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
- 17.When to register for and start charging the GST/HST, Canada Revenue Agency ↩
Changes to this page
- : First published.
- : Machine speeds, helpers paid by the hour and Compare two setups.
- : Tax estimate for Canada and the United States, write-offs, loans and wood kept for next year.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Rules change and depend on your situation: check with an accountant before you act on it.
