Canada Child Benefit (CCB)

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a tax-free monthly payment meant to help eligible families with the costs of raising children under the age of 18. Your CCB payment might also include child disability payments and any related provincial or territorial programs, depending on what your situation is.

To be eligible for CCB payments, you must meet all of the following conditions:

  • You must live with the child (who is under 18) and be primarily responsible for his or her care and upbringing
  • You must be a resident of Canada for tax purposes and
  • You or your spouse or common-law partner must be:
    • a Canadian citizen
    • a permanent resident
    • a protected person
    • a temporary resident who’s lived in Canada for the past 18 months, and who has a valid permit in the 19th month or
    • an Indian within the meaning of the Indian Act

Note: You can’t claim your CCB on your tax return. If you’re eligible for the CCB payments and have applied for them, you’ll automatically receive your monthly payments. 

If you were receiving the discontinued Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) or the Canada Child Tax Benefit amounts for your children, don’t worry! You’ll automatically be registered for the CCB.

You should apply for the CCB payments soon after your child is born, or as soon as you become your child’s primary caregiver, so that you don’t miss out on any payments. You can apply by:

If you share custody of your child and each parent lives with them for about half of the time, the CCB will be split evenly between you. Refer to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website to learn more on applying for CCB when sharing custody.

To determine your CCB amount, the CRA looks at factors like the number of children who live with you, their ages, if they qualify for the child disability amount, and your adjusted family net income. Some of this information comes from your tax return, so it’s important that you and your spouse file one each year, even if you don’t have income for the year.

Payments are calculated in July and stay in effect until June of the following year, unless there’s a change in your family situation.

For July 2021 to June 2022, the basic CCB rate is:

  • $6,765 per year for each child under the age of 6
  • $5,708 per year for each child between the ages of 6 and 17

However, if your adjusted family net income is over $31,711, these amounts start getting reduced.

Note: Be sure to keep your information (such as marital status, number of children in your care, your address, etc.) up to date with the CRA so that you get the right payment amount that you’re entitled to.

The federal government has proposed four supplemental payments to the CCB in 2021 for parents with children under the age of 6:

  • $300 per child for families with net income that is equal to or less than $120,000

  • $150 per child for families with net income that is over $120,000

Eligible children must be under the age of 6 at the beginning of the payment month.

The first payment will be paid after the enabling legislation is passed. The remaining payments will be paid in April, July, and October 2021. The first two payments will be based on your adjusted family net income from your 2019 return. The remaining two payments will be based on your 2020 tax return.

Since your CCB amount is based on your family situation and income, you need to contact the CRA immediately for certain changes (with the date the change happened or will happen)  as your CCB amount might need to be recalculated.

Note: You might be asked to provide supporting documents related to the change in your situation.

The number of children in your care changed: Contact the CRA if:

  • Your child is born, starts living with you, or you share custody of a child
  • Your child (for whom you were receiving the benefit) no longer lives with you on a full-time basis, stops living with you, or has died

Your marital status changed: Contact the CRA by the end of the month following the month in which your status changed, except for in the case of a separation. Don’t inform the CRA of your separation until you have been separated for more than 90 consecutive days.

You moved: Contact the CRA with your new address immediately to avoid your payments from stopping. Even if you use direct deposit and your bank account didn’t change, your payments might be stopped if you don’t inform the CRA of your new address.

Benefit recipient passed away: If the benefit recipient has passed away, the next of the kin or the estate must contact the CRA. Another person might be eligible to receive benefit for the child(ren).

You can contact the CRA by using any of the following methods:

You can also mail form RC65: Marital Status Change to inform the CRA of a change in your marital status or form RC325: Address change request for a change in your address.

There are several provincial and territorial programs that are related to the Canada child benefit and administered by the CRA. Your information from the CCB application is used to determine if you’re eligible for these programs; you don’t have to apply separately. Click on the links below for more information on each of these programs: