The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help with the cost of raising children under 18 years of age. The CCB may include the child disability benefit and any related provincial and territorial programs.
You must meet all of the following conditions:
You cannot get the Canada child benefit (CCB) for a foster child for any month in which Children's special allowances (CSA) are payable.
You may get the CCB if you live with and care for a child under a kinship or close relationship program from the governments of Canada, a province, a territory or an Indigenous governing body, as long as CSA are not payable for that child.
For more information, see Children's special allowances.
The person who is primarily responsible for the care and upbringing of the child should apply for the CCB. That person is responsible for things such as:
When two individuals who are spouses or common-law partners reside in the same home as the child, the female parent is presumed to be primarily responsible for the care and upbringing of all the children in the home. She should be the one applying for the CCB. The female presumption is a legislative requirement and only one payment per household can be issued under the Income Tax Act. No matter which parent receives the CCB, the amount will be the same.
However, if the other parent is primarily responsible, they should apply and attach a signed letter from the female parent stating that they are primarily responsible for the care and upbringing of all the children in the home.
If the child resides with same-sex parents, only one parent should apply for all the children in the home.
If a child only lives with you part of the time, you need to determine if you are considered to have shared custody.
Does the child spend their time:
If the child lives with you at least 40% of the time or on an approximately equal basis with you and another individual at a different address, then both individuals are considered to have shared custody for the purposes of the CCB.
For example, the child lives with you one week and with another individual one week, or with you 4 days a week and with the other individual 3 days a week (between 40% and 60%).
If the child lives with you more than 60% of the time, you are considered to have full custody for the purposes of the CCB.
For example, the child lives with you during the week and with another individual every second weekend.
If the child lives less than 40% of the time with you and mostly with another individual, you are not considered an eligible individual for the purposes of the CCB and should not apply.
For example, the child lives with you every second weekend.
Changes in custody can sometimes be temporary. This can happen, for example, if the child usually lives with one individual, but goes to live with another individual for the summer.
In these cases, the individual that gets custody on a temporary basis can apply to get CCB payments for that period. When the child returns to live with the other individual, they need to reapply to start getting the payments again.
If you start or end a shared custody situation, let the CRA know that your situation changed.
Use the child and family benefits calculator to help plan your budget: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/child-family-benefits-calculator.html
Every month of the benefit year (July to June of the following year), CCB payments are adjusted based on:
The following amounts are for the payment period from July 2024 to June 2025 and are based on your AFNI from 2023.
If your AFNI is under $36,502, you get the maximum amount for each child. It will not be reduced.
For each child:
Examples:
Any reduction to the maximum benefit payment depends on your AFNI and on the number of children.
The payments gradually start decreasing when the adjusted family net income is over $36,502.
Each parent with shared custody will get 50% of what they would have gotten if they had full custody of the child and the amount is calculated based on their own adjusted family net income.
The CRA will not split the amount using other percentages, or give the full amount to one of the parents if the CRA considers you to have shared custody.
If a child only lives with you part time, go to Custody arrangements and your benefits to find out if you are considered to have shared custody.
Every July, your benefit payment is recalculated based on your adjusted family net income from the previous year. CCB is indexed to inflation.
For example, payments from:
In other words, a change in your income in 2023 will only be reflected in your payments starting in July 2024.
If your payment changed or stopped in another month, go to If your payment stopped or changed.
Some provinces and territories offer additional assistance to help with the cost of raising a family.
Some of these benefits are added to your CCB payment and paid with it, while others are paid separately.
Select your province or territory:
The CCB young child supplement is paid to families who were entitled to receive a Canada child benefit (CCB) payment in January, April, July or October 2021 for each child under the age of six. The amount you receive depends on your family net income in 2019 and 2020. You and your spouse or common-law partner must file your 2019 and 2020 tax returns to get all four payments.
For more information, go to CCB young child supplement.
If your child is eligible for the disability tax credit, you may also be eligible for the child disability benefit.
For the period of July 2024 to June 2025, you could get up to $3,322 ($276.83 per month) for each child who is eligible for the disability tax credit.
Go to Child disability benefit
What to do if you received a notice saying you have to make a repayment
The CRA makes Canada child benefit (CCB) payments on the following dates:
2024
You will not receive a monthly payment if your total benefit amount for the year is less than $240. Instead you will receive one lump sum payment with your July payment.
Go to My Account to see your next payment or sign up to receive benefit and credit payment reminders about one week before the payment is issued.
If you don't receive your CCB payment on the expected payment date, please wait 5 working days before you contact the CRA.
You should receive your first payment:
Go to If your payment stopped or changed.
To keep getting your Canada child benefit (CCB) and related provincial and territorial payments, you must file your tax return on time every year. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, they also have to file their tax return on time every year.
You must file your tax return even if your income is tax exempt or you have no income.
If you don't file your tax return every year, your payments will stop.
Your CCB payment is not taxable. This means that you will not receive a slip, and you don't have to report it on your tax return.