All the Numbers

Canada Child Benefit

From the All the Numbers wiki · Retirement and benefits

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a tax-free monthly payment to families for each child under 18. It is the largest of the benefits tested on family income. It is paid in full to low-income families and reduced as income rises, and it is not taxable income.

The amounts

For the payment year from July 2026 to June 2027, the most paid per child is:

  • $8,157 a year for a child under 6, which is $679.75 a month.[1]
  • $6,883 a year for a child aged 6 to 17, which is $573.58 a month.[2]

The age used is the child's age at the start of each month.

The reduction

The benefit is reduced by a share of adjusted family net income (AFNI) above two thresholds.

  • Below $38,237 nothing is taken off.[3]
  • Between $38,237 and $82,847 the reduction is 7% of the excess for one child, 13.5% for two, 19% for three and 23% for four or more.[4]
  • Above $82,847, the reduction is a fixed amount for the number of children plus a lower percentage of the income over that threshold: $3,123 plus 3.2% for one child, $6,022 plus 5.7% for two, $8,476 plus 8% for three and $10,260 plus 9.5% for four or more.[5]

Adjusted family net income is the net income of both spouses added together. For a couple, a partner is anyone you live with in a marriage or common-law relationship; living apart for at least 90 days because the relationship broke down ends that for this purpose.[6] The engine uses the plain sum of net incomes. CRA also adjusts for universal child care benefit and RDSP income, which the engine does not model.[7]

Shared custody and the disability amount

  • A child who lives with each parent at least 40% of the time is in shared custody. Each parent receives half of what they would receive with full custody, worked out on their own income.[8][9]
  • A parent with the child more than 60% of the time has full custody for the benefit.[10]
  • The child disability benefit adds up to $3,480 a year for a child eligible for the disability tax credit.[11] It is reduced by 3.2% of AFNI over the second threshold for one such child, or 5.7% for two or more.[12]

When it is paid, and to whom

Payments run from July to June and are based on the tax return filed the year before the payment year began, so July 2026 to June 2027 uses 2025 income.[13] A change in income therefore reaches the benefit after a delay of one or two years.

For a couple, one parent receives the benefit. CRA presumes it is the mother where the child lives with both parents. The engine instead has the plan name the recipient.[14]

What the engine does

When a plan carries household facts (the children, their dates of birth, who has custody) the engine pays the monthly benefit into household cash each month, in cents, with the monthly amount cut off at the cent as CRA publishes it. The payments are treated as cash, not income.

What All the Numbers does

All the Numbers asks for each child's birth year and pays the benefit, with your province's child benefit, for every month a child is under 18. It fills in what it does not ask:

  • Who the child lives with. Every child lives full time with you (both of you, for a couple), and the first person in the plan receives the benefit. Shared custody is not asked.[15]
  • Birthdays. A child's birthday is 1 January of the birth year, as for an adult. CRA reads the age on the first of each month, so the higher under-6 amount, and the benefit itself, end in the January of the year the child turns 6 and 18: up to eleven months early.[16]
  • Income before the plan. The first eighteen months of payments rest on returns filed before the plan starts. The plan takes each person's net income in those years as their pay today; RRSP and other deductions would make it lower, and the benefit higher.[17]

After that, each July's payments follow the plan's own figures for the year before. The GST/HST credit is tested on the same income and is paid in every plan.

See also

  • Benefits tested on family income · The Canada Child Benefit, the GST/HST credit, the provincial child benefits and the Ontario Trillium Benefit are calculated on family net income and on facts about children and rent. All the Numbers pays the child benefits for the children you enter, and the GST/HST credit and your province's sales-tax and low-income credits to every household; Ontario's energy and property tax credit is not yet in a plan.
  • Children, childcare and an RESP for each child · Enter each child's birth year and the plan pays the Canada Child Benefit and your province's child benefit, counts childcare as spending until school age, and pays each child's RESP out as education payments by their early twenties.
  • GST/HST credit (Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit) · A quarterly tax-free payment to people with low and modest incomes, now called the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. Every plan includes it, worked out from the household's family net income.
  • New Brunswick benefits · New Brunswick pays a child tax benefit, a working income supplement and a school supplement with the CCB to lower-income families, and an HST credit every quarter.
  • Newfoundland and Labrador benefits · Newfoundland and Labrador pays a child benefit and a nutrition supplement with the CCB, and an income supplement and seniors' benefit every quarter.
  • Northwest Territories benefits · The Northwest Territories pay a child benefit with the CCB, by the number of children under 6 and 6 to 17, reduced as family income rises.
  • Nova Scotia benefits · Nova Scotia pays a child benefit with the CCB to families under $34,000, and an affordable living tax credit every quarter with the federal credit.
  • Nunavut benefits · Nunavut pays a child benefit with the CCB for each child under 18, reduced as family income rises.
  • Ontario Child Benefit · An Ontario monthly payment of up to $146.66 for each child under 18, reduced as family income rises above $26,865. All the Numbers pays it for the children you enter, with the Canada Child Benefit.
  • Prince Edward Island benefits · Prince Edward Island pays a child benefit with the CCB for each child under 18, by family income.
  • Quebec family benefits and refundable credits · A Quebec household gets Quebec's family allowance and solidarity credit beside the Canada Child Benefit and the GST credit, and the Quebec return pays the work premium and, from 70, the senior assistance credit.
  • The Alberta Child and Family Benefit · Alberta pays families with children a base benefit that falls with income and a working benefit that grows with employment income, paid four times a year with the Canada Child Benefit.
  • The BC family benefit · British Columbia pays a monthly family benefit with the Canada Child Benefit, worked out on the same family net income, with a guaranteed minimum that holds until higher incomes.
  • The Canada Learning Bond · A government payment into a child's RESP for lower-income families, $500 for the first year and $100 for each later year, to $2,000, with no contribution needed. All the Numbers does not claim it because it does not ask for family income.
  • Yukon benefits · Yukon pays a child benefit with the CCB for each child under 18, reduced as family income rises.

References

  1. ↑CRA — How we calculate your CCB (July 2026 to June 2027); ITA 122.61(1) E(a) indexed · CCB maximum a year per child under 6 at the beginning of the month · $8,157 · effective 2026-07-01
  2. ↑CRA — How we calculate your CCB; ITA 122.61(1) E(b) indexed · CCB maximum a year per child aged 6–17 at the beginning of the month · $6,883 · effective 2026-07-01
  3. ↑CRA — How we calculate your CCB; ITA 122.61(1) Q(b) indexed · CCB phase-out begins at this AFNI · $38,237 · effective 2026-07-01
  4. ↑ITA 122.61(1) Q(b)–(c); flat amounts from the CRA page for 2026 · CCB reduction by number of children: 7% / 13.5% / 19% / 23% of AFNI over the first threshold up to the second; above it $3,123 / $6,022 / $8,476 / $10,260 plus 3.2% / 5.7% / 8% / 9.5% of the excess (1 / 2 / 3 / 4+ children) · See the source · effective 2026-07-01
  5. ↑CRA — How we calculate your CCB; ITA 122.61(1) Q(c) indexed · CCB second threshold: above it the flat amounts plus the lower rates apply · $82,847 · effective 2026-07-01
  6. ↑CRA — Marital status · Separated means living apart because of a breakdown in the relationship for at least 90 days; the status is effective from the first day apart · 90 days · effective 2001-01-01
  7. ↑CRA T4114 Canada Child Benefit — "adjusted family net income"; ITA 122.6 "adjusted income" · Adjusted family net income: family net income (line 23600 of both cohabiting spouses) minus UCCB and RDSP income received plus repaid; the engine models neither, so AFNI is the sum of net incomes · See the source · effective 2016-07-01
  8. ↑CRA — Canada child benefit: who can apply · Shared custody for CCB: the least share of time the child lives with each parent, or an approximately equal basis · 40% · effective 2011-07-01
  9. ↑ITA 122.61(1.1); CRA T4114 "40% to 60%" · Shared custody (child lives with each parent 40–60% of the time): each parent receives ½ of the amount computed as if they had full custody, on their own AFNI · See the source · effective 2011-07-01
  10. ↑CRA — Canada child benefit: who can apply · Full custody for CCB: the child lives with the parent more than this share of the time · 60% · effective 2011-07-01
  11. ↑CRA — How we calculate your CCB; ITA 122.61(1) M · Child disability benefit per DTC-eligible child, reduced by the CDB rates on AFNI over the second threshold · $3,480 · effective 2026-07-01
  12. ↑ITA 122.61(1) O(b) · Child disability benefit reduction: 3.2% (one DTC-eligible child) or 5.7% (two or more) of AFNI over the second threshold · See the source · effective 2016-07-01
  13. ↑ITA 122.6 "base taxation year"; 122.5(4.5) · Federal and Ontario refundable benefits are paid July–June on the base taxation year (the calendar year before July); CGEB months are July/October (preceding year) and January/April (second preceding year) · See the source · effective 2026-07-01
  14. ↑ITA 122.6 "eligible individual" (f); 122.5(5) · For a cohabiting couple the plan names the benefit recipient; the ITA 122.6(f) female-parent presumption is not applied · See the source · effective 2026-09-18
  15. ↑ITA 122.6 "eligible individual" (resides with the qualified dependant and is primarily responsible for their care) and "cohabiting spouse or common-law partner" · Every child lives full time with the plan's adults, the first person receives the child benefits, and a couple has lived together since the younger turned 18. Shared custody, a child living elsewhere and a separation are not asked · effective 2026-10-13
  16. ↑ITA 122.61(1): the CCB for a month is set by each qualified dependant's age at the beginning of the month · A child's birthday is 1 January of the birth year, as for an adult. The child benefit uses the age on the first of each month, so the under-6 rate and the benefit itself end in January of the year the child turns 6 and 18, up to eleven months early · effective 2026-10-13
  17. ↑ITA 122.6 "base taxation year" and "adjusted income": the July–June benefit year reads the family's net income of the calendar year before it · Child benefits paid before the plan has assessed a year of its own (January 2026 to June 2027 for a plan starting in 2026) read each parent's net income for the base year as their pay today · effective 2026-10-13