All the Numbers

Children, childcare and an RESP for each child

From the All the Numbers wiki · Retirement and benefits

A child changes a plan in three places: the benefits paid for them, what their care costs, and the money saved for their education.

Benefits

For every month a child is under 18, the plan pays the Canada Child Benefit and, where your province has one, its child benefit (Ontario's is the Ontario Child Benefit). Both fall as family income rises. The plan takes every child as living full time with you, and the first person in the plan as the one paid.[1] Each child's birthday is 1 January of the birth year.[2]

A single parent also claims the amount for an eligible dependant on their tax return, the same amount as the spouse amount, for one child. The plan claims it for your youngest child born by the plan's first year, so it lasts as long as it can, and ends after the last year that child is under 18 on 1 January.[3][4] A child born later in the plan does not take it over. The law blocks the claim in some shared-custody and support arrangements, which the plan does not model.

Childcare

Childcare you enter for a child is spending, every month, until the end of August of the year the child turns 6, when school becomes compulsory. Change the age for before- and after-school care.[5] It grows with inflation when your spending does.

The parent with the lower income deducts the childcare paid each year from their income, which lowers tax and raises the child benefit. The deduction is limited to $8,000 for each child under 7 at the end of the year,[6] $5,000 for each other child under 16 at some time in the year,[7][8] $11,000 for a child who qualifies for the disability amount,[9] and 66.6667% of that parent's pay and self-employment income.[10] The higher-income parent can claim only for weeks the other was a student, ill or apart; the plan does not model those weeks. This is our convention.[11] Quebec pays a refundable credit for childcare on its own return, which the plan does not include yet, so a Quebec household paying for childcare will do somewhat better than the plan shows.

An RESP for each child

Each RESP belongs to one child and uses their birth year for the grant. Contributions earn the education grant until the year the child turns 17. Then the plan pays the account out to the child as a student: four September payments in the years they turn 18 to 21, each part your contributions back and part grant and growth, which is the student's income. The last payment closes the account.[12] See taking money out of an RESP.

See also

  • Age, spouse and caregiver credits · Some credits depend on who you are or who you support. The age amount starts at 65 and shrinks with income; the spouse amount is the basic personal amount less your partner's income. All the Numbers applies the age amount, and the spouse amount for a couple; not the caregiver credits.
  • Canada Child Benefit · A monthly tax-free payment for each child under 18, paid to the person who cares for them and reduced as family income rises above about $38,000. All the Numbers pays it for the children you enter, from their birth years.
  • 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.
  • RESPs and the education grant · Contributions attract a 20% government grant, up to $500 a year, and $7,200 for a child's lifetime, up to a $50,000 contribution limit. Growth and grants come out taxed in the student's hands, at a rate that is usually near zero.
  • Taking money out of an RESP · Your own contributions come back tax-free. The grant and growth leave as education payments taxed to the student. If no one studies, growth is taxed to you with an extra 20%, and the grants are repaid. All the Numbers pays contributions first.

References

  1. ↑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
  2. ↑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
  3. ↑Our convention; ITA 118(1)(b) and 118(4)(a) (one claim for one person); CRA line 30400: "You did not have a spouse or common-law partner"; the child "under 18 years of age" while you supported and lived with them · A single parent (a plan with no partner) claims the amount for an eligible dependant for one child: the youngest born by the plan's first year and under 18 on its 1 January, so the claim lasts as many years as it can; a child born later in the plan is not claimed; every child is taken as living with the parent full time and no support is paid for them · effective 2026-10-28
  4. ↑ITA 118(1)(b)(ii)(D) · The eligible-dependant credit is available for a child who was under 18 at any time in the year (age on January 1 below 18); the dependant's net income is their assessed net income or nil when they file no return · See the source · effective 2026-09-18
  5. ↑Education Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2, s.21(1) (compulsory attendance from the September after a child turns six) · Childcare entered for a child is paid until the end of August of the year the child turns this age, unless changed: school is compulsory from age six · 6 years · effective 2026-10-13
  6. ↑ITA 63(1) and 63(3) "annual child care expense amount", "earned income", "eligible child" · Child care expense deduction: the annual amount for each child under 7 at the end of the year (fixed in the Act, not indexed) · $8,000 · effective 2015-01-01
  7. ↑ITA 63(1) and 63(3) "annual child care expense amount", "earned income", "eligible child" · Child care expense deduction: the annual amount for each other eligible child, one under 16 at some time in the year (fixed in the Act, not indexed) · $5,000 · effective 2015-01-01
  8. ↑ITA 63(1) and 63(3) "annual child care expense amount", "earned income", "eligible child" · Child care expense deduction: an eligible child is under this age at some time in the year · 16 years · effective 2015-01-01
  9. ↑ITA 63(1) and 63(3) "annual child care expense amount", "earned income", "eligible child" · Child care expense deduction: the annual amount for a child for whom the disability amount may be claimed (fixed in the Act, not indexed) · $11,000 · effective 2015-01-01
  10. ↑ITA 63(1) and 63(3) "annual child care expense amount", "earned income", "eligible child" · Child care expense deduction: at most this share of the claimant's earned income (pay, gratuities, net business income) · 66.67% · effective 2015-01-01
  11. ↑ITA 63(2): the higher-income supporting person deducts only for the weeks the lower-income person was a student, ill, in prison or separated · The child care expense deduction is claimed by the parent with the lower net income before it, as the Act requires unless that parent was a student, ill, in prison or separated; those weeks and Quebec's refundable credit are not modelled · effective 2026-11-02
  12. ↑ITA 146.1(1) "educational assistance payment" and "refund of payments", 146.1(7) (EAP in the student's income), 146.1(2)(g.1) (the $8,000 first-13-weeks cap) · Each RESP pays out in four September education payments, in the years the child turns 18, 19, 20 and 21 — a quarter, a third, a half, then all that is left. Each payment is that share of the contributions (a tax-free refund) and the same share of the grant, bond and growth (the EAP, the child's income); the last one empties and closes the account, so a plan may run past the 35-year wind-up. A child already past 18 when the plan starts is paid over the payment years left, or in full in the first September. The $8,000 cap on EAPs before 13 weeks of study (146.1(2)(g.1)) is not applied: the plan is yearly, and any EAP above $8,000 in the first year can be paid after the 13th week (from early December), in the same tax year, so the year's total is the same · See the source · effective 2026-10-13