CANADA and ONTARIO CHILD BENEFIT

Summary:

The Canada and Ontario Child Benefits are tax-free monthly payments that help families with the cost of raising children under 18. The amount is reduced for higher-income families. Refugee claimants are not eligible. Temporary residents are eligible once they have lived in Canada for 18 months.

Who is eligible?

All of the following must apply to a benefit applicant:

• The child is under 18 on the first day of the payment month.
• The child lives with the applicant.
• The applicant is primarily responsible for the child’s care and upbringing.
• The applicant is a resident of Canada.
• The applicant (or their spouse) is one of the following:

• A Canadian citizen
• A permanent resident under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• A protected person under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• A temporary resident under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who has:

• lived in Canada for the previous 18 months, and
• has a valid permit in the 19th month
• the permit cannot state, “does not confer status” or “does not confer temporary resident status”

Who is considered the primary caregiver?

This is the person mainly responsible for the child’s day-to-day care, such as supervising activities, meeting medical needs, and arranging child care.

Payment Amounts (2025 base tax year, paid July 2026–June 2027):

Basic amounts before any reduction for incomes exceeding thresholds:

• Federal:

• $680/month for children under 6 ($8,157/year);
• $574/month for children 6–17 ($6,883/year)

• Ontario: $147/month ($1,760/year)

Payments are gradually reduced if family net income exceeds certain thresholds:

• Federal: $38,237 (first threshold) and $82,846 (second threshold)
• Ontario: $26,891

Net family income includes the income of the applicant, and their spouse if they have one.^[1] 

Applying for the benefit:

Applications can be made through:

1. Birth registration (typically online at the hospital or birthing centre)
2. CRA My Account
3. Form RC66, Canada Child Benefits Application

For children born in Ontario, birth registration must occur within 30 days. The process often combines birth registration, child benefit application, and SIN registration (the “5-in-1 bundle”).^[2] If the benefit is not applied for at birth, it can be done later via My Account or Form RC66.

Mother is presumed to be primary caregiver:

By default, if parents are of opposite sexes, the mother is presumed to be the primary caregiver. This presumption is stated in the Income Tax Act.

If a couple wants the father to receive the benefit, A father must provide a signed declaration to the CRA stating that the father is the primary caregiver.

If a single father is the primary caregiver of a child and later enters into a marriage or common-law relationship with a woman, the Canada Revenue Agency is required to treat the child as the child of both the father and the woman, and the CRA must presume that the female spouse is the primary caregiver.^[3] As a result, she will be considered entitled to receive the child benefit instead of the father. Following the change in marital status, the CRA will typically issue correspondence indicating that, if the father is to continue receiving the benefit, the new spouse must submit a declaration confirming that he is in fact the primary caregiver.

Annual Filing Requirement:

Applicants and their spouses must file tax returns each year.

What if an applicant’s spouse is a non-resident for all or part of the year?

The applicant is required to report the worldwide net income of their non-resident spouse using Form CTB9. Although the spouse is not a resident of Canada, their net income should be calculated in the same way that net income is determined in Canada.

What if spouses separate and one has sole custody or is the primary caregiver?

The CRA must be notified of the separation. Starting 90 days after the separation, the benefit is recalculated using the income of the custodial parent in the base year. If, for example, a mother and father separate where the father had substantial income and the mother’s income was low, and the mother has sole custody after separation, the mother’s benefit starting 90 days after separation may significantly increase.

What if spouses separate and share custody?

Each of the two “shared-custody parents” is entitled to 50% of the calculated Canada Child Benefit.^[4] For the purposes of calculating each parent’s benefit, the net family income is determined using that parent’s net income plus the net income of any new spouse or common-law partner they may have.

A “shared-custody parent” is one of the two parents of a child who:^[5]

• are not cohabiting spouses or common law spouses of each other;^[6] and
• resides with the child at least least 40% of the time or on an approximately equal basis in the payment month.

The CRA should be notified of the separation by the end of the month following the end of 90 days of separation. For example, if a couple separate and 90 days pass as of mid-April, then the CRA should be advised of the separation by the end of May. The CRA can be advised through My Account, by phone, or by sending Form RC65.

How do protected persons and 18-month temporary residents apply?

A reminder: Refugee claimants cannot apply until they get protected person status, and temporary residents cannot apply until they’ve been in Canada for 18 months.

They need to apply for the child benefit by completing

1. RC66 Canada Child Benefit application; and
2. RC66SCH, Status in Canada and Income Information

These forms are also an application for the GST/HST credit.

For more information about these forms, see the document for the RC151 and RC66 forms. For more information about refugees and the CCB, see the document for refugees.

UFile Notes:

No special entries are required in UFile. UFile’s calculation of the Canada Child Benefit is inclusive of the Ontario Child Benefit and Child Disability Benefit.

If a father provides only basic information for his spouse, UFile will calculate the benefit for the father even if the benefits will actually be paid to the mother.

If a person provides complete information for their spouse, UFile will always assign the benefit to the spouse if no genders are specified. If genders are added the benefit will be assigned to the female parent as the presumed applicant. This can be changed using a UFile Control option. But the important point is that regardless of what UFile may show, the CRA will pay the child benefit to the applicant of the benefit, and a request to change the applicant cannot be done through UFile.

References:

• CRA website - Canada Child Benefit
• Ontario website - Ontario Child Benefit
• Booklet T4114 Canada Child Benefit and related federal, provincial and territorial programs
• Income Tax Act, sections 122.6 to 122.64
• Income Tax Regulations, s.6301(1)