Canada Child Benefit payments start today
Find out how much you'll get
Find out how much you'll get
Starting today, most families with children under the age of 18 should expect to receive a boosted child benefit payment.
The new Canada Child Benefit (CCB) will provide a maximum, tax-exempt benefit of $6,400 per child under the age of six and $5,400 per child aged six to 17. While the Liberals anticipate this new benefit will help more than nine million Canadians, they expect that most families will see an average increase in child benefit payments of almost $2,300 each year.
If you’re wondering, the CCB that goes out today will not be paid out retroactively from January 1, 2016. You can check how much you should expect to receive using our CCB calculator below. Just input your province, your income and how many children you have and to determine whether you’ll really get more funds from the new program. One key difference? The outgoing Universal Child Care Benefit was a taxable one (ie. You paid income tax on part of the total), while the new CCB is tax-exempt. What you see in your account is what you keep.
Not sure what to do with the extra money? Put it towards an RESP to save for your child’s education or open their first TFSA to set them on the path to a secure financial future.
The revamped child benefit system was introduced in Budget 2016 in order to replace the Conservatives’ “complicated” Canada Child Tax Benefit, which the Liberal government deemed both unsatisfactory and poorly targeted to those who needed it the most.
Have questions about the new CCB? See if we answered them here. Have a question we haven’t addressed? Leave it in the comments below.
See also:
How the budget will affect families »
The winners and losers of the CCB »
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