What is the Canada Carbon Rebate?
Learn about Canada’s carbon tax, launched in 2019 and ended in 2025.
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Update: Final carbon tax payments sent, starting in April 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney terminated the consumer carbon tax on March 14, 2025. The final Canada Carbon Rebate payments were sent out beginning on April 22, 2025. In order to receive this payment, you must have filed your 2024 tax return. You will receive your payment after that tax return has been assessed.
If you’ve received an email about a Canada Carbon Rebate payment (or any other type of government payment), log into your Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) account to check for messages. There are many email scams circulating, so it’s best not to click any links in emails that appear to be from the government or the CRA.
For more information, read “Why Canada is ending the consumer price on carbon.”
What was the Canada Carbon Rebate?
When it existed, the Canada Carbon Rebate (formerly known as the climate action incentive payment) was distributed to residents of eight provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador—through direct deposit to a bank account or via a cheque in the mail. The rebate was a tax-free payment to help eligible individuals and families offset the cost of federal pollution pricing at gas pumps. The amount that individuals received was based on their family situation and place of residence. Residents of small and rural communities also received a supplement of 20% of the base amount. According to the Canadian government, eight in 10 families got back more than they pay into the carbon pollution pricing system.
To receive the Canada Carbon Rebate, you had to have filed an income tax return for the previous year, even if you had no income to report. The first payment of 2025 was based on 2023 income tax returns. The second payment was based on 2024 income tax returns, and the third and fourth were cancelled after the Liberal government ended the federal fuel charge and the rebates. For more information, read “Why Canada is ending the consumer price on carbon.”
When was the Canada Carbon Rebate paid out?
The Canada Carbon Rebate was distributed four times per year: January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15.
Before 2021, the climate action incentive was a refundable tax credit claimed on personal income tax returns.
Why was there a carbon rebate?
Carbon rebates were paid out from money collected as part of Canada’s carbon pricing system. In 2019, the federal government put a price on carbon pollution, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the time, the national minimum price was $20 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). It went up to $50 in 2022, $65 in 2023 and $80 in 2024. The minimum price was planned to continue rising $15 every April, up to $170 per tonne in 2030.
Carbon prices were collected through fuel charges and an output-based pricing system for industry. Starting on April 1, 2023, drivers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon and Nunavut paid a fuel charge of $0.1431 per litre of gas. Starting July 1, 2023, this charge was also applied to drivers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. (Rates for other fuel types vary.) In April 2024, the fuel charge rate increased to $0.1761, and in 2025, it rose to $0.2091. Provincial and territorial governments could use the federal carbon pollution pricing system or develop their own carbon pricing model or cap-and-trade system, as long as it met or exceeded federal standards.
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Ottawa returned 90% of the carbon pricing money it collected back to the jurisdictions where it came from, either to the provincial and territorial governments or, in the case of the CCR, directly to residents. The other 10% was used to support schools, small and medium-sized businesses, hospitals and Indigenous programs.
Who received Canada Carbon Rebate payments?
Recipients of Canada Carbon Rebates had to be residents of Canada for income tax purposes at the beginning of the month in which the CRA made the payments. Recipients also had to be a resident of “an applicable CCR province” on the first day of the payment month, as well as be at least 19 years old in the month before the payments went out. Certain people under age 19 were also eligible, if they met requirements.
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What if you were eligible for the Canada Carbon Rebate but didn’t get it?
If your 2024 tax return has been assessed and you haven’t received the final Canada Carbon Rebate, you can contact the CRA to inquire. Note that if you owe taxes or other amounts to the government, the CCR amount will be applied to your debt first.
How much was the Canada Carbon Rebate?
The size of carbon rebates varied by province and family composition, and the amounts could change from year to year. Household income was not a factor.
Each province had a base amount, with additional amounts for a spouse/common-law partner, eligible children, and living in a small or rural community. Below are the quarterly base amounts for 2024–2025. The amounts for P.E.I. include the 10% rural supplement, since all residents are eligible. (See previous base years.)
| AB | SK | MB | ON | NB | NS | PEI | NL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First adult | $225 | $188 | $150 | $140 | $95 | $103 | $110 | $149 |
| Second adult | $112.50 | $94 | $75 | $70 | $47.50 | $51.50 | $55 | $74.50 |
| Each eligible child | $56.25 | $47 | $37.50 | $35 | $23.75 | $25.75 | $27.50 | $37.25 |
| Family of four | $450 | $376 | $300 | $280 | $190 | $206 | $220 | $298 |
Are CCR payments taxable?
Nope! Canada Carbon Rebate payments are tax-free. To learn more about the CCR, including final payment information, visit the Government of Canada website.
Read more about climate and money:
- How climate change is affecting your home insurance
- Watch: Climate change in Canada and the rising cost of home insurance
- Why sustainable investing is important
- Greener days ahead: There’s a new global standard for climate-related disclosures
- How to invest more sustainably in crypto
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Where do I make payments? At my bank?
I’ve received notification that I was to receive a payment in July for 307 dollars on July 15th. I did not receive.
Anyone know when octobers payment will happen? Will it be the 14th as the 15th is a Saturday?
I received a notice details that we owe 156.00 because residency requirement not met. I have no information supporting that we received this money. Moved to BC from MB end of Sept. 2022. How do I find info on this.
Regarding: “MoneySense hack: You can’t avoid fuel charges and other fuel consumption levies, but you might be able to find cheaper gas or get cash back.”
Moneysense missed the obvious hack of buying an electric car. I am on my second one now and the payback is real. You don’t need to spend Tesla money either, there are good offerings from other manufacturers. The technology is mainstream and the charging networks are there to make road tripping easily possible. Plus, you are saving something more important than just gas money 🙂
I just did my income tax return for 2022 will l get my climate insensitive payment in May for April payment please & thanks
Does someone come to the house to check the property?
I just received a text saying that CAIP sent me an e-transfer but I already received the cheque. I don’t believe the text
Why does the government confuse us with two different rebate name and yet it’s the same thing. Carbon tax rebate…… climate action incentive .. CAIP. This is ridiculous, pick one and then make it easier for us seniors to figure this out.
Why do Alberta citizens get so much more CTR than citizens of Ontario when the price of gas is so much cheaper than ours in Northern Ontario. The CTR may only partially cover my car on tax paid on gas for my vehicle but certainly doesn’t cover the extra I have to pay for my natural gas heating. As well, the added costs of delivering food to the stores I believe is not covered as well. So why do the Liberals insist that 80% will get more rebate than they pay. I call this complete BS.
I do know that BC has their own plan but why isnt is mentioned so we can compare who gets what in each Province
We’ve submitted our 2023 Tax Return and received an assessment report declaring that we will receive $ 210 of CCR which will be deposited in our account by April 15.
We’re doing our best to reduce our carbon print by burning less fuel by driving our vehicles at the posted speed limits.
Yesterday, when I drove to New Hamburg from Kitchener at least 200 vehicles, cars and big rig trucks had passed me driving at slightly over the speed limit of 90 Kph.
I’m confused. Can someone please explain something? If “Ottawa returns 90% of the carbon pricing money it collects back to the jurisdictions where it came from, either to the provincial and territorial governments or, in the case of the CCR, directly to residents.” why are they collecting it in the first place. Mr Trudeau claims that most people will get back more than they pay at the pump.
It seems to me that there is a major cost to administer this program. So can someone explain who benefits and how does this reduce pollution and GHG emissions.
What can residents of BC do to collect a rebate since the tax here is imposed provincially?
do british columbia people get the rebate.
The leading cause of mental illness…THE GOVERNMENT
So far if any cheques fall on a weekend or holidays it’s always the day before when they come in but I understand that this months climate incentive cheques are coming late because I didn’t receive mine yet and I have direct deposit.Has anyone else not received their cheques yet
I haven’t driven in over a decade. Why should this affect me? I didn’t receive any payment on the 15th of this month as promised.
Did not receive my carbon tax rebate today, may 15th. filed tax form april 8th, 2024 . where is rebate.
Figure Quebec has the highest carbon tax and no carbon rebate. Thieves.
Totalitarian nightmare. Pure evil. Canada is a western experiment ground rooted in nightmares and psychotic communist ideology by pushed and propagated by powerful, incompetent narcissists.
What if I’m legally separated, am I entitled to anything extra than what I’m receiving now
I’m in BC and As far as I know rebates went away when the NDP came in! They just piss it away on useless government programs
Biggest scam in history
I have received no notice or payment from yhis program does this only getbpaidbtomone spouse per household. I Don ‘t know
Carbon charges have seen The Law of Unintended Consequences increase all input costs across Canada.
An example is a truck pulling a climate-controlled trailer full of produce from California to Edmonton, Alberta. The costs of his tyres, repair parts, lube, oil & filters for his truck are all raised by the Carbon charges applied to similar supplies for the trucks hauling his supplies.
Then we arrive at the fuel costs, increased by the shipping costs incurred by the fuel haulers (and by _their_ suppliers).
When the produce arrives at the transfer warehouse in Edmonton, we see higher costs that have hit the warehouse, itself. Costs for electricity, heating fuel, and supplies for warehouse operations are all raised by first and second-order increases due to “Carbon charges”. The higher order increases are harder to calculate because the interrelationships among transportation, manufacturing, and Logistics are so intricate.
Then, if an EV user wishes to travel in Alberta, north of Edmonton, a careful map check of the whereabouts of the Electrical Grid lines will speed up the search for locations of EV Charging Stations. If there are no electrical supply power lines to a location, the costs for a diesel-powered electricity supply will be seen in the costs for the watt-hours of recharge needed.
What a drain on the country. What’s it cost to administer? How much more am I having to pay with this being taxed throughout the entire supply chain? Canada takes dollars and gives back cents.
Dear Jaclyn Law,
“Nope! Canada Carbon Rebate payments are tax-free.”
I would not have used the word ‘nope’… I would have used ‘No’. Nope is too informal, whereas your very good article is a formal explanation of the Canada Carbon Rebate Programme. I rarely if ever use ‘nope’. I much prefer the word ‘no’. It just sounds better.
Yours truly,
Brian Edson
Toronto
And how have these Carbon taxes contributed to the goal of reducing Canada’s whopping 1.8% global carbon footprint? Seems the answer is elusive and we are too simply trust the government.
Sorry, there has to be a better way.
Figures that New Brunswick offers the smallest amount. NB is well known to be miserly and cheap. It’s a sadness.
I have never received the Rebate and unsure why. I do not owe any money to CRA, I filed my tax return before my husband and on time and I meet all other criteria. Is there a income cap that I may have exceeded?
They collect the year before.
Cancelling the rebate basically steals three payments that were supposed to be REFUNDED in this year!
I can’t believe they get away with it.
We should get the entire year paid back in April OR continue the payments through to next year and then cancel.
THIS IS ROBBERY, to say the very least!
I received $359 on April 5 with no explanation. I live in BC and am told BC doesn’t have CCR. Is it an error? Will I have to repay it?