The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a monthly tax-exempt payment administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to help families with children under 18. It is based on family income, number of children, children’s ages, and marital status.
The benefit is calculated based on your family income reported in your tax return. The benefit operates on a July – June annual cycle.
In order to be eligible to collect CCB, the following three conditions must be met :
1] You live with a child who is under 18 years of age
2] You are the primary caregiver and person responsible for looking after the child
3] You or your spouse is a Canadian citizen or legal permanent resident of Canada.
The CCB calculation is based on the Adjusted Family Net Income (AFNI), the number of children, age of the children and your marital status. The CRA will use the net income from the previous tax year to determine your eligible benefit.
Every year, the CRA updates its CCB entitlement allocation. Your child can fall into one of two categories : Under the age of six, Children aged 6 – 17. If your AFNI was below $37 487 in the 2024 tax year, you will receive the following amounts for the July 2025 – June 2026 period :
A] Children under 6 : $666.42 per month [$7 997.04 per year]
B] Children between 6 – 17 : $562.33 per month [$6 747.96]
If a family’s AFNI is between $37 487 - $81 222, the benefit for one child will be reduced by 7% of the income that exceeds the threshold. For example, let us take Family X that has one child and an AFNI of $40 000. The new, reduced rate of CCB will be calculated as follows :
STEP 1 : $40 000 [AFNI] - $37 487 [Income threshold] = $2 513
STEP 2 : $2 513 [Excess income from STEP 1] x 7% = $175.91
STEP 3 : $7 997.04 [Maximum annual benefit] - $175.91 [Reduction from STEP 2]
= $7 821.13
STEP 4 : $7 821.13 [Revised annual benefit from STEP 3] / 12 months = $651.76 Revised monthly amount
If your AFNI exceeds $81 222, the reduction for one child will be $3 061 + 3.2% of income that exceeds $81 222.
The reduction percentages will change depending upon the number of children that each family has. For further details and the latest updates go to the CRA’s webpage on CCB.
