Child Tax Benefit Dates 2023: When It Is Deposited

One of the best things about having children in Canada compared to other countries is getting a bit of a financial supplement from the government for doing so. Here are the child tax benefit dates for 2023, so you know when you are going to get paid.

Sure, the Child Tax Benefit might not seem like a lot of money, especially if you have a higher family income and get something like $100 a month instead of the $500+ a month. At least it’s a few boxes of diapers.

Finding ways to save money and have cash flow while on maternity leave is helpful though, even if it means looking for free baby stuff and samples, or birthday freebies for your kids.

Here’s information on free money from the Canadian government for having kids. This is on top of the free money you can get by contributing to an RESP.

What is the Canada Child Benefit?

The Canada Child Benefit is a non-taxable (that means it is not included as income) benefit paid to families with children under the age of 6 and a different amount for children aged 6 to 17.  The CCB is paid on a monthly basis via a cheque (or I guess direct deposit if you have arranged that.  I like the good ol’ fashioned cheques).

The CCB has replaced the previous UCCB (Universal Child Care Benefit) and the CCTB (Canada Child Tax Benefit) as of 2016.  The government of Canada likes to confuse us with new acronyms every few years, it seems.

If the amount you receive is less than $20 a month, the government of Canada will just pay your Canada Child Benefit Amount in a lump sum for the year.

The CCB amount your receive is dependent on your net family income for the previous year (on your notice of assessment or the previous year’s tax return).

The ‘calendar year’ for the CCB rolls from July until June of the following year.

It really helps with preparing for baby’s first year, especially because it is a tax free benefit.

It’s also a great way to fight back against the Motherhood Penalty of hit income.

Child Tax Benefit Application

Applying for the CCB is a must, I would say definitely as part of the financial checklist for new parents.

To apply for the CCB, all you have to do is to go to CRA’s (Canada Revenue Agency) My Account and click on apply for CCB or you can complete this form.  The primary caretaker of the child is eligible to apply.

By default, the Canadian government usually considers this to be the woman.  I applied for this automatically with the ‘newborn package’ of things to sign up for after our baby was born (it was an automatic sign up as I provided the government with my Social Insurance Number).

You have to have completed the previous year’s taxes to be eligible to receive the CCB.

Child Tax Benefit Calculator

How much can you receive with the CCB?  It is a great government benefit if you can qualify for it.

In BC for the 2022 tax year, if you and your spouse have a AFNI (combined net income) of more than something like $218,500, you will be completely cut off from any Canada Child Benefit amount if you have two children under six.

That means you get $0 from the CCB if your AFNI is over $218,500 (household net income).

Here’s the maximum that Canadian families can receive from the CCB until June 2023 based on the 2022 tax returns (and from July 2023 onwards based on the 2022 tax returns):

• $6,997 per year, or $583.08/month for each child under the age of 6
• $5,903 per year or $491.91/month for each child aged 6 to 17
• You can receive an additional $2,985 per year if your child qualifies for the Child Disability Benefit

In addition, there are additional benefits that are also paid out depending on your eligibility and the province or territory that you live in.

The maximum amount of the Canada Child Benefit is adjusted to inflation on an annual basis.

This maximum amount gets clawed back depending on your family’s net income, or the “adjusted family net income (AFNI)”.  The higher the net income, the more is clawed back. The amount is adjusted for inflation each year.

Calculating how much you can receive with the Canada Child Benefit is complicated and depends on a number of factors, including how many children you have (how many children under 6 and how many over 6) and how much your family net income is.

You can easily calculate what you can get with the government’s child and family benefits calculator.

You’ll need this information handy when you use the benefits calculator:

• The province or territory that you live in
• The number of children you have (haha, you should have this information handy, I hope)
• Your children’s birth dates
• Whether you are divorced, married etc. and if you share custody of your child(ren)
• Whether your child is a qualified disabled dependent
• Your net income (not liquid net worth)
• Your spouse’s net income

Now for the important part, when does child tax come out?

Child Tax Benefit Payment Dates 2023

Now you might be eagerly wondering: What time does child tax get deposited?

It usually gets deposited into your bank account if you have direct deposit early in the morning.

If you don’t have a joint bank account here are some new bank account promotions in Canada to stretch your money even further (or you could get an iPad)

Here are the child tax benefit pay dates for 2023. It’s usually around the 20th of the month, but some dates are different, for example, December it’s a little earlier because of the holidays.

• January 20, 2023
• February 20, 2023
• March 20, 2023
• April 20, 2023
• May 19, 2023
• June 20, 2023
• July 20, 2023
• August 18, 2023
• September 20, 2023
• October 20, 2023
• November 20, 2023
• December 13, 2023

If you chose to set up direct deposit, your money gets deposited into your no fee chequing account on these dates. If you didn’t set up direct deposit, you will get a cheque in the mail after this date.

For other payment dates, you can check out the Canada.ca link here.

The child tax benefit pay dates are the same all across Canada, whether you are in BC, Alberta, or whether you are in Ontario. The province doesn’t matter.

Child Tax Benefit Phone Number

If you have questions or concerns about your Child Tax Benefit, you can contact the child tax benefit phone number from the government of Canada.

1-800-387-1193

How to Maximize the Canada Child Benefit

If you want to maximize the Canada Child Benefit, the goal is to reduce your net income. You can do this in a number of ways, for example, contributing to your RRSP to reduce your AFNI income.

Here are some other ways you can maximize the CCB.

Child Tax Benefit Recap

The Canada Child Tax Benefit is a great program for parents with children.

The dates for the child tax benefit payment is usually near the end of the month, around the 20th. If you select direct deposit, your money will be paid out on that date. If you select payment by cheque, the cheque will be mailed out to you after the payment date.

Along with the CESG Grant with the RESP, the Child Tax Benefit is one of the better government programs for parents with children. Just make sure you don’t put your money in a group RESP.

This is when investing in your RRSP rather than your TFSA would make more sense.

Maximizing your Canada Child Benefit can help you save money for your child’s Wealthsimple or Justwealth RESP.

Hopefully this list of the Canada tax benefit dates comes handy for you so you can plan your family budget and know what your family cash flow is going to be like for the year.

You might even have money left over to fill up your child’s Leo the Lion savings account or even start a Canadian Tire high interest savings account in their name when they turn 12.

You may also be interested in:

• How to give a gift of stock
• BC Training and Education Savings Grant ($1200)

Have you tried to maximize the Child Tax Benefit?