Canada Child Benefit (CCB) Calculator (CRA Tax-Free Benefit)

About the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) Calculator (CRA Tax-Free Benefit)

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a tax-free monthly payment from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to families with children under 18. There is a maximum for each child under 6 and a lower one for each child aged 6 to 17, and the benefit shrinks as your adjusted family net income (AFNI) rises. Above a first threshold it drops by a percentage of the income over it; above a second threshold, by a fixed amount plus a smaller percentage. Children eligible for the disability tax credit also get the Child Disability Benefit (CDB).

Enter your children by age group, or each child’s month of birth for a month-by-month schedule, and your family’s net income. The calculator uses the CRA’s amounts for the current benefit year, which runs from July to June and uses the income of the calendar year before it starts. It shows the monthly and yearly benefit, how the reduction is worked out, what each extra $1,000 of income costs you, and the income at which the benefit ends. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

How the CCB is worked out

For each benefit year the CRA sets a maximum for each child under 6 and for each child aged 6 to 17, and two income thresholds. Above the first threshold, the total is reduced by 7% of the income over it with one child, 13.5% with two, 19% with three and 23% with four or more. Above the second threshold, the reduction is a fixed amount plus 3.2%, 5.7%, 8% or 9.5% of the income over it (how much you can get; Income Tax Act, s. 122.61). The fixed amount equals the full reduction of the first step, so the two steps join without a jump. The benefit never goes below zero, and a month’s payment is the yearly amount ÷ 12. The maximums and thresholds rise with inflation every July (indexed amounts); the calculator shows the ones it uses.

Adjusted family net income (AFNI)

AFNI is your net income (line 23600) plus your spouse’s or common-law partner’s, minus any universal child care benefit and registered disability savings plan (RDSP) income, plus repayments of those amounts. A child’s own income does not count (guide T4114). The benefit year from July to June uses the income of the calendar year before it starts, so you and your spouse or partner must both file a tax return every year, even with no income.

Child Disability Benefit

Each child who is eligible for the disability tax credit adds the yearly CDB maximum (Child disability benefit). The CDB is reduced only above the second income threshold: by 3.2% of the income over it with one eligible child, and by 5.7% with two or more.

Ages, births and shared custody

• Turning 6: the under-6 amount is paid up to and including the month of the 6th birthday, and the amount for ages 6 to 17 from the next month.
• A new baby: payments start the month after the birth.
• Turning 18: the last payment is for the month of the 18th birthday.
• Shared custody: when the child lives with each parent 40% to 60% of the time, each parent gets 50% of what they would get with full custody, based on their own AFNI.
• Small amounts: if the monthly amount is under $20, the CRA pays the whole benefit year in one lump-sum payment, usually in July (guide T4114).

Limitations

• An estimate: the CRA works out the real amount from your tax returns and your spouse’s or partner’s.
• Provincial and territorial child benefits, and other credits paid with the CCB, are not included.
• Changes of marital status or custody during the year, and recalculations after a reassessment, are not modelled.
• Birth dates are taken by month: the new rate starts the month after a 6th birthday, as the CRA describes it.
• The amounts are the CRA’s for the current benefit year. When a new benefit year starts in July, the calculator says so if it does not have the new amounts yet.

Privacy

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