For the benefit year running July 2025 through June 2026, the Canada Child Benefit pays up to $666.41 per month for each child under six and up to $562.33 per month for each child aged six through 17. Those are the maximums, paid tax-free by the Canada Revenue Agency to families with the lowest incomes. What you actually receive depends on your adjusted family net income from the previous year, how many children are in your care, and their ages.
The Maximum Monthly Amounts
For July 2025 through June 2026, the ceiling per child works out to:
- $666.41 per month, or $7,997 per year, for a child under six
- $562.33 per month, or $6,748 per year, for a child aged six to 17
A family with two children under six who qualifies for the full amount receives $1,332.82 per month. The CRA recalculates these figures every July using your most recent tax return and an inflation adjustment, so the numbers above will shift again when the next benefit year starts in July 2026.
How Family Income Lowers the Payment
Most families receive less than the maximum. The reduction is driven by Adjusted Family Net Income (AFNI), the combined net income of you and your spouse or common-law partner from the previous tax year. If your AFNI is $37,487 or less, you get the full amount. Above that, the CRA applies a two-stage reduction.
Income Between $37,487 and $81,222
In this band, the CRA cuts your annual benefit by a percentage of every dollar earned above $37,487. The rate depends on how many children you have:
- One child: 7%
- Two children: 13.5%
- Three children: 19%
- Four or more children: 23%
By the time a one-child family hits $81,222 in AFNI, this first stage has already trimmed $3,061 from the annual benefit.
Income Above $81,222
Past $81,222, a second reduction stacks on top. It uses lower percentages applied to the excess over that threshold, plus the fixed dollar amount already lost in the first stage:
- One child: $3,061 plus 3.2% of income over $81,222
- Two children: $5,903 plus 5.7% of income over $81,222
- Three children: $8,319 plus 8% of income over $81,222
- Four or more children: $10,060 plus 9.5% of income over $81,222
Higher-income families with several children can still receive meaningful monthly amounts because the reductions, though larger in total, spread across more kids. At high enough incomes, the benefit phases out to zero.
An Extra Monthly Amount for a Child With a Disability
If you already receive the CCB for a child who qualifies for the Disability Tax Credit, the CRA adds the Child Disability Benefit automatically. For July 2025 through June 2026, the CDB pays up to $284.25 per month, or $3,411 per year, for each eligible child. There’s no separate application once the DTC is approved. The CDB starts to shrink when AFNI passes $81,222, at 3.2% for one eligible child or 5.7% for two or more.
When the Money Arrives
CCB payments normally land on the 20th of each month. When the 20th is a weekend or holiday, the CRA deposits earlier. The 2026 payment dates are:
- January 20
- February 20
- March 20
- April 20
- May 20
- June 19
- July 20
- August 20
- September 18
- October 20
- November 20
- December 11
Payments typically arrive by direct deposit to the bank account linked to your CRA profile. One caveat on the “monthly” framing: if your total annual entitlement is under $240, the CRA won’t send monthly deposits at all. You’ll receive a single lump sum with your July payment instead.
Shared Custody Splits the Amount in Half
When a child lives with you at least 40% of the time, the CRA treats it as shared custody and pays each parent 50% of what they would otherwise receive. Each parent’s half is calculated independently against their own household income, so the two payments usually aren’t equal. Both parents need to apply for the split to be made correctly; if only one applies, the CRA may pay the full amount to that parent and sort out the overpayment later.
What You Have to Do to Keep the Amount Right
Two habits determine whether the monthly figure you see is correct.
File your taxes every year, even if you earned nothing. The CRA uses your filed return to calculate AFNI. If you or your spouse or common-law partner skip a return, the CRA can’t recalculate, and payments stop until the filings catch up. Families with little or no income sometimes assume there’s nothing to file and lose the benefit entirely as a result.
Report life changes promptly rather than waiting for tax season. Marital status changes have to be reported by the end of the month following the change: separate in March, notify the CRA by the end of April. The payment adjustment then takes effect the month after the change. The same goes for a child moving in or out of your care, a change of address, or a shift in custody. Unreported changes often turn into overpayments the CRA claws back later. Payments stop automatically the month after a child turns 18.
Provincial Top-Ups May Add to the Federal Amount
Most provinces and territories run their own child benefit programs paid alongside the federal CCB. They generally use the same AFNI figures from your tax return, so a separate application usually isn’t needed. Amounts, thresholds, and rules vary by province, and any provincial or territorial amount you qualify for will appear on the notice of determination the CRA sends after your CCB is calculated.