The Canada Child Benefit is the largest single payment most young families receive from any government, and it is fully tax-free. What confuses people is the shrink: ask ten parents how the CCB phases out and you’ll hear everything from “it disappears at $60,000” (it doesn’t) to “high earners get nothing” (a family earning $120,000 with two young kids still gets thousands). The actual mechanism is two reduction steps applied to your adjusted family net income — roughly, both parents’ net incomes combined, from last year’s tax returns.
Step one: the maximums
| Child | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Under 6 | $8,157 | $679.75 |
| Age 6 to 17 | $6,883 | $573.58 |
| Child Disability Benefit (add-on, per DTC-eligible child) | $3,480 | $290.00 |
Step two: the reductions
Above $38,237 of family income, the benefit reduces by a percentage of the excess. The rate depends on how many children you have — more kids, steeper rate, but also more benefit to reduce:
| Children | On income $38,237 – $82,847 | On income above $82,847 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7% | 3.2% |
| 2 | 13.5% | 5.7% |
| 3 | 19% | 8% |
| 4 or more | 23% | 9.5% |
A worked example. Two kids, ages 5 and 9; family income $65,000. Maximum on the table: $8,157 + $6,883 = $15,040. Income above the first threshold: $65,000 − $38,237 = $26,763, all inside step one, at the two-child rate of 13.5% → a reduction of $3,613. The family receives about $11,427 for the year, roughly $952 a month. Notice what did not happen: a $65,000 income did not come close to eliminating the benefit.
The fine print that actually bites
Both parents must file taxes every year — even with zero income — or payments stop, because each July’s recalculation needs both returns. New payments are set every July from the previous year’s income, so a raise this year doesn’t touch this year’s cheques; it lands next July. Shared custody splits the payment 50/50 between the two households. Apply through the birth registration service in most provinces, in CRA My Account, or with Form RC66 — and if your child is eligible for the Disability Tax Credit, the $3,480 Child Disability Benefit follows automatically. Several provinces stack their own child benefit into the same deposit; Manitoba families see the federal amount only.