CCB Filing Deadline News: Beware of Limitations

Evelyn Jacks & Walter Harder

Most people know that when you miss filing a tax return your family will miss out on receiving the Canada Child Benefit.  However, did you know that you can retroactively claim the CCB by filing those missed returns?  How far back you can go, however, depends on what type of CCB you file for. 

Regular CCBs.  First, let’s discuss the regular Canada Child Benefits.   Here’s what they are for 2022; you must have filed a 2020 tax return to receive them for the benefit year July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. When you file the 2021 tax return, your family may qualify for the benefit year July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, and so on.

The rates for the July 2022 to June 2023 benefit year are:

Clawback Rates (2022) – Will an RRSP help your family earn more Canada Child Benefits?  It’s worth a look.  Knowledge Bureau’s Income Tax Estimator Tool can help with the What If scenarios.

Retroactive filing:  Missed the CCB in the past?  You can reach back and recover missed benefits from 2012 forward – 10 years altogether - if you qualify otherwise, based on your family net income.  That’s a lot of money to recover for those who have missed filing returns; something that can be caught up this tax season.

Special Canada Child Benefits  Child Disability Benefit.  If the child is disabled (i.e. eligible for the disability amount), the Child Disability Benefit of $2,915 for 2021-22 ($2,985 for 2022-23) is paid and is reduced where family net income exceeds $69,395 for 2021-22 ($71,060 for 2022-23).  The reduction rate is 3.2% for families with one child and 5.7% for families with two or more eligible children.

Young Child Supplement. For 2021 only, four payments were made to CCB recipients for children who were under the age of 6 at the beginning of the quarter.  The supplement payment was $300 per quarter if the family net income was $120,000 or less and $150 per quarter if the family net income was over $120,000.  For the first two payments were made combined and made on May 28, 2021. 

The amount for the first combined payment was based on the family net income reported on their tax returns for 2019.  For the last two payments, the amount was based on family net income reported on their returns for 2020.  The deadline for qualifying for the Young Child Supplement is December 31, 2023 so the 2019 and 2020 tax returns must be filed and assessed by that deadline.

Additional educational resources: Don’t miss this opportunity to take Canada’s most up-to-date and comprehensive Advanced T1 Tax Update Course for Professional Tax Accounting firms and their new and returning staff who will file 2021 T1 Returns. This is Canada’s #1 tax training program for busy practice owners who need to recruit and train staff in time for this tax season.