Ontario Child Benefit Payment Dates 2023 and Rates

If you live in Ontario and have children under your care, you may qualify for help in raising them through the Ontario Child Benefit.

This post covers the benefit program, eligibility, how much you can receive as child benefit in Ontario, and the Ontario child benefit payment dates for eligible families.

Ontario Child Benefit Payment Dates 2023

The Ontario Child Benefit is paid monthly to eligible Ontario residents. The payments are combined into a single credit with the Canada Child Benefit (CCB).

So you can expect your benefit on the same dates as the CCB dates. Therefore, the Ontario Child Benefit Dates for 2023 are:

Benefit Month	Ontario Child Benefit Payment Dates
January 2023	January 20, 2023
February 2023	February 20, 2023
March 2023	March 20, 2023
April 2023	April 20, 2023
May 2023	May 19, 2023
June 2023	June 20, 2023
July 2023	July 20, 2023
August 2023	August 18, 2023
September 2023	September 20, 2023
October 2023	October 20, 2023
November 2023	November 20, 2023
December 2023	December 13, 2023

About Ontario Child Benefit

Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) is a CRA-administered and Ontario government funded program that helps families with the cost of raising their children.

It pays a monthly tax-free benefit to families with low to moderate income.

Who is eligible for Ontario Child Benefit?

The eligibility for Ontario Child Benefit is accessed based on 3 factors, namely residency, income and having children in your care.

Your marital status and your employment status are not considered and won’t affect how much you can receive.

Residency

Obviously, you must reside in Ontario and file your taxes as an Ontario resident

Children in care

OCB is meant to help with the cost of raising children. Therefore, having kids in your care is another key criteria used in assessing your eligibility and how much you can receive.

Family Net Income

OCB is income-tested and is available for low to medium income families. That means you’ll only receive the benefit if your family net income is below the threshold.

In summary, to be eligible for the Ontario Child Benefit, you must meet the following conditions:

• Be a resident of Ontario
• Have children in your care that are under 18 years old
• Have a family income below the set threshold

Ontario Child Benefit Rates: How much do you get for child benefit in Ontario?

Eligible families can receive up to $1,509 per child as Ontario Child Benefit for the July 2022 to June 2023 benefit period. That works out to be $125.75 per child below age 18.

To receive the maximum amount, your family net income must be below $23,044. Learn more about the OCB income thresholds below.

Income Threshold for OCB

There are 2 main income thresholds for Ontario Child Benefit.

The first income threshold is $23,044. Families with a net income of $23,044 and below will receive the maximum OCB rate of $125.75 per child each month.

Beyond this limit, the benefit starts reducing until it is fully clawed back when the family net income reaches $59,354.

The clawback rate for Ontario Child Benefit for the 2023 period is 4%.

Income Thresholds	Adjusted net income
Income to receive maximum OCB amount	$23,044
Income level when OCB is reduced to zero	$59,354

Ontario Child Benefit Calculator

If your net income is $23,044, you’ll get the full monthly benefit and don’t need to use an Ontario Child Benefit Calculator.

Otherwise, here’s a simple step-by-step instruction you can follow to calculate the amount for the 2023 period:

• Step 1: Get your adjusted family net income for the 2022 tax year
• Step 2: Subtract $23,044 from your net income to get the excess income that would be used to calculate the claw back amount
• Step 3: Multiply the result from step 2 by 4% to get the claw-back amount
• Step 4: Subtract the claw-back amount from $1,509 to get the OCB amount per child
• Step 5: Multiply the OCB amount gotten in Step 4 by the number of children in your care to know how much your total OCB will be.

The table below shows how much you can expect to receive as child benefit in Ontario based on different net income levels ranging from $25,000 to the maximum income level for OCB of about $59,000.

Net Income ($)	Income above threshold	4% Claw Back ($)	Annual OCB ($)	Monthly OCB ($)
25,000	2,496	100	1,374	114.51
30,000	7,496	300	1,174	97.84
35,000	12,496	500	974	81.18
40,000	17,496	700	774	64.51
45,000	22,496	900	574	47.84
50,000	27,496	1,100	374	31.18
55,000	32,496	1,300	174	14.51
59,354	36,850	1,474	0	0

Hopefully, the table above will give you a rough estimate of how much you can receive.

Alternatively, you can use the Child & family benefit calculator to calculate how much your total benefit will be including GST/HST credit, OTB, CCB and so on.

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How to apply for Ontario Child Benefit

Fortunately, there’s no separate application for Ontario Child Benefit (OCB). So there’s level paper work and documentation to deal with.

If you already receive Canada Child Benefit, you’ll be automatically enrolled for OCB if you’re eligible. And if you’re not receiving CCB, simply apply for the benefit to be assessed for Ontario Child Benefit.

The process is the same if you’ve just had a new baby or became responsible for a child in your care. New immigrants can also start receiving Ontario child benefit by sending an application for CCB to CRA.

If you moved to Ontario from another province, make sure you update your records with CRA as soon as possible to start receiving the Ontario child benefit.

The easiest way to do this is through the CRA My Account.

Ontario Child Benefit Increase 2023

OCB is indexed to inflation so there’ll be slight increases every year when the new benefit period starts (July 2023).

Unfortunately, the increases are generally small and immaterial even for families receiving the maximum OCB amounts.

For the July 2022 to June 2023 period, a family receiving the maximum amount can now receive up to $1,509 per year.

However, the Ontario government introduced a number of extra one-off benefits to help families deal with the impact of COVID-19.

Some of these included the Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit which paid between $400 and $500 per child to all families irrespective of the family net income.

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Other Ontario Government Benefits

In addition to the Ontario Child Benefit, the Ontario government also offers several social assistance programs with varying eligibility conditions.

Some of the benefit programs include:

Ontario Trillium Benefit: is a CRA administered program. It is made up of 3 different credits that are combined and paid monthly to eligible residents. These include:

• Ontario energy and property tax credit
• Northern Ontario energy credit
• Ontario Sales tax credit

Ontario Works: helps those with financial need to cover their living expenses including food, shelter, clothing and health benefits.

Eligible residents can get up to $733 per month for their basic needs, in addition to other benefits. Learn more about Ontario Works, its eligibility, rates and payment dates in the post below.

Related Post: Ontario Works Payment Dates and Benefits

Ontario Disability Support Program: is a welfare program that provides income support and employment assistance for Ontario residents that meet the definition of persons with a disability.

Learn more: ODSP Benefits and Payment Dates

Ontario Senior homeowners’ property tax grant: provides a maximum grant of $500 in 2022 to seniors that own their own houses.

It is designed to offset the property taxes paid by seniors with low to moderate income levels.

Ontario Autism Program (OAP): helps families raising a child under 18 with an autism diagnosis from qualified professionals.

The program provides funding to cover eligible services and supports needed by eligible families.

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Canada Child Benefit (CCB)

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is the federal government child support program available to all families with children aged 18 and below.

For the current CCB benefit period, eligible families can receive up to:

• $6,997 for each child below 6 years old; or
• $5,903 for each child aged 6-17

CCB is a tax-free and paid monthly. Also it is income-tested so higher-income families will receive a partial benefit.

Learn more about the Canada Child Benefit and the payment dates.

Other Provincial Child Benefit Programs

Most of the other provinces and territories have their own funded Child benefit programs that are administered by CRA:

Some of the programs include:

Alberta Child and Family Benefit: a quarterly benefit to Albertans that was introduced in July 2020 to replace the Alberta Child benefit and the Alberta Family Employment Credit.

Payments are made in February, May, August, and November.

Learn more about Alberta Child and Family Benefit and payment dates

BC Child Opportunity benefit: was introduced in October 2020 to replace the BC early childhood tax benefit. The benefit is fully funded by the BC government, but it is administered by CRA and combined with CCB.

Eligible families can receive $1,600 for the first child, $1,000 for the second and $800 for each additional children in the family.

The benefit is income-tested and will gradually reduce once the net family income exceeds $25,000.

Other provincial child benefit programs are:

• New Brunswick child tax benefit
• Newfoundland and Labrador child benefit
• Northwest Territories child benefit
• Nova Scotia child benefit
• Nunavut child benefit
• Ontario child benefit
• Yukon child benefit

You don’t need to apply separately for any of these programs. CRA will assess your eligibility and combine the benefit with your CCB if you qualify.

Is Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) Taxable?

Like CCB, Ontario child benefit is a tax-free monthly benefit. Any amount received are not taxable and won’t have to be reported on your income tax returns when you file your taxes.

But to receive the benefit, you must have filed your taxes for the previous year in order for your eligibility to be determined.

Some FAQs: Ontario Child Benefit