I have readers from all over the world, particularly North America. Among them are quite a large number of Montrealers, but Canadians from coast to coast visit too. Many of you have children, and I was just realizing that some might want to know things like when that next family allowance cheque or GST/HST credit is coming in. Those who are newly arrived to Canada might also need to know these things exist (we’ve had a number of folks on local homeschooling lists who didn’t know about these benefits, how to get Medicare cards, etc.)

Anyway, I thought it was about time I blogged about some of these things. Particularly after I went to see when the next GST cheque was coming, and the web page I had bookmarked showed only the payment dates for the year beginning July 2008! Well, I googled it and found that the cheques are due tomorrow - that is, 4 April 2008. The dates for the next four payments afterwards are:

July 4, 2008
October 3, 2008
January 5, 2009
April 3, 2009

While I’m at it, the next few payments for CCTB (Canada Child Tax Benefit, the federal family allowance) and UCCB (Universal Child Care Benefit) are:

Folks who receive a federal disability benefit for their child will receive these payments at the same time.

To know if your family is eligible for any of these benefits for the next year, first of all be sure to file a 2007 tax return. You need to check the box to claim GST/HST credit, and only one spouse can claim it. For disability benefits, check with your child’s doctor or social worker. They can help you with the application process.

Family benefits (”family allowance”) are automatically sent to eligible families when children are born in Canada, once the child’s birth is on file with the Civil Registrar (that’s the Registration of Live Birth form your doctor or midwife gives you.) These benefits are calculated according to family revenue, so you must have a current tax return on file. Families moving to Canada from outside the country should contact the Canada Revenue Agency (1-800-387-1193) to find out if they are eligible.

Many families depend on these benefits for the necessities of life. Others put the funds aside to help pay for a post-secondary education fund, or use the money to buy homeschooling equipment or pay for sports and outside classes. Keeping track of when the payments are due will help you plan for these expenses as well!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks! Dates for benefits payments were taken from the Child and Family Benefits pages at the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) web site, accessed 3 April 2008 @ 9:00. You can download application forms for disability and other benefits from their site.

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