How Will the Government Know to Send Me the New Child Benefit Money for my Older Children?

Posted on by

Last fall, the Harper government announced they would change some of the children’s tax benefits. One change is they will start paying a monthly amount per child aged 0 – 17 years of age to the lower-income parent. This is an extension of the UCCB which used to pay a benefit only until the child was 6 years of age. When they made the announcement, I wondered how they were going to know who had children and what age they were: today I found out.

Watch for a Letter to Confirm the Ages of Dependent Children

In the mail today, I received a letter from The Canada Revenue Agency. It asks me to confirm the names and birth dates of our children. They plan to use this information to issue the “enhanced” Universal Child Care Benefit, UCCB, if any of our children are eligible.

What If One of My Eligible Children Isn’t on the List?

A simple correction of the name or birth date can be made by writing a letter with the correct information and mailing it back in the addressed envelope provided.

If a child is not listed at all, you can apply for this and other benefits online or by mailing in a completed Form RC66 in the enclosed envelope. In both cases, additional documentation may need to be provided.

When Will I Start Receiving this “Enhanced” UCCB for my Older Children?

According to the letter, payments will start in July 2015.

Related Reading

Join In
Did you receive a letter listing all your offspring? Please share any quirks in the program with a comment.

2 thoughts on “How Will the Government Know to Send Me the New Child Benefit Money for my Older Children?”

  1. Wow! I’m surprised to see that such a letter was sent , as it’s the 20th of July and I’m yet to get the letter nor has the payment itself being made. It’s probably because I’m one of the demographics which are said not to be a priority for the Tories……Pathetic….

    • Interesting. Do you or a spouse claim the child tax credit now? If so, they should have your info to send the letter. They do send it to the person that received the cheque when the child was under 6, if that makes any difference? I haven’t done the math yet but I think we will either break even or lose money from this new way of doing things. The cheques replace the child tax credit but the cheques are taxable both federally and provincially so we may end up losing overall.

      I hope you get either a letter or a direct deposit soon!

Comments are closed.