Canada Child Benefit: What you need to know

CTV National News: Changes to child benefits The federal government delivered on a key election promise that they say will decrease child poverty. CTV’s Omar Sachedina reports.

Families with children in Canada will begin receiving money from the Canada Child Benefit on Wednesday. Here's a look at the details of the new program.

Who is eligible?

Families with children under the age of 18 are eligible for the Canada Child Benefit program (CCB), which replaces the Canada Child Tax Benefit, National Child Benefit and Universal Child Care Benefit.

Only parents who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees are eligible to receive the benefit, according to the Department of Finance. To be eligible for the CCB, recipients must also be residents of Canada for tax purposes.

Do families need to sign up?

Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the new benefit’s one-payment system is simpler than the previous system.

Families already receiving the universal child care benefit or the child tax benefit are automatically enrolled for the new child benefit.

How much do families get?

The amount of money a family will receive depends on their net income and how many children they have. The Canada Revenue Agency will calculate a family’s adjusted net income based on information reported on income tax returns.

The program pays up to $6,400 per child under the age of six, and up to $5,400 per child for those aged six through 17. However, the amount of money begins to decrease once a family’s net income reaches $30,000.

The government has created an online calculator to help parents get an estimate of how much money they would be eligible to receive.

According to the calculator, a family with one child under the age of six and a net income of $30,000 would get a tax-free benefit of $533 a month, or $6,400 a year.

A family with a net income of $90,000 with one child under the age of six would get a benefit of $262 a month, or $3,150 a year.

A family with a net income of $150,000 with one child under the age of six would get a tax-free benefit of $102 a month or $1,230 a year.

An extra $227 per month is added for each child who qualifies for a disability payment.

How does it compare to the former program?

The government says nine out of 10 families will receive more money with the CCB than they do under the existing programs. However, families earning more than $150,000 a year will generally receive less under the new CCB program.

With files from The Canadian Press