Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (Formerly the GST/HST Credit): Amounts and Eligibility
This spoke sits under the government benefits guide. The four 2026 dates, including the two that were still paid as a GST/HST credit, are the payment calendar. It is not the carbon rebate. That program ended after April 2025, and the distinction is what the carbon rebate ending actually means.
- Eligibility matches the old GST/HST credit. File the return. You are generally 19 in the month before the payment, unless you have a spouse or a child you live with.
- The component table for the 2025 base year is $445 for you, $445 for a spouse, $234 per child, $445 for the first child of a single parent, and an extra $234 for a single person without children.
- The extra $234 for a single person without children phases in above $11,564. The benefit phases out above $46,432. CRA's payments chart falls by 5 cents per dollar over that line.
- January 5 and April 2, 2026 were GST/HST credit payments from the 2024 return. July 3 and October 5, 2026 are this benefit, from the 2025 return.
- A one-time top-up, generally 50% of the July 2025 to June 2026 annual GST/HST credit, was issued on June 5, 2026 to people entitled to the January 2026 payment.
Who qualifies for the Groceries and Essentials Benefit?
CRA's guide for the 2026-27 payment period says you qualify if you are a resident of Canada for income tax purposes at the end of the month before the payment and at the beginning of the month of the payment. In the month before the payment you are at least 19. Under 19, you qualify only if you have or had a spouse or common-law partner, or you are or were a parent living with your child.
You generally do not qualify, for that quarter, if you are not a tax resident, if you are exempt as a diplomat or a diplomat's family member, or if you are confined to a prison or similar institution for at least 90 consecutive days. A person who has died is not eligible for a payment after death. The estate can keep a payment only when the recipient was alive on the first day of the month CRA issued it. You also cannot get an amount for a spouse or a child who fails those tests at the start of the payment month.
You do not send an annual application if you already file. Newcomers who want the benefit in the year they become residents send Form RC151. You and a spouse each need a social insurance number in the ordinary case. Shared custody can split the child amount in half, the same idea as the Canada Child Benefit. One payment per family: the spouse whose return is assessed first usually receives it, and the amount does not change based on which name is on the deposit. Where this cheque sits next to other income tests is the stacking map.
How much is it for July 2026 to June 2027?
CRA's payment-amounts page lists the building blocks. The plain-language maximums on the "how much" page are the blocks added together. A single person's $679 is $445 plus the $234 supplement. A couple's $890 is $445 plus $445. A child is $234, except the first child in a single-parent family, where the table uses $445 instead of $234. That single-parent first child is the equivalent-to-spouse amount. Do not also stack the $234 single supplement on top of a child. The supplement's phase-in line is labelled for a single individual without children.
| Piece | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Eligible individual | $445 |
| Eligible spouse or common-law partner | $445 |
| Each eligible child under 19 | $234 |
| First eligible child in a single-parent family | $445 |
| Additional amount for a single individual | $234 |
| Phase-in threshold for that additional amount, single without children | $11,564 |
| Phase-out threshold | $46,432 |
Table as of September 2026, from CRA's payment-amounts page. The prior benefit year, July 2025 to June 2026, used $349, $349, $184, $349, and $184, with a phase-out at $45,521. The new dollars are higher than a pure indexation of those old dollars. CRA describes the policy as a 25% increase lasting through 2031. Use the 2025-base-year table, not a homemade 25% markup of last year's notice.
How does the phase-out work?
CRA's payments chart for a couple, for July 2026 to June 2027, pays the maximum when adjusted family net income is under $46,432, then steps down. At $48,000 a couple with no children is listed at $811.60, which is $78.40 below the $890 maximum. Income of $48,000 is $1,568 over $46,432, and $1,568 times 5 cents is $78.40. The same 5-cent reduction matches the chart's $50,000 row. The chart's footnote says the figures are a guideline and that family size and marital status have to stay current.
| Adjusted family net income | No children | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children | 4 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $46,432 | $890.00 | $1,124.00 | $1,358.00 | $1,592.00 | $1,826.00 |
| $48,000 | $811.60 | $1,045.60 | $1,279.60 | $1,513.60 | $1,747.60 |
| $50,000 | $711.60 | $945.60 | $1,179.60 | $1,413.60 | $1,647.60 |
| $55,000 | $461.60 | $695.60 | $929.60 | $1,163.60 | $1,397.60 |
| $60,000 | $211.60 | $445.60 | $679.60 | $913.60 | $1,147.60 |
| $65,000 | $0.00 | $195.60 | $429.60 | $663.60 | $897.60 |
| $70,000 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $179.60 | $413.60 | $647.60 |
Table as of September 2026, excerpted from CRA's payments chart. Further rows on that page reach zero at $75,000 for three children and at $85,000 for four or more. The exact income where a maximum hits zero, if the 5-cent rate continues in a straight line, is the threshold plus the maximum divided by 0.05. For a couple with no children that is $46,432 plus $17,800, or $64,232. For a couple with two children it is $46,432 plus $27,160, or $73,592. For a single person at the $679 maximum it is $46,432 plus $13,580, or $60,012. Those three exit points are arithmetic on CRA's maximums and on the 5-cent step the chart displays. They are not a second official table.
The maximum on the chart is $1,358. Income above $46,432 is $3,568. Five cents on each of those dollars is $178.40. Subtracting that from $1,358 leaves $1,179.60, which is the chart's $50,000 cell for two children. Paid in four quarters, $1,179.60 is $294.90 a quarter. If the quarterly piece had been under $50, CRA would have paid the whole year in July instead. This illustration is the federal benefit only. A provincial amount administered with it can make the deposit larger. Ontario's sales tax credit is not in that deposit. CRA pays it inside the Ontario Trillium Benefit.
What was the June 5, 2026 top-up?
Before the July rename, CRA issued a one-time GST/HST credit top-up on June 5, 2026. CRA says it generally provided a 50% increase to the annual GST/HST credit for July 2025 to June 2026, based on family situation in January 2026 and adjusted family net income from 2024. It did not include provincial or territorial amounts. CRA's note: the top-up was generally twice the January 2026 payment, and a family change during the year can make it something other than exactly half the year's total. You had to be entitled to the January 2026 GST/HST credit. There is no form for it now. If it did not arrive, the place to look is My Account, not a new application.
The Department of Finance's June 2026 release described the top-up as $3.1 billion for the 12 million people then receiving the GST credit, including about 2.7 million in Quebec, and the ongoing increase as $8.6 billion over 2026-27 to 2030-31, including 500,000 additional people. The same release said a single person with $25,000 of net income would see a one-time top-up of $267 plus a longer-term increase of $136, and $950 in total for the 2026-27 year including the top-up. It said a family of four could receive up to $1,890 this year and about $1,400 a year for the next four years. Those are Finance's examples. The notice in My Account is the payment.
Which provincial amounts can arrive in the same deposit?
CRA's guide says related provincial and territorial credits are combined with the federal payment, except Ontario's sales tax credit. You do not apply to the province for these. The figures below are the maximums CRA published in the 2026-27 guide. They phase out on their own income lines. This is not a complete provincial map. That job is provincial benefits.
| Program | Maximum CRA listed | Where it starts to fall |
|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick HST credit | $300 per adult, $100 per child under 19, or $300 for the first child in a single-parent family | Reduced by 2% of adjusted family net income over $35,000 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador income supplement | $520 single, $589 with a spouse, plus $231 per child under 19. A disability amount can be added if you also have the Disability Tax Credit. | Calculated from family situation and income. Confirm the notice. |
| Newfoundland and Labrador seniors' benefit | $1,882 if you are 65 at any time in 2026, or a couple with at least one senior, and adjusted family net income is $30,409 or less | Partial between $30,409 and $46,549 |
| Nova Scotia affordable living tax credit | $255 for an individual or a couple, plus $60 per child under 19 | Reduced by 5% of adjusted family net income over $30,000 |
| Prince Edward Island sales tax credit | $310 for an individual, plus $55 for a spouse, common-law partner, or eligible dependant | Renamed the Prince Edward Island essentials benefit starting in November 2026, with a new $175 minimum for residents who qualify |
| Saskatchewan low-income tax credit | $460 per adult or eligible dependant, $181 per child under 19 up to two children, up to $1,282 per family | Reduction starts above $39,345. Partial credit can continue to $81,668. |
| Ontario sales tax credit | $378 for each adult and each child under 19 | Paid through the Ontario Trillium Benefit, not inside this deposit. Single, no children: reduced by 4% of adjusted net income over $29,047. A single parent, or a couple: 4% over $36,309. |
Table as of September 2026, from CRA guide RC4210 for the 2026-27 payment period. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon are not given a companion credit in the section reviewed. Absence from this table is not a statement that the province has no other benefit.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Groceries and Essentials Benefit a new program with a new application?
The name and the July 2026 increase are new. The eligibility, the quarterly structure, and the calculation method are the GST/HST credit's, which CRA says explicitly. If you were receiving the credit and your situation did not change, CRA says you are likely eligible. You still have to file. A newcomer uses Form RC151 for the year residency starts.
Do I report it on my tax return?
CRA says the payments are not taxable and that you do not report them as income. Related provincial amounts in the same guide are also described as non-taxable. The benefit can still be used to repay a tax debt. CRA says it will keep future benefit payments and refunds until an overpayment is repaid, and it can apply the benefit to amounts owing.
I turned 19 in January. Which payment is my first?
You have to be 19 in the month before the payment. CRA's guide uses Alex, who turns 19 on January 5, 2027. If Alex files a 2025 return, the first possible payment is April 2027, not January 2027, because Alex is not 19 before January 1. File the 2025 return even with no income, or the automatic test never runs.
We got married after we each received the July payment. Who keeps it?
Tell CRA by the end of the month after the month your status changed. Only one payment per family is allowed each quarter. If you both kept receiving a single-person amount after the marriage, one of you repays the payments that should have been a family amount. Do not report a separation until you have been apart for at least 90 days because of a breakdown. An involuntary separation, such as work or illness, is not a breakdown.
Why is my quarterly payment different from my neighbour's at the same income?
Marital status, the number and ages of children, and shared custody change the federal amount. A child who turns 19 is dropped at the next quarter. Provincial supplements differ by province. A quarter under $50 is not paid as a quarter at all. Compare the annual entitlement on the notice, not the deposit on a single Friday.
Did this benefit replace the carbon rebate?
No. Finance and CRA describe it as the GST/HST credit, renamed and increased. The Canada Carbon Rebate for individuals ended with the April 2025 payment when the federal fuel charge stopped. People still search the old rebate because the deposits used to be familiar. The programs answer different statutes. Read the closed rebate before you treat a missing carbon deposit as a missing groceries payment.
Sources
- CRA guide RC4210, Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, 2026-27
- CRA, payment amounts and component table
- CRA, payments chart, July 2026 to June 2027
- CRA, Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit overview, including the 25% increase
- CRA, one-time GST/HST credit top-up issued June 5, 2026
- Department of Finance, June 2026 release on the top-up and the increase
The July notice is the calculation. The return is the input.
If the 2025 return is still open, the benefit is still waiting. The 2026 tax guide is the filing side.
Get the 2026 Tax Guide — $49 CAD
