CANADA CARBON TAX REBATE
What was it?
The rebate is a tax-free payment paid from 2019 to April 2025. It helped individuals and families offset the cost of the federal carbon tax. Canada’s carbon pricing system aimed to encourage reduced fossil fuel use by making polluting fuels more expensive, while returning the revenue to Canadians through a revenue-neutral rebate. The carbon tax applied, for example, on natural gas bills (e.g., Enbridge) and at the gas pump.
The rebate included a basic amount plus a supplement for residents of small and rural communities. For the 2019 and 2020 tax years, it was delivered as a refundable tax credit that affected the tax return balance. Beginning in 2021, it became a stand-alone benefit paid quarterly, in April, July, October, and January following the tax year.
After Oct 30, 2026, no longer claimable for past years:
The government’s budget for 2025 proposes to end Canada Carbon Rebate payments in respect of tax returns or adjustment requests filed after October 30, 2026. This proposal may or may not be implemented - it remains to be seen.
Who is eligible?
To have qualified for the amount applicable to Ontarions, a person must have been at least 19 years old and a resident of Canada and Ontario on the first day of a payment month.
Individuals under 19 qualified if they had a spouse, or if they were a parent living with their child.
How much was the rebate?
For a single individual or spouses filing 2023 tax returns, and living in the GTA, the amounts paid over four quarterly installments in April 2024, July 2024, October 2024 and January 2025:
The amount was not affected by individual or family income.
How was the rebate applied for?
The benefit was applied for by filing an income tax return. No special steps are needed in UFile.
For couples, only one spouse received the rebate for the family. The benefit was paid to whichever spouse’s return is processed first. If a tax clinic filed a return for one spouse but only provided basic details for the other, UFile would display the benefit as payable to the first spouse, but regardless the CRA paid it to the spouse whose return was processed first.
Newcomers (those resident in Canada for the first time in the tax year) initially applied by submitting Form RC151 or Forms RC66 and RC66SCH as early as possible. To have received continuing benefits they must have filed income tax returns like any resident.
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