The Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) gives income support to employed and self-employed individuals who are unable to work because they must care for their child under 12 years old or a family member who needs supervised care. This applies if their school, regular program or facility is closed or unavailable to them due to COVID-19, or because they are sick, self-isolating, or at risk of serious health complications due to COVID-19. The CRCB is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

If you are eligible for the CRCB, your household can receive $500 ($450 after taxes withheld) for each 1-week period.

If your situation continues past 1 week, you will need to apply again. You may apply up to a total of 26 weeks between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021.

Who can apply

If you are eligible for the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB), your household can receive $500 ($450 after taxes withheld) for each 1-week period.

To apply for the CRCB, you must meet all the eligibility criteria and be employed or self-employed on the day before your first application period.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the CRCB, you must meet all the following conditions for the 1-week period you’re applying for:

• You are unable to work at least 50% of your scheduled work week because you are caring for a family member
• You are caring for your child under 12 years old or a family member who needs supervised care because they are at home for one of the following reasons:
  • Their school, daycare, day program, or care facility is closed or unavailable to them due to COVID-19
  • Their regular care services are unavailable due to COVID-19
  • The person under your care is:
    • sick with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19
    • at risk of serious health complications if they get COVID-19, as advised by a medical professional
    • self-isolating due to COVID-19
  Who can advise a person under your care to self-isolate
• You did not apply for or receive any of the following for the same period:
  • Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)
  • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
  • short-term disability benefits
  • workers’ compensation benefits
  • Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
  • Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) benefits
• You reside in Canada
  
  Definition
• You were present in Canada
• You are at least 15 years old
• You have a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN)
• You earned at least $5,000 in 2019, 2020, or in the 12 months before the date you apply from any of the following sources:
  • employment income (total or gross pay)
  • net self-employment income (after deducting expenses)
  • maternity and parental benefits from EI or similar QPIP benefits
  What counts towards the $5,000
• You are the only person in your household applying for the benefit for the week
  
  What is considered a household for this benefit
• You are not receiving paid leave from your employer for the same period

You need all of the above to be eligible for the CRCB.

If you’re not eligible for CRCB

If you still need financial support, review other options at COVID-19 benefits and services.

Note: Incarcerated individuals in prison or other institutions are not likely to meet all the above eligibility criteria.

Verifying your eligibility

The CRA will verify that you’re eligible to receive the CRCB. Individuals who are found to have intentionally made fraudulent claims may face additional consequences, such as penalties or possible jail time.

To report suspected misuse, go to: CRA’s Leads program.

If information is missing from your application, we may need you to provide additional documentation to validate your application and complete the process.

How much you receive per period

The Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) provides a payment of $500 (before taxes withheld) per household for each 1-week period applied for. After the CRA withholds a 10% tax at source, the actual payment you get is $450 per 1-week period.

Only one eligible individual in the same household (living as a family at the same address) can apply for the benefit per week.

Each household may receive payments for a maximum of 26 weeks between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021.

If you’re eligible, your payment amount will be the same for each period you’ve applied for, even if:

• you are caring for more than one family member who needs supervised care
• you worked for less than 50% of the work week

 How we calculate your payment

• $500 (CRCB gross amount)
• minus  $50 (10% tax withheld at source)
• equals$450 (amount you receive per period)

Impact on your taxes

The 10% tax withheld at source may not be all the tax you need to pay. When you complete your personal income tax return, you may need to pay more (or less), depending on how much income you earned. You must still report CRCB payments that you receive as income when you file your personal income tax return.

The CRA will provide you with a T4A tax information slip at tax time for the amount you received for all CRA administered COVID-19 benefits.

How eligibility periods work

Each Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) eligibility period is a specific 1-week period. When you apply, your household will receive a $500 ($450 after taxes withheld) payment for that period.

The CRCB does not renew automatically. If your situation continues, you must apply for each period separately. You may apply for any eligible 1-week period for up to 60 days after that period has ended.

Each household can apply up to a maximum of 26 periods between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021. The 26 weeks do not need to be taken consecutively.

If you started caring for a family member part way through a period, you can only apply for that period if you missed more than 50% of that work week. If you miss less than that, you need to wait to apply for the next eligibility period.

Period start and end dates

Each 1-week period starts on a Sunday and ends on the following Saturday. You may start applying on the first Monday after the 1-week period you’re applying for has ended.

Your household eligibility ends after 26 periods

The benefit is available between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021. You can no longer receive CRCB payments after your household has reached the maximum of 26 periods.

Your eligibility cannot be extended, even if you need to care for the same or other family members for more than 26 weeks or if their school, regular program or facility is closed or unavailable to them again due to COVID-19.

To confirm the number of periods that you have already received the CRCB, you can review your application history in CRA My Account, under “COVID-19 Support Payment Application Details”.