Reasons for stopped or changed payments
Previous name: GST/HST credit
If your Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) payments have stopped or the amount is different from your previous quarterly payment, there are several reasons why this may have happened.
Payments have stopped
Your payments may have stopped for any of the following reasons:
- You didn't file your tax return
- You didn't respond to a letter from the CRA about your situation
- You didn't inform the CRA of a change in:
- your address
- your bank account
- You were married, divorced or had another change in your marital status
- Your income is now too high (recalculation happens every July, based on your income from the previous year, indexed to inflation)
- You stopped meeting the resident of Canada eligibility criteria
- You have overpayments for benefits or credits, or other tax or government debts
If your payments have stopped, make sure your information is up to date. The CRA may resume your payments after the benefit is recalculated with your updated information. Your payments may be adjusted, and any retroactive benefit amounts you are entitled to will be paid with your next scheduled payment.
Payment amounts used to repay a debt or overpayment
If a recalculation shows you have been overpaid for the CGEB, the CRA will send you a notice with a remittance voucher to inform you of the amount owing.
The CRA will keep all future benefit payments or tax refunds until the balance is repaid. The CRA will also apply your CGEB to amounts owing for tax balances or amounts owing to other federal, provincial or territorial government programs.
If you received a repayment notice, go to Payments to the CRA.
Change in payment amounts
Your payment amounts may have changed for several reasons:
- A reassessment of either your or your spouse or common-law partner's tax return results in a change to your adjusted family net income
- Your marital status changed
- The number of eligible children in your care changed
- You were receiving the amount for a child who has turned 19
- Your custody arrangement changed
- A recipient dies
The CRA will send you a Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit notice of redetermination with the revised benefit amount for the year. If you are entitled to any amounts that were missed, those amounts will be paid with your next scheduled payment. You can view details of the recalculation in your CRA account.
Personal information needs to be up to date
You must let the CRA know as soon as possible if there are changes to your situation or personal information. You also need to provide the date when the change happened.
If the CRA is unable to match or validate the information on file, your benefit payments may stop temporarily. Your payments may resume after the CRA has received your updated information and recalculated your benefit amount. If you are entitled to any benefit amounts that were missed, those amounts will be paid as with your next quarterly payment.
Changes to your information
Updating your information online is the easiest and fastest way to provide changes to the CRA. Most changes can be completed online in your CRA account.
Make sure your information is up to date for the following:
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Address change
You need to tell the CRA your new address if you move.
Your benefit and credit payments may stop if you do not. This is the case even if you use direct deposit and your bank account does not change.
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Marital status change
You must tell the CRA if your marital status changes to make sure you get the correct payments.
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Direct deposit information change
If you are changing bank accounts, don't close your old account until your first payment is deposited in your new account.
It can take up to a month for payments to show up in your new bank account.
Your benefit and credit payments can be deposited directly into your bank account.
If we cannot deposit a payment into your account, we will mail you a cheque
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Residency status change
If you or your spouse or common-law partner’s residency status has changed, contact the CRA.
If your non-resident spouse or common-law partner immigrates to Canada, they must provide all of the following information in writing immediately:
- Social Insurance Number (SIN)
- Date of birth
- Address
- Immigration date
- Statement of income
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Outdated personal information on a notice
Your notice shows the amount of your annual payment. It also shows the information we used to calculate it. If any of your personal information has changed or is different from what your notice shows, then you need to contact the CRA so we can recalculate your payment amounts.
If you need to update your personal information, you can:
- Make your changes in your CRA account
- Contact us
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Leaving an abusive situation
Get benefit and credit payments without putting yourself, or your family, in danger. For more information, go to Getting your tax benefits and credits when in an abusive situation.
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Child and custody arrangements
Make sure you update any changes to your child's information or custody arrangement for the Canada child benefit (CCB). These same changes will also be applied to your CGEB.