GST/HST credit - No longer available
Replaced with: Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB)
The GST/HST credit has been renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) as of July 2026.
The GST/HST credit was a tax-free quarterly payment for individuals and families with low and modest incomes to help offset the GST or HST they paid. Payments may have included amounts from provincial or territorial programs which will now be included with your CGEB payments.
Who was eligible
If you filed a tax return each year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) automatically determined if you were entitled to the GST/HST credit.
If you have been receiving the GST/HST credit and your situation has not changed, you are likely to be eligible for the CGEB since the eligibility criteria are the same.
Filing a tax return for previous years
In most cases, you only needed to file your tax return each year and the CRA automatically determined if you were entitled to the credit.
If you file a prior year tax return late, you may still be entitled to receive a payment amount retroactively. The CRA will determine if you are entitled to previous payment amounts based on the information you provided on your tax return.
Since the credit has been renamed the CGEB, any retroactive payment amount you are entitled to will be issued as a CGEB payment. Depending on when your previous year return is assessed, you may receive your retroactive amount as a separate lump sum payment or combined with your next quarterly CGEB payment.
Payments received
The GST/HST credit was recalculated every July based on the information from the previous year’s tax return. Payment periods started in July and ended in June of the following year.
Last quarterly payment under the GST/HST credit was issued April 2, 2026.
Where to find previous payment details
If you were previously entitled to the GST/HST credit, you would have received notices with your annual entitlements. Your notices would have been sent to your CRA account if you had one, otherwise they would have been mailed to you.
You can sign in to your CRA account to view your previous GST/HST credit (renamed as the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit) payment details or statement of account:
CRA sign in Register for a CRA account
- Choose your Individual account
- On the Overview screen, select Benefits and credits to find detailed payment information
- Go to Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit) to find your payment amounts
If you did not receive a payment you were expecting, check reasons for stopped or changed payments.
Beware of potential scams related to the GST/HST credit or CGEB. The CRA will only send email notifications if you’ve provided us with your email address. These email notifications will not ask you to provide any personal information or click on any links. You can verify all payment details by signing in to your CRA account.
Additional one-time top-up payment issued June 5, 2026
The additional one-time GST/HST credit top-up payment was issued on June 5, 2026 to provide immediate support before the CGEB took effect in July 2026. If you were entitled to receive the GST/HST credit in January 2026, you would have received this one-time payment.
For details: One-time GST/HST credit top-up payment