One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit - Closed

Status: Closed

The one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit helped low-income renters with the cost of renting. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administered this one-time payment.

If your income and the amount you paid on rent qualified, you may have been eligible to apply for a tax-free one-time payment of $500.

Applications were open from December 12, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

On this page

• Impacts on taxes and other benefits
• Verifying your eligibility

Impacts on taxes and other benefits

The payment was not taxable. This means you did not need to report the one-time payment on your income tax return.

The one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit did not reduce other federal income-tested benefits such as the Canada Workers Benefit, Canada Child Benefit, Goods and Services Tax Credit, and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Impacts on provincial or territorial benefits were determined at the discretion of each province or territory.

Verifying your eligibility

The CRA routinely checks to confirm that recipients were entitled to the payment they received.

If you received a payment and are later found to be ineligible, you will be contacted to make arrangements to return the payment. If you are found to have misrepresented or concealed information to make a fraudulent claim, additional consequences and penalties may also be applied.

You can report suspected misuse through the CRA's Leads program.