Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson makes 11 recommendations after reviewing how the Canada Revenue Agency administers the Canada child benefit for temporary residents

Today, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson, Mr. François Boileau, released Timing Is Everything, the report on our Office’s examination into issues that could prevent some temporary residents from receiving the Canada child benefit (CCB) in a timely manner.

OTTAWA, March 18, 2025 – Today, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson, Mr. François Boileau, released Timing Is Everything, the report on our Office’s examination into issues that could prevent some temporary residents from receiving the Canada child benefit (CCB) in a timely manner.

In March 2024, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson announced that our Office was opening a systemic examination into this situation. During this examination, one of the main issues we found was that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) stops paying the CCB after a temporary resident’s status has expired in its system, even if they may still be eligible for the benefit. This can happen because the onus is on the taxpayer to send the CRA proof of their updated status, but it generally takes the CRA 14 weeks or more to process updated temporary resident status information. As a result, temporary residents will not receive CCB payments while they wait for the CRA to process this information.

Many temporary residents rely on the CCB to make ends meet. Although the CRA will send payments to the temporary resident retroactively once it has updated their immigration status, the temporary resident still has to pay their bills in the meantime. While waiting weeks for the CRA to update their file, single parents still have to feed their children and families still have to pay rent. This can be very difficult or impossible without the CCB.