Questions and Answers

Amendments to the Federal Child Support Guidelines related to the Universal Child Care Benefit

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What is the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB)?

Why were the Federal Child Support Guidelines (Federal Guidelines) amended?

What are the amendments?

Under the amendments, can the UCCB be deducted from an amount for special or extraordinary expenses?

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Q. What is the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB)?

The UCCB is a new form of direct financial assistance of $100 a month for each child under the age of six. The UCCB is paid to a child's primary caregiver and is considered income under the Income Tax Act. It is taxable in the hands of the spouse or common law partner with the lower net income, regardless of which spouse or common-law partner received the payments.

For more information about eligibility and applying for the UCCB, please visit the Canada Revenue Agency and the Government of Canada Internet Sites.

Q. Why were the Federal Child Support Guidelines (Federal Guidelines) amended?

Before the Federal Guidelines were amended (on April 1, 2007), the UCCB could be included in a spouse's income in all situations when determining a child support amount. In some instances this would have meant that the UCCB provided for one child's benefit would have been considered in determining the child support amount to be paid for another child. Allowing this situation to arise would have been inconsistent with the objectives of both the UCCB and the Federal Guidelines. Therefore the law was amended.

Q. What are the amendments?

Now that the Federal Guidelines have been changed, the UCCB is not considered to be income when determining a child support amount under the Federal Child Support Tables.

However, the UCCB received for a child is considered to be income when an amount for special or extraordinary expenses for that child is being determined.

Also, the UCCB received for any child in the household of either spouse is considered to be income when a claim for undue hardship is being evaluated. This is done so that the spouse (and the courts) will have a complete picture of the total resources in each household.

The amendments are meant to make sure the Federal Guidelines are fair and that children are the primary beneficiaries of the UCCB paid on their behalf.

The full text of the amendments is available on the Canada Gazette Web site.

Q. Under the amendments, can the UCCB be deducted from an amount for special or extraordinary expenses?

No. The UCCB received for a child is not considered to be a benefit that can be deducted from an amount for a special or extraordinary expense.