Ottawa Journal by David Tilson MP — Unclaimed money for Canadian families

June 22, 2015 · 0 Comments

The government of Canada estimates that about 69,000 families with children in Ontario who may be eligible for the enhanced Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) are at risk of not receiving it.
Under the proposed enhancements to the UCCB, families would receive almost $2,000 per year for each child younger than six and $720 per year for each child aged six through 17. The new benefit amounts would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015 and reflected in monthly payments to recipients in July 2015.
The proposed enhancements to the UCCB are expected to more than double the number of families who benefit from more than 1.6 million to around four million and as a result, there will be some Canadian families eligible for UCCB who will need to apply or confirm their eligibility.
The majority of families with children are known and will automatically receive the enhanced UCCB or be contacted by the government of Canada to confirm their information.
But, we have a problem. A small percentage of eligible families are not currently captured by the government’s UCCB system and may miss out on the benefit unless they apply. This potentially represents millions of dollars in unclaimed benefits.
So what’s your situation?
If you are not currently receiving the UCCB, never applied for the Canada Child Tax Benefit and still have children younger than 18 in your care, please go to www.canada.ca/taxsavings in order to find out how you can apply.
Our government believes parents are best positioned to decide what kind of child care is best for their children and for their family’s individual situation. I encourage all parents to take a look at their unique situation and to take advantage of this great benefit.