GST/HST credit payment dates in 2026
The quarterly GST/HST credit kept its calendar in 2026 but changed its name halfway through the year, and one extra payment slipped in between.
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The GST/HST credit was paid on January 5, 2026 and April 2, 2026 in 2026, and the benefit that replaced it, the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, was paid on July 3, 2026 and October 5, 2026. Between the two, the Canada Revenue Agency issued a one-time top-up on June 5, 2026 to people who were entitled to the credit in January. The calendar keeps the same rhythm as before: one deposit at the start of each quarter, in January, April, July and October. The next two payments fall in January and April 2027, but the CRA had not published their exact days when we checked. The July change was more than a new name: the benefit rose by 25 % for the five years from 2,026 to 2,031, with the same eligibility rules. The July and October deposits are calculated from your 2025 tax return, while the January and April ones still used the 2024 return. A household whose quarterly amount is below $50 gets the whole year in a single July payment instead.
Quarterly payments or one July payment?
From July 2026 to April 2027
Four payments of $100.15
| Yearly benefit | $400.60 |
| Per quarter | $100.15 |
| Dates | July 3, 2026 · October 5, 2026 · January and April 2027 |
Under $50 per quarter, the CRA pays the whole year in July. The 2027 dates are not published yet.
The five 2026 deposits at a glance
| Date | Paid as | Benefit year | Tax return used |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 5, 2026 | GST/HST credit | July 2025 to June 2026 | 2024 |
| April 2, 2026 | GST/HST credit | July 2025 to June 2026 | 2024 |
| June 5, 2026 | One-time top-up | Paid once | 2024 |
| July 3, 2026 | Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit | July 2026 to June 2027 | 2025 |
| October 5, 2026 | Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit | July 2026 to June 2027 | 2025 |
The CRA benefit calendar lists the four quarterly dates; the top-up comes from a separate CRA page. The quarterly deposits are spread unevenly: the four deposits came on January 5, 2026, April 2, 2026, July 3, 2026, October 5, 2026, so none of them is a fixed day of the month. All four fall in the first week of the quarter, which is the useful thing to remember, and each of the five 2026 dates, the top-up included, is a weekday, so a deposit never waits for a Monday.
What changed on July 3
The July deposit was the first under the new name. The GST/HST credit page now states that the credit was renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit in July 2026, and the CGEB page adds the 25 % increase, kept for five years. Nothing had to be done to switch: the CRA moved everyone who was entitled to the credit, and filing the 2025 return was the only condition. The dates kept the same quarterly pattern. In practice, a family that compares its October 2026 deposit with October 2025 sees two effects at once: the increase, and a new base year with a different income.
For a couple with two children and an adjusted family net income of $45,000, the CRA amounts give $1,358.00 for the year, or $339.50 on each of the four deposits from July 3, 2026. The guide to the new benefit details the amounts per adult and per child; this page stays on the calendar.
The one-time payment of June 5
The top-up was paid in early June, a month before the benefit changed name, to bridge the gap. It went to everyone who had filed a 2,024 return and was entitled to the credit in January 2026, including people who had received their 2025-2026 credit as a single July payment. In most cases it equalled 50 % of the annual credit for July 2025 to June 2026, up to $267 for a single person without children, $349 for a couple without children and $717 for a family with four children or more. Someone who files a late 2,024 return can still receive it retroactively.
Quarterly payments or one July payment?
From July 2026 to April 2027
Four payments of $100.15
| Yearly benefit | $400.60 |
| Per quarter | $100.15 |
| Dates | July 3, 2026 · October 5, 2026 · January and April 2027 |
Under $50 per quarter, the CRA pays the whole year in July. The 2027 dates are not published yet.
Four payments or one
The CGEB payment dates page sets a floor. When the amount per quarter is less than $50, there are no quarterly payments: the whole year arrives in July. It mostly concerns single people and couples without children whose income is just below the level where the benefit ends. A single person with no children and a net income of $57,000 in 2025 is entitled to $150.60, that is $37.65 a quarter, so the full amount was paid on July 3, 2026. Anyone who expected something in October and saw nothing should look at the July line of their bank statement first.
Where the quarterly deposit sits in a busy month
For a family, the groceries benefit is rarely the only CRA deposit of the month, and the order matters for budgeting. In July 2026, the CGEB came first on July 3, 2026, then the advance payment of the workers benefit and the Ontario Trillium Benefit on July 10, 2026, then the child benefit on July 20, 2026. October followed the same order: October 5, 2026 for the CGEB, October 9, 2026 for Trillium and the workers benefit advance, October 20, 2026 for the child benefit. The quarterly payment is therefore the one that arrives closest to the first of the month, when rent is due, and it covers three months, not one. Spreading it over the quarter, rather than treating it as part of a single month, avoids a thin stretch before the next one. The full calendar lines up every CRA and Service Canada date of the year, and the child benefit dates page covers the monthly payment that follows.
Provincial credits paid on the same day
The CRA pays related provincial and territorial programs together with the federal benefit, on the quarterly dates. The deposit that appears on your statement can therefore combine two amounts, and only your CRA notice shows the split between them. The British Columbia climate action tax credit, which used to ride on the same payment, ended in April 2025, as the B.C. credit page explains, and the federal carbon rebate made its last payment the same month.
When a payment is missing
Wait 10 working days after the scheduled date before contacting the CRA. Frequent causes are a return that was not filed or not yet assessed, a spouse’s return that is missing, a change of address or bank account that the CRA does not have, or the single July payment described above. The amount you are owed is the one on your CRA notice; the calculator gives an estimate for the July 2026 to June 2027 year.