The Québec Family Allowance is the provincial payment you should be receiving in addition to the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) if you have an eligible child.
As with other provincial child benefits, the Family Allowance is administered regularly to help you with the ongoing expenses of child upbringing.
In this post, I cover the 2024 Québec Family Allowance payment dates including the payment amounts, increase, and more.
Québec Family Allowance Payment Dates 2024
By default, Retraite Québec administers the family allowance on the first working day of each quarter. However, you can request to have your payments administered monthly.
The monthly payments are usually released on the first working day of each month.
That being said, here I cover both the quarterly and monthly Family Allowance payment dates.
Below are the monthly Québec Family Allowance payment dates for 2024:
| Benefit Month | Monthly Payment Date |
| January | January 3, 2024 |
| February | February 1, 2024 |
| March | March 1, 2024 |
| April | April 2, 2024 |
| May | May 1, 2024 |
| June | June 3, 2024 |
| July | July 2, 2024 |
| August | August 1, 2024 |
| September | September 3, 2024 |
| October | October 1, 2024 |
| November | November 1, 2024 |
| December | December 2, 2024 |
Québec Family Allowance Quarterly Payment Dates 2024
If you don’t change your default payment frequency, you will receive your Family Allowance quarterly.
The quarterly payments are administered four times a year — on the first working day of January, April, July, and October.
Below are the quarterly Family Allowance payment dates for 2024:
| Quarter | Quarterly Payment Date |
| 1st Quarter | January 3, 2024 |
| Second Quarter | April 2, 2024 |
| Third Quarter | July 2, 2024 |
| Fourth Quarter | October 1, 2024 |
You can request to change your payment frequency from monthly to quarterly, and vice versa.
Besides the above regular Family Allowance payment dates, Retraite Québec also administers a Supplement for the Purchase of School Supplies once annually. The payment usually falls in July. For the 2024-2025 school year, the supplement payment falls on July 2, 2024.
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Family Allowance Payment Method
As with other government benefits, the Family Allowance can be administered through cheque or direct deposit.
If you didn’t set up a direct deposit, you will receive the payments through cheque by default.
However, it’s always recommended to set up direct deposit to receive your payments faster and directly to your bank account.
Because cheques are taken physically to your address, it can take up to three days or more to receive your payments from the day the payment was released.
What is Québec Family Allowance?
The Québec Family Allowance, formally known as Family Allowance, is a tax-free benefit administered to eligible Québec families with under 18-year-old dependent children.
It’s administered by Retraite Québec as an additional benefit to the federal government child benefit program (CCB).
This tax credit is an umbrella term consisting of four financial measures that were implemented to help families with dependent children. Categorically, the Family Allowance program consists of the following benefits:
- Family Allowance
- Supplement for the purchase of school supplies
- Supplement for handicapped children
- Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care.
So long as you meet the eligibility, you will receive all the above benefits under the Family Allowance program.
How Much Québec Family Allowance Will You Get?
The amount of Family Allowance you get depends on the following factors:
- Number of under-18-year-old dependent children you live with
- Number of children you shared custody with
- Your family structure (single or two-parent)
- Your family income (combined with your spouse if applicable)
You can easily know your entitled amount under this table or get an estimate using the Family Allowance measure CalculAide.
But if you want to get an idea of the maximum and minimum Family Allowance for 2024, check the following section.
Family Allowance Maximum and Minimum Amounts 2024
The following are the 2024 Family Allowance maximum and minimum annual amounts per child and sing-parent family:
| Beneficiary | Maximum amount | Minimum amount |
| Each child | $2,923 | $1,163 |
| Single-parent family | +$1026 | +$409 |
As noted earlier, the Family Allowance also offers a single Supplement for the Purchase of School Supplies annually. The maximum supplement for 2024 is $121.
2024 Maximum Annual Amount For Handicapped Child
Below are the maximum annual amounts you can get per handicapped child in 2024:
| Handicapped Type | Maximum Amount |
| Supplement for Handicapped Children | $2,748 |
| Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care | $13,896 for Tier 1 and $9,240 for Tier 2 |
Your child or children must meet the Supplement for Handicapped Children eligibility or the exceptional care eligibility to qualify for the handicapped supplement.
- Retraite Québec will notify you of your entitled Family Allowance amount the first time you join the program. They will also notify you twice every year (in May and June).
- Only one person in a family receives the Family Allowance. But if you share the custody of an eligible child with your spouse, you can have the payment split between the two of you.
Repaying Family Allowance Overpayment
If there’s a change in your family situation and you don’t update the government, you may receive an unentitled payment known as overpayment or debt.
Since you’re not entitled to such payment, you must repay all the overpaid amounts to the government.
If you’re overpaid, the government will withhold your entitled payments until you clear the debt.
However, the amount of payment withholding will depend on your annual family income as shown below:
| Annual Family Income | Withhold Rate |
| Equal or less than $35,000 | 50%* |
| $35,000 | 100% |
*The Québec government can withhold more than 50% of your payments if your remaining entitled payments are not enough to clear the debt.
Who is Eligible for Family Allowance?
Not every family in Québec receives the Family Allowance payment. To be eligible, you must meet all the following eligibility:
- You or your spouse reside in Québec according to the Québec Taxation Act.
- You and your spouse must file your income tax return every year regardless of whether you have income or not.
- You or your spouse are responsible for the care and education of an under-18-year-old child.
- Your child lived or lived when they were institutionalized in the health and social services sector.
- You or your spouse are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, temporary resident in Canada for at least 18 months, or a protected person.
Note
If you meet the eligibility for the Family Allowance in the last 11 months before you applied for the program, you can receive a retroactive payment covering the past 11 months.
How to Apply for Québec Family Allowance
Do you really need to apply for the Family Allowance? It depends!
If your child was born in Québec, there’s no need to apply as they will be automatically registered for the program so long as you send your newborn’s birth certificate to the Directeur de l’état civil.
Situations that require you to apply for the Family Allowance yourself include:
- You become a resident of Québec
- Your child was born outside Québec but lives with you in Québec
- Child adoption
- Obtaining shared custody
- Obtaining or keeping custody of a child before separating with your spouse or partner
- Change of custody
In any of the above situations, you’re required to apply for the Family Allowance to receive the payments.
Follow the steps below to file your application:
- Visit the application page using this link
- Click on the Access My Account button to log in
- Follow the prompts to complete your application
There are alternative application methods for those with select situations and disabilities under the application page.
After your application is approved, Retraite Québec will send your first Family Allowance payment within 40 days. Subsequently, you will receive the payments according to the regular payment schedule of your chosen payment frequency.
Québec Family Allowance Increase 2024
The Family Allowance and the Supplement for Handicapped Children are indexed each January to reflect the current level of inflation. So you can expect an annual increase on your entitled benefits.
For example, the maximum family allowance increased to $2,615 in 2022, $2782 in 2023 and $2,923 in 2024. There were also increases in other categories of the program.
The last increase came into effect in January 2024, and the next increase will be implemented next January.
Besides the regular annual increase, there’s no additional increase on the Family Allowance payments for 2024 yet.
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Read Also:
- Québec Pension Plan (QPP) Payment Dates & Rates
- GST/HST Payment Dates & Rates
- Carbon Tax Rebate (CAIP) Payment Dates and Benefits
- Canada Fed Deposit Explained
- Canada GSL Deposit Explained
Some FAQs on Québec Family Allowance Payments
Is Québec Family Allowance taxable?
No! The Family Allowance is a tax-free credit alongside the Supplement for Handicapped Children and Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care.
Is Family Allowance based on income?
Partly yes! The annual family income is just one factor that determines your entitled Family Allowance. Other factors include the number of under-18-year-old dependent children under your care and the number of children you shared custody with.
What happens when a child reaches 18 years of age?
In the month following the one your child reaches 18 years of age, you will stop receiving the Family Allowance payments alongside any applicable Supplement for Handicapped Children and the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care.
How is the Family Allowance paid in the case of joint custody?
If you share the custody of a child with your spouse/partner, both of you will receive the Family Allowance according to your chosen payment frequency. But to receive the shared custody payments, the child must live with both you and your spouse/partner between 40% and 60% of the time every month.
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