Quebec Living: List of tax benefits and programs of having a child

DAYCARE

You can go to La Place 0-5 and check out all the daycares, they have a list of almost all of them.

You have two major categories of daycares:

• Fully subsidized – The province pays for most of it and the parents pay only $7/day (will increase soon)
• Private – which is subsidized by the government on a tiered income basis

Fully subsidized daycares might go up to $9 – $12/day and you can be of any income level to benefit from this.

Private daycares are around $50 – $65/day, and you can get reimbursed by the province of Queebc on a tiered income basis. The more money you make, the less you get back. There’s a whole chart here.

CLOTH DIAPERING

If you use cloth diapers, you can get $100 back, reimbursed for the amount you spent buying those cloth diapers.

This site (Subvention Couches Lavables) outlines what you need to do to get the money back.

REGISTERED EDUCATION SAVINGS PLAN (RESP)

An RESP works a lot like an RRSP, you can save money in the plan and let it grow tax-free until it’s withdrawn and in this case, it will be at the time of education.

The RESP can be withdrawn upon to pay for things like rent while at school and so on, so it isn’t just strictly for tuition and books. You will need to show proof however, that it’s related to education.

It is not all lost if your child decides not to go to school.

You can roll it back into your own personal retirement funds (RRSP) if they don’t use the money if you have room available.

I believe you can also pass it on to your other kids.

I don’t think an RESP encourages children to become professional students.

I’m not saving any money in the RESP that is specifically mine, I am saving everything that Baby Bun gets from the government on his behalf.

The maximum that can be saved in an RESP is $50,000, and growing tax-free it may reach $100,000.

They estimate that a 4-year education will reach about $100,000 with living expenses, tuition, books, computers and so on.

To me, it’s his money so at the end when he has $50,000 maxed out, he is going to do with it as he wishes (with our guidance of course).

CANADA EDUCATION SAVINGS GRANT (CESG)

To maximize the CESG (a grant from the government of Canada), you need to deposit $2500/year into an RESP.

The CESG gives you 20% of what you’ve deposited, to a max of $500 a year, which is why $2500 maxes out this CESG.

You can get $7200 in maximum grant money over the course of the RESP.

QUEBEC EDUCATION SAVINGS INITIATIVE (QESI)

Similar to the CESG, to maximize this QESI, you need to deposit $2500/year into an RESP.

The QESI gives you 10%, to a max of $250 a year.

You can get $3600 in maximum grant money over the course of the RESP.

CANADA LEARNING BOND (CLB)

No contributions are required.

You get $500 in the first year and $100 each following year until the child turns 15.

You can get $2000 in maximum grant money over the course of the RESP.

UNIVERSAL CHILDCARE BENEFIT (UCCB)

You get $100 a month for every child under the age of 6.

Pretty straightforward.

Info here.

CANADA CHILD TAX BENEFIT (CCTB)

This is calculated by how much money you make each month (as a couple / household). The more you make, the less you get, and vice versa.

Info here.

REGIE DES RENTES CHILD ASSISTANCE BENEFIT

Regies des rentes gives money to couples / household based on the income earned much like the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB). The more you make, the less you get and vice versa.

Info here.