Transcript

Hello. I am Kathleen from the Canada Revenue Agency. Welcome to the walkthrough of the new One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit. Today, I will be demonstrating the application process in the CRA’s My Account and showing you the information on Canada.ca to help you learn more about eligibility and how to get your payment quickly.

Canadians looking to learn more about the One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit can do so by searching Canada Housing Benefit on Canada.ca, where they will find the following tools and information to prepare to apply. Here, Canadians can find out Who can apply, how to Get ready to apply, and How to apply.

In terms of Who can apply, you’ll find an interactive checklist of the eligibility criteria. Each criteria (sic) must be met in order to apply for the Canada Housing Benefit. You’ll see here that we do provide some additional details on each of the eligibility criteria (sic) and again, each must be met in order to be eligible for the one-time payment.

How to Get Ready to apply, first and foremost, you’ll want to have filed your 2021 income tax return—you and any eligible spouse or common-law partner. You’ll want to gather your rent information. You’ll need the addresses of any principal residences in Canada for twen – for the 2022 year, the rent you paid, and the name and contact information of the persons to whom the rent is paid. Here, we also ask that you confirm that you’ve got access to the CRA’s My Account. It is not essential to have My Account to apply for the one-time top-up, but it is the fastest and simplest method to apply for the, for the amount. If you don’t have access to the CRA’s My Account, perhaps you have access to My Service Canada Account and that, through that, you can link through to the CRA’s My Account. There is also still time to be able to register for either.

Setting up direct deposit, again, it’s not essential to have direct deposit to be eligible for this amount but it is the fastest way to get your funds. If you do not have direct deposit information on file with us or, and you do not set that up, then the payments will be issued through cheque. It’s not as fast as direct deposit but you’ll still receive your funds.

How to apply: the last day to apply for this is the—is Friday, March 31st, 2023, and the method of applying, the pri—the fastest and simplest method is through the online, through the CRA’s My Account, which, there’s a link through here. Also, by way of My Service Canada Account.

To move forward with the demonstration, we’ll click on the CRA’s My Account and move forward into the self-service portal. So at this stage, I would have entered my user ID and password for the CRA’s My Account and authenticated through. I am now in my account, the secure online portal, and here I see the banners outlining the information about the Canada Housing Benefit and some general information in terms of eligibility criteria. If I’d like to continue on with an application, I can start the process by pressing Apply now.

At this stage, the system has already done some really important checks. It has verified that a 2021 tax return has been filed. It’s looked to see that the income is within the eligible range and that you meet the basic eligibility criteria. We’re then going to present the client with information that we will be asking. So before they commence the process, they have an opportunity to gather any information that they need before they start the application process—amount of the rent, the landlord information, and addresses. When they’re ready to start, they would press Start to begin.

Here, we display direct deposit information. The majority of Canadians have direct deposit on file with us so that’s the path that we’re demonstrating here. In the event that we did not have direct deposit information on file, it would demonstrate where the cheque would be issued to. Here, we are demonstrating direct deposit information and clients have an opportunity to review it, ensure that it is where they desire that the funds would be sent, and indicate whether or not it is correct. If they would like to make a change, correct the information, they still can, or if it’s correct as is, then they can just proceed. Did they pay rent for their principal residence? If not, well, they’re not eligible for the One-time top-up of (sic) the Canada Housing Benefit. If yes, then they may proceed.

We’re within the secure My Account portal and so we have the information on file about the adjusted family net income. We present it back to the client. In this case, it’s $33,000. We ask that they provide us with the amount of rent. In the event that the amount is insufficient to be eligible to—for the Canada Housing Benefit, we will indicate a message back that the income ratio doesn’t meet the eligibility requirements. But if it does, then they are able to proceed.

Here, we’re going to ask for some information about the rental property—where’s the property, the landlord’s contact information, and if there are multiple properties, the number of months at the particular address or addresses. At this stage, the client has an opportunity to review the information that they have entered, make any corrections to the information here and if they scroll down, we’re then going to be asking that they attest and acknowledge that they meet certain conditions and we’ll ask that they attest to each—that the information is, to the best of their knowledge, true and correct; it’s not false or misleading; that the CRA might contact them or their landlords; that penalties may be applied if I knowingly provided false or misleading information, and that my personal information is used for the purpose of administering and enforcing this One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit. When I’m ready, I’ll press submit.

Here, the client receives confirmation that they have successfully submitted the application and they receive a confirmation number that they can keep for their records. They can print and save this page and this page outlines all of the information that they have entered as part of their application, including the attestation and acknowledgements and the privacy statement.

Additionally, we will provide information about when someone might see their anticipated refund. If they’ve signed up for direct deposit, within five business days and if they’re expecting a cheque in the mail, within five to ten business days. And that is the One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit.