Canada Disability Benefit Regulations (SOR/2025-35)

Definitions

Marginal note:Definitions

1 The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

Act

Act means the Canada Disability Benefit Act. (Loi)

applicant

applicant means a person who has applied for a benefit or on whose behalf an application for a benefit has been made. (demandeur)

beneficiary

beneficiary means a person to whom payment of a benefit has been approved or on whose behalf a benefit has become payable. (prestataire)

benefit

benefit means a Canada disability benefit payable under the Act. (prestation)

cohabiting spouse or common-law partner

cohabiting spouse or common-law partner has the same meaning as in section 122.6 of the Income Tax Act. (époux ou conjoint de fait visé)

payment period

payment period means the period beginning on July 1 of a calendar year and ending on June 30 of the following calendar year. (période de paiement)

release

release, in relation to a person who has been incarcerated, means release from custody on earned remission, at the expiry of a sentence, or on parole or statutory release that has not been terminated or revoked. (libération)

Eligibility

Marginal note:Eligibility criteria

• 2 (1) A person is eligible to receive a benefit for any month after May 2025 in which they meet the following criteria:

  • (a) they are at least 18 years of age but not more than 65 years of age;

  • (b) they are a DTC-eligible individual, as defined in subsection 146.4(1) of the Income Tax Act;

  • (c) they are resident in Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act and are

    • (i) a Canadian citizen,

    • (ii) a permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,

    • (iii) a temporary resident within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who was resident in Canada for the 18 months preceding that month,

    • (iv) a protected person within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or

    • (v) an Indian as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Indian Act;

  • (d) they are not incarcerated as a result of a sentence of imprisonment of two years or more that is to be served in a penitentiary by virtue of any Act of Parliament; and

  • (e) they have filed a return of income under the Income Tax Act for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period in which that month falls.

• Marginal note:Exception — 65 years of age

  (2) Despite paragraph (1)(a), a person is eligible for a benefit for the month in which they turn 65 years of age.

• Marginal note:Exception — incarceration

  (3) Despite paragraph (1)(d), a person is eligible for a benefit for the first month in which they are incarcerated and for the month in which they are released.

• Marginal note:Condition — cohabiting spouse or common-law partner

  (4) Despite subsections (1) to (3), a person is eligible for a benefit for any month in a payment period only if their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner has filed a return of income under the Income Tax Act for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of that payment period.

• Marginal note:Waiver

  (5) The Minister may waive the condition set out in subsection (4) if the Minister is satisfied that the condition is unreasonable or impracticable in the circumstances, including if

  • (a) the cohabiting spouse or common-law partner is not resident in Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act;

  • (b) for reasons not attributable to the person or their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner, the person is not living with their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner; or

  • (c) the cohabiting spouse or common-law partner has engaged in family violence as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Divorce Act.

• Marginal note:Exception — suspension of payments

  (6) Despite subsections (1) to (3), a person is not eligible for a benefit for any month during which payment of a benefit has been suspended under section 11.

Marginal note:Evidence of age and identity

3 The Minister may determine the age and identity of an applicant on the basis of any information made available to the Minister by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission under subsection 28.2(5) of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act.

Application for Benefits

Marginal note:Form of application

• 4 (1) An application for benefits must be made in the form and manner specified by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Application made

  (2) An application is deemed to have been made only when it is received by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Timing

  (3) An application may be made before or after a person becomes eligible for a benefit.

• Marginal note:New application

  (4) If, for any given month, a beneficiary becomes ineligible, their benefit ceases as of that month and they must make a new application to resume benefits.

Marginal note:Approval date

• 5 (1) Subject to subsection (2), an application is deemed to be approved by the Minister on the earliest day on which an applicant becomes eligible for a benefit in accordance with the Act and these Regulations and for which a benefit has not already been paid.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (2) The earliest day on which an application can be deemed to have been approved is the day that is 24 months before the day on which the application is made.

Amount of Benefit

Marginal note:Calculation of monthly benefit

• 6 (1) The benefit that is payable to a beneficiary for any month for which they are eligible to receive a benefit in a payment period is the amount — rounded to the nearest cent or, if the amount is equidistant from two cents, to the higher of them — determined by the formula

  (($2,400 × A) − B) ÷ 12

  where

  A

  is the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5); and

  B

  is the reduction based on income, calculated in accordance with whichever of subsections (2) to (4) applies to the beneficiary on the last day of the month that precedes the applicable month.

• Marginal note:Reduction — single beneficiary

  (2) If the beneficiary does not have a cohabiting spouse or common-law partner, the reduction based on income is the greater of zero and the amount determined by the formula

  20% × (C − D − ($23,000 × A))

  where

  C

  is the beneficiary’s adjusted income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period, without taking into account the income of the person who was their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner, if any, at the end of that year;

  D

  is the lesser of

  • (a) the beneficiary’s working income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period, and

  • (b) the product of $10,000 and the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5); and

  A

  is the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Reduction — non-beneficiary spouse or partner

  (3) If the beneficiary has a cohabiting spouse or common-law partner who is not a beneficiary, the reduction based on income is the greater of zero and the amount determined by the formula

  20% × (E − F − ($32,500 × A))

  where

  E

  is the beneficiary’s adjusted income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period or, if their current cohabiting spouse or common-law partner was not their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner at the end of that year, the amount that would have been the beneficiary’s adjusted income if their current cohabiting spouse or common-law partner had been their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner at the end of that year;

  F

  is the lesser of

  • (a) the sum of the beneficiary’s working income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period and that of their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner, and

  • (b) the product of $14,000 and the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5); and

  A

  is the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Reduction — beneficiary spouse or partner

  (4) If the beneficiary has a cohabiting spouse or common-law partner who is also a beneficiary, the reduction based on income is the greater of zero and the amount determined by the formula

  10% × (E − F − ($32,500 × A))

  where

  E

  is the beneficiary’s adjusted income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period or, if their current cohabiting spouse or common-law partner was not their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner at the end of that year, the amount that would have been the beneficiary’s adjusted income if their current cohabiting spouse or common-law partner had been their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner at the end of that year;

  F

  is the lesser of

  • (a) the sum of the beneficiary’s working income for the last taxation year that ended before the beginning of the payment period and that of their cohabiting spouse or common-law partner, and

  • (b) the product of $14,000 and the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5); and

  A

  is the indexing factor for the payment period, calculated in accordance with subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Indexing factor

  (5) The indexing factor for a payment period is the amount determined by the formula

  CPI_max ÷ CPI₂₀₂₄

  where

  CPI_max

  is the highest Consumer Price Index for any calendar year beginning with 2024 and ending with the last calendar year that ended before the beginning of the payment period; and

  CPI₂₀₂₄

  is the Consumer Price Index for 2024.

• Marginal note:Consumer Price Index

  (6) For the purpose of subsection (5), a reference to the Consumer Price Index for a calendar year is a reference to the all-items Consumer Price Index for Canada, annual average, not seasonally adjusted, for that year, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (7) The following definitions apply in this section.

  adjusted income

  adjusted income means the portion of a beneficiary’s adjusted income, as defined in section 122.6 of the Income Tax Act, that is not a benefit. (revenu modifié)

  working income

  working income, of an individual for a given taxation year, means the total of

  • (a) the amounts referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition working income in subsection 122.7(1) of the Income Tax Act, and

  • (b) the total of the following types of business income:

    • (i) net farming income,

    • (ii) net fishing income,

    • (iii) net professional income,

    • (iv) net commission income, and

    • (v) other net business income. (revenu de travail)

Payment of Benefits

Marginal note:When benefit begins

7 A beneficiary’s first benefit is payable the month following the month in which their application is approved by the Minister.

Marginal note:Monthly payments

• 8 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a benefit is payable each month during the payment period.

• Marginal note:Payment of twenty dollars or less

  (2) If the monthly benefit that is payable to a beneficiary is twenty dollars or less, their entire benefit for a payment period, being an amount equal to their monthly benefit multiplied by the number of months remaining in the payment period, is payable as a lump sum on the day on which the first monthly benefit would have been paid.

Marginal note:First payment

9 The first payment to a beneficiary under section 7 must be an amount equal to the sum of the monthly benefits that are payable to the beneficiary for the period beginning with the month following the month in which their application is approved under section 5 and ending with the month in which the first payment is made.

Suspension of Payments

Marginal note:Potential ineligibility

• 10 (1) If the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that a beneficiary does not meet the eligibility criteria set out in section 2 or that an inquiry with respect to their eligibility is necessary, the Minister may suspend payment of the benefit to the beneficiary until the Minister is satisfied that they are eligible.

• Marginal note:Reasonable time

  (2) The Minister must review a beneficiary’s eligibility within a reasonable time.

• Marginal note:Resumption of payments

  (3) If a suspension is lifted, the Minister must resume payment of the benefit and make a lump sum payment that is equal to the sum of the monthly benefits to which the beneficiary was entitled to receive during the period of the suspension.

Marginal note:Request for suspension

• 11 (1) A beneficiary may request in writing that the Minister suspend payment of their benefit.

• Marginal note:Suspension of payments

  (2) The payment of a benefit is suspended on the later of

  • (a) the last day of the month in which the request is processed by the Minister, and

  • (b) the day indicated in the beneficiary’s request.

• Marginal note:Request for resumption

  (3) The beneficiary may request in writing that the Minister resume payment of their benefit within 24 months after the date of suspension. If no request to resume payment is received within that period, their benefit is deemed to have ceased and they must make a new application to resume benefits.

• Marginal note:Eligibility

  (4) On receipt of a request, the Minister must resume payment of the benefit if the Minister is satisfied that the person meets the eligibility criteria set out in section 2.

• Marginal note:Resumption of payments

  (5) The Minister must resume payment of the benefit on the later of

  • (a) the month following the month in which the Minister received the request, and

  • (b) the month indicated in the beneficiary’s request.