How to Apply for the Canada Workers Benefit

The Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) is a refundable tax credit for people who work and earn a low income. Refundable means the credit is paid to you even if you owe no income tax. It has two parts: a basic amount, and a disability supplement for people with an approved Disability Tax Credit Certificate (Form T2201) on file with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). This guide covers the application mechanics only: how to claim the credit on your tax return, and how the advance payments work. It gives no tax advice. All facts below come from the CRA's Tax filing highlights for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis 2026, the CRA's T1-2025 Schedule 6, Canada Workers Benefit, the CRA's Types of refundable tax credits and other items, and the CRA's Payment dates for CRA administered benefits and credits.

Step 1: Understand what the benefit is and how much it can be

The Canada Workers Benefit is a refundable tax credit that supplements the earnings of low-income workers. It has two parts: a basic amount, and a disability supplement for people with disabilities who have an approved Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, on file with the CRA.

For the 2026 tax year, the maximum basic amount is $1,665 for a single person without children and $2,869 for families (couples and single parents). The maximum disability supplement is up to an additional $860. Different maximums and formulas apply in Quebec, Alberta, and Nunavut — the figures in this guide are for the rest of Canada.

Your actual amount depends on your working income and your adjusted family net income: the credit builds up as your working income rises above a minimum, reaches the maximum, then shrinks as your income rises further. The CRA calculates the amount for you — you do not have to work it out yourself.

For the 2027 taxation year, the current law figures are a maximum of $1,709 for single individuals without children and $2,943 for families, with the benefit growing by 27 cents for every dollar of working income above $3,000 and shrinking by 15 cents for every dollar of adjusted net income above $28,104 for single individuals without children or $32,064 for families. Those figures come from the Budget 2026 Tax measures: Supplementary information. Note that Budget 2026 also proposes to change the benefit for the 2027 taxation year — renaming it the Build Canada Workers Benefit, lowering the minimum earnings threshold to $500, raising the maximums, and phasing out the advance payments. Those changes are proposals, not law, and this guide does not treat them as current rules.

Step 2: Check the conditions

To claim the Canada Workers Benefit, you must meet all of the following conditions for the year:

• You were a resident of Canada throughout the year.
• You earned working income (from employment or self-employment).
• You were 19 years of age or older at the end of the year, or you lived with your spouse or common-law partner or your child at the end of the year.
• For the basic amount, your family working income was more than $3,000. For the disability supplement, your working income was more than $1,150.

You cannot claim the benefit for a year in which you were a full-time student for more than 13 weeks, unless you had an eligible dependant at the end of the year. You also cannot claim it for a year in which you were confined to a prison or a similar institution for 90 days or more.

For the disability supplement, you must have an approved Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, on file with the CRA.

Step 3: Claim it on your tax return

There is no separate application. You claim the Canada Workers Benefit when you file your income tax and benefit return:

• If you file online, your certified tax software asks the questions, calculates the credit, and completes Schedule 6 for you. You must enter the applicable information for your spouse or common-law partner and for all children under 19 who live with you and are not eligible for the CWB themselves.
• If you file on paper, complete Schedule 6, Canada Workers Benefit, and attach a copy to your return. Complete Steps 1 and 2 to claim the basic amount, Steps 1 and 3 to claim the disability supplement, or Steps 1, 2, and 3 to claim both. Enter the result on line 45300 of your return.

Only one spouse or common-law partner can claim the basic amount. If both of you are eligible for the Disability Tax Credit, each of you must claim the disability supplement on a separate Schedule 6.

You must file a tax return every year to keep receiving the benefit, even if you have no income to report. If you do not file, there is nothing for the CRA to base the credit — or the advance payments — on.

Step 4: Receive up to half in advance, automatically

The Advanced Canada Workers Benefit (ACWB) pays up to 50% of your Canada Workers Benefit early, in three payments a year — in January, July, and October. You do not apply for the advances. The CRA issues them automatically to people who had a Canada Workers Benefit amount on line 45300 of the previous year's tax return. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, only one person receives the basic advance payments for the family.

The advances are based on your previous year's return, because the CRA does not know your current year's income until you file. The rest of your entitlement is reconciled when you file your tax return for the year.

The 2026 advance payment dates were January 12, July 10, and October 9, 2026. The next payment falls in January 2027; the CRA publishes the exact date on its benefit payment dates page, so check there before planning around it.

If an advance payment has not arrived, wait 5 to 10 business days after the payment date, then check the payment status in CRA My Account before contacting the CRA.

Step 5: Report the advances on your next return

Advance payments are not taxable, but you must report them on your tax return. If you received advance payments during the year, the CRA sends you an RC210 slip, Advanced Canada Workers Benefit statement. The amounts received in the calendar year appear in boxes 10 or 11 of the RC210 slip.

On your return, complete Step 4 of Schedule 6 and report the amount on line 41500. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, only one person reports the amount from box 10 of all the RC210 slips. If you file online, your tax software handles this when you enter the slip. You must complete Step 4 of Schedule 6 even if you are not claiming the basic CWB or the disability supplement for that year.

If the advances you received turn out to be more than your actual entitlement for the year, the difference is reconciled on your return — the CRA adjusts it when your return is assessed.

What this guide could not verify

The CRA pages state the 2026 maximum amounts ($1,665 for a single person, $2,869 for a family, and up to $860 for the disability supplement) and the 2027 current-law figures from Budget 2026, but they do not publish the 2026 phase-out income thresholds — the income levels at which the 2026 benefit starts shrinking and reaches zero — so this guide states no 2026 phase-out threshold. Use the CRA's Child and family benefits calculator or your tax software for your own figure. The November 1 cut-off for advance payments, which some third-party pages describe, was not verified on any CRA page, so this guide states only what the CRA pages confirm: advances are issued automatically from the previous year's filed return. The January 2027 advance payment date was not published on the CRA benefit payment dates page. Confirm all three points with the CRA or in CRA My Account before relying on them.

Related guides:

• How to Apply for the Disability Tax Credit in Canada — the Form T2201 process you need first if you want to claim the CWB disability supplement.
• How to Apply for the Canada Child Benefit — the federal child benefit, also claimed through your tax return and CRA My Account.
• How to Apply for the Ontario Trillium Benefit — Ontario's combined benefit, also triggered by filing your tax return.
• How to Start Filing Your First Canadian Tax Return as a Newcomer — filing a first return, which is the step that claims the Canada Workers Benefit.

Sources

• Canada Revenue Agency, Tax filing highlights for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis 2026 — the 2026 maximums of $1,665 for a single person and $2,869 for a family, and the April 30 filing deadline.
• Canada Revenue Agency, T1-2025 Schedule 6, Canada Workers Benefit — the refundable credit, the basic amount and disability supplement, the Schedule 6 steps and line 45300, the $3,000 and $1,150 working-income minimums, the one-spouse rule for the basic amount, and the RC210 and line 41500 reporting in Step 4.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Types of refundable tax credits and other items — the claim conditions (resident throughout the year, 19 or older or living with a spouse or dependant, approved Form T2201 for the supplement), the student and prison exclusions, and automatic advance payments from the previous year's line 45300 amount.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Payment dates for CRA administered benefits and credits — the 2026 Advanced Canada Workers Benefit payment dates of January 12, July 10, and October 9, 2026, and the 5-to-10-business-day wait before contacting the CRA about a missing payment.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Benefits and Credits Infographic — the 2026 maximums of $1,665 for a single person and $2,869 for a married or common-law person, plus up to an additional $860 for the disability supplement, and the January, July, and October advance payment months.
• Government of Canada, Budget 2026: Tax measures: Supplementary information — the 2027 current-law figures ($1,709 single, $2,943 family, 27 cents above $3,000, 15 cents above $28,104 single or $32,064 family) and the proposed Build Canada Workers Benefit changes for the 2027 taxation year.