Ontario Trillium Benefit payment dates 2026

Ontario Trillium Benefit payment dates 2026

The CRA calendar lists an Ontario Trillium Benefit date in each month of 2026. Several are on the tenth, but January, May and October have different listed dates. Use the official schedule rather than assuming every payment is made on the same day number.

The November date, 10 November, has already passed at this guide’s 12 November reference point. The remaining published 2026 date is 10 December, which is a Thursday. An upcoming date is relevant only if your own payment arrangement includes a payment then.

The calendar year spans parts of two benefit years. Ontario describes the 2026 benefit year as July 2026 to June 2027. January through June 2026 therefore should not be treated as part of that newly starting July period.

The payment dates come from the CRA calendar, while the credit descriptions and annual payment options below come from Ontario. Using both sources helps separate the administration of a payment from the underlying provincial credits.

What the Ontario Trillium Benefit includes

OTB combines the Northern Ontario Energy Credit, Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit and Ontario Sales Tax Credit. You need to be eligible for at least one of the three to receive OTB. They address different costs and have different eligibility conditions.

The Northern Ontario Energy Credit helps with higher home energy costs in specified northern districts. The Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit helps with property taxes and sales tax on energy costs. The Ontario Sales Tax Credit helps with sales tax paid by eligible Ontarians.

The benefit is adjusted annually for inflation using the Ontario Consumer Price Index. That annual adjustment is separate from the monthly issue calendar. A list of dates does not tell you which of the three credits contributes to your amount.

When reading a notice, keep the component names visible. It is possible to be considered for more than one component, but a general table cannot establish which applies to you. Ontario’s eligibility guidance is the source for checking the required circumstances.

Credit maximums for the 2026 benefit year

For July 2026 to June 2027, the Northern Ontario Energy Credit maximum is $189 for a single person or $290 for a family. The table shows annual credit figures, not the amount of each monthly OTB deposit.

The Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit has listed maximums of $1,307 for ages 18 to 64 and $1,488 for age 65 and over. Ontario also lists $290 for someone living on a reserve or in a public long-term care home.

The source lists $25 for the time spent in a designated college, university or private school residence in 2025. Keep the designated-residence condition attached; it should not be described as a general student payment for everyone attending an institution.

The Ontario Sales Tax Credit can be up to $378, with an additional credit up to $378 for a spouse or common-law partner and each dependent child under 19 on the first of the payment month. The source says this credit does not affect GST/HST credit payments.

Your overall benefit depends on age, income, residence, family size and rent or property tax paid. Do not add every maximum in this table and assume that total applies to your household. Some entries describe different categories of the same credit.

Residence and eligibility for each credit

For the Northern Ontario Energy Credit, the 2026 benefit-year guidance requires Northern Ontario residence on 31 December 2025 and the specified age, relationship or parent condition before 1 June 2027. It also requires a qualifying 2025 housing or energy-cost circumstance.

The northern districts listed are Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timiskaming. Residence in Ontario alone is not the same as residence in one of the listed northern districts.

For the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit, the source similarly uses Ontario residence on 31 December 2025 and a specified age, relationship or parent condition. Qualifying 2025 circumstances include the listed rent, property tax, reserve energy costs or public long-term-care accommodation.

For subsidised housing, Ontario says to check whether the landlord was required to pay property tax for the unit. Do not assume all rent has the same treatment. The source’s housing conditions matter to the energy and property tax component.

Eligibility for the two energy-related credits also depends on where you live on the first of each month. Ontario’s example distinguishes moving out at month-end from residence at the start. Keep the monthly residence condition separate from the prior-year housing-cost record.

The sales tax credit uses its own age, relationship or parent conditions, including the listed age-19 condition. Do not replace the different component tests with a single age rule for all of OTB. The source explains which conditions apply to each credit.

Filing your return and Form ON-BEN

Ontario says to apply each year by filing a personal Income Tax and Benefit Return and completing and enclosing the ON-BEN application included with the return package. The return must be filed even if there is no income to report.

CRA determines eligibility using the information in the return and tells you whether you are entitled to the credit. Filing is therefore important to the benefit record, but the calendar itself is not confirmation that a return has been assessed or an amount is due.

For spouses or common-law partners, Ontario says the sales tax credit is paid to the person whose return is assessed first. The energy and property tax and northern energy credits are paid to the person who applies through ON-BEN. The source says the payment is the same regardless of who applies.

Ontario notes that late filing can delay payments even where someone remains entitled to the benefit. If you are checking a missing deposit, keep filing and assessment information with the payment record rather than looking only at the calendar date.

The source points people who cannot prepare their return themselves towards the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program. Use official information to find appropriate help. SettleCA does not prepare returns, collect tax documents or assess eligibility.

Monthly payments or a single payment?

For the 2026 benefit year, if the entitlement is more than $500, Ontario describes a choice between monthly payments starting July 2026 and a single payment in June 2027. The total amount is the same whichever option is chosen.

If the entitlement is $500 or less, the source says it is paid as a single payment in July 2026. That means an eligible recipient in this category should not use every later monthly date as evidence that another payment is missing.

An entitlement more than $2 but less than $10 is increased to $10. An entitlement of $2 or less does not result in a payment. These are annual payment rules, not additional monthly supplements to add to the maximum credit amounts.

Ontario identifies June 2027 as the single-payment month for the deferred option, but no exact 2027 issue day is supplied in the checked federal calendar. Keep that month-level statement distinct from a confirmed dated payment.

Before following up on a monthly date, check which option and entitlement category applies to you. A person paid once in July, someone on monthly payments and someone choosing June 2027 are all reading the same calendar from different payment arrangements.

Direct deposit and a late OTB payment

Ontario says that someone receiving their income tax refund by direct deposit will receive OTB by direct deposit. Otherwise the source describes payment by mail. CRA’s direct-deposit information is the official place to check arrangements for CRA-administered payments.

The CRA calendar footnote for OTB says to wait ten working days from the payment date before contacting the program. The wider calendar also warns that issued payments may take a few days to arrive and posted cheques may take longer than direct deposit.

First confirm the actual listed date, your payment option and whether an amount was expected that month. November’s date was the tenth, but October’s was the ninth. A repeated tenth-of-the-month assumption is less reliable than the explicit calendar.

If a problem remains after the applicable waiting guidance, contact CRA through official channels. Ontario’s source also explains that a formal objection follows the process in a Notice of Assessment or Reassessment. This guide cannot decide or lodge a personal objection.

Canada.ca hasn’t published the exact 2027 dates yet. We’ll add them when it does. This guide keeps that limitation visible instead of extrapolating monthly dates from the 2026 pattern. The annual option naming June 2027 is not an exact-day publication.