The Canada Disability Benefit: up to $204.20 a month

What the Canada Disability Benefit is

The Canada Disability Benefit — people say CDB — is a monthly payment from Service Canada for working-age adults with disabilities who have low or modest incomes.

It is not a loan and not a tax refund. It is money paid to you every month, on top of anything you already get. The first payments went out in July 2025, so it is still new enough that many people have never heard of it.

You need the Disability Tax Credit first

You cannot get the Canada Disability Benefit without being approved for the Disability Tax Credit. There is no way around it, no exceptions, and no separate medical form for the CDB.

So if you do not have the Disability Tax Credit yet, that is your first job. It is a form called T2201, your doctor or nurse practitioner fills in part of it, and there is no income test. Our Disability Tax Credit guide walks through the whole thing, including what to say at the appointment.

If you had the Disability Tax Credit once and the approval ran out, the CDB stops with it. Reapply for the credit and the benefit can start again.

Who qualifies

All of these have to be true:

• You are between 18 and 64.
• You are approved for the Disability Tax Credit.
• You live in Canada for tax purposes.
• You are a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a protected person, a person registered or entitled to be registered under the Indian Act, or a temporary resident who has lived in Canada for the past 18 months.
• You — and your spouse or common-law partner, if you have one — filed last year's tax return.

People serving a federal sentence of two years or more are not eligible while they are in prison.

How much you get

The most you can get is set for a 12-month period that runs from July to June, and it is worked out from your tax return from the year before.

The amount is adjusted for inflation each year.

Those are the maximum amounts. The payment gets smaller once your adjusted family net income passes a certain point. How high that point is depends on your own situation — whether you have a partner, whether your partner also gets the CDB, and whether either of you has income from work. There is an estimator on the Government of Canada's CDB page, and the phone number below will work it out with you. Check the current amount for your case rather than guessing.

How to apply, step by step

1. Get the Disability Tax Credit. Nothing else can happen first. See our guide.
2. Make sure last year's tax return is filed — yours and your partner's. Free clinics in Victoria will do it, including years you have missed.
3. Check your mail. Service Canada sent letters to many people who already have the Disability Tax Credit. The letter has a 6-digit application code. If you have one, applying online with that code and your Social Insurance Number is the fastest route.
4. No letter? Apply anyway. You do not need the code. You can apply online, by phone at 1-833-486-3007, in person at a Service Canada office, or by mailing the paper form.
5. Have these ready: your Social Insurance Number, your status in Canada, your net income from line 23600 of your last notice of assessment, and your bank details for direct deposit. Having them speeds the whole thing up.
6. If someone applies for you — a guardian, trustee, or someone with power of attorney — they bring a copy of the legal document and their own ID.
7. Watch for the decision, then watch the third Thursday. Payments land on the third Thursday of the month.

The mailing address for a paper form is: Service Canada Centre, CDB Processing Centre, P.O. Box 60, Boucherville QC J4B 5E6.

Back pay and when money arrives

Your first payment comes on the third Thursday of the month after you are approved, and any back pay comes with it.

Back pay can go up to 24 months from the day your application is received — but never for months before June 2025, because that is when the benefit started.

That is the part worth acting on today. Every month you wait is a month that can eventually fall off the back end of that 24-month window. If you have been putting the application off, this is the reason not to.

Does it affect my BC disability assistance?

This is the question we hear most, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a guess.

The Canada Disability Benefit is a federal payment. BC disability assistance (the PWD designation) is a provincial one. They are separate programs, run by different governments, and the CDB does not replace your provincial cheque.

What we will not do is promise you how the province treats the money, because that is a provincial decision and it is not ours to state. Ask before you assume, and ask someone whose job it is:

• Disability Alliance BC — advocates who work with the federal and provincial systems together every day. 1-800-663-1278
• Together Against Poverty Society (TAPS) in Victoria — they handle income assistance questions and appeals. 250-361-3521

Do not let the uncertainty stop you from asking. Being unsure is a reason to phone, not a reason to skip a benefit you qualify for.

Why people miss this

• They do not have the Disability Tax Credit, or theirs lapsed and nobody told them the CDB would stop with it.
• They or their partner did not file a tax return. No return, no payment — even with no income.
• "I earn too much." Thousands of dollars of working income are ignored, and the cut-off is higher than most people expect. Apply and find out.
• No letter arrived, so they assumed they could not apply. You can. The letter and its code are a shortcut, not a requirement.
• They are on BC disability assistance and assumed this replaces it. It does not. It is a separate federal payment.
• It is new. The benefit only started in 2025, and word has not reached everyone it should.

Where to get help in Victoria

• Victoria Disability Resource Centre, 817A Fort Street — free, in person, and they help people apply for disability benefits. Monday to Thursday 9 am to 4 pm, Friday 9 am to 2 pm. 250-595-0044
• Disability Alliance BC — free advocates, mostly by phone, for the Disability Tax Credit and disability benefits. 1-800-663-1278
• Together Against Poverty Society (TAPS), 828 View Street — free tax filing all year, including past years. 250-361-3521
• BCANDS (Indigenous Disability Canada), in Victoria — the same help for Indigenous people. 250-381-7303 or 1-888-815-5511.
• 211 — dial 211 any time for other options near you.

Or call the Reachable Line and we will go through the application with you, out loud, at your pace.

Related guides

• The Disability Tax Credit — the step that has to come first. Nothing here works without it.
• The RDSP — the other big thing the Disability Tax Credit unlocks: up to $1,000 a year with no deposit of your own.
• Free help filing your taxes — an unfiled return is the most common reason this payment does not arrive.
• The BC PWD designation — the provincial disability benefit. You can have both.
• Start here — if you are not sure which benefits you might already qualify for.
• All guides — the full library.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page comes from a government page we read on the date shown. The maximum amount changes each July. If you are reading this long after the date at the top, phone the number above and check.

• Service Canada, Canada Disability Benefit: canada.ca — Canada Disability Benefit (read 1 September 2026)
• Do you qualify (age, residency, status, tax filing): canada.ca — eligibility (read 1 September 2026)
• How much you could receive (the $204.20 and $200 maximums, the working income exemptions, the $150 supplement): canada.ca — amount (read 1 September 2026)
• Apply (application code, the ways to apply, the mailing address, back pay, payment dates): canada.ca — apply (read 1 September 2026)
• Contact us (phone and TTY): canada.ca — contact (read 1 September 2026)
• Victoria Disability Resource Centre: drcvictoria.com (read 1 September 2026)
• Disability Alliance BC, contact and program lines: disabilityalliancebc.org — contact (read 1 September 2026)
• Together Against Poverty Society, Victoria: tapsbc.ca — Victoria (read 1 September 2026)

Reachable is not a bank, a lawyer, or the government. This guide explains public programs in plain language so you can go and claim them. It is not financial advice about your own situation.