Ended Benefits: Canada Carbon Rebate, BC Climate Action Tax Credit, CERB Repayment and More

Two federal and provincial payments tied to carbon pricing have stopped. The Canada Carbon Rebate ended on March 15, 2025, and its last payment went out in April 2025. British Columbia’s climate action tax credit made its final payment the same month. For both, a missed year can be paid once the late return is filed and assessed.

The pandemic benefits (CERB, CRB and the others) are all closed, but anyone who received a payment in error or without meeting the eligibility criteria has to repay that payment in full. The GST/HST credit didn’t end: it was renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.

On this page: Summary · Carbon rebate · BC climate credit · COVID repayment · Alberta Energy Rebate · GST/HST credit and Grocery Rebate

Which benefits have ended or changed?

What happened to the Canada Carbon Rebate?

The Canada Carbon Rebate, called the Climate Action Incentive payment before it was renamed, ended on March 15, 2025, when the government also stopped the federal fuel charge. No quarterly payment came after April 2025.

Can you get a missed payment?

Yes, if you qualified but never filed a return for one of the years 2021 to 2024. The CRA works out that year’s rebate from the late return and pays it after assessing the return. If you lived in a small or rural community, the supplement depended on ticking the box for it on page 2 of the return. A missing deposit after April 2025 is expected, since that was the last one.

How much was the final payment?

The April 2025 payment was a single payment for the 2024 base year. It depended on your province and family, not your income:

Base amounts before the 20% rural supplement. *Prince Edward Island's amounts already include it. Source: Canada Revenue Agency: Canada Carbon Rebate, how much the payment amounts were.

Before that, the rebate was paid quarterly; the CRA lists the 2023 base-year amounts on its carbon rebate amounts page.

The rebate was tax-free and went to people living in one of the provinces in the table at the start of a payment month. The federal fuel charge it was meant to offset was set to zero after March 31, 2025. What that meant for fuel and heating costs is on carbon tax cancelled: what it means for you.

What happened to the BC climate action tax credit?

The BC climate action tax credit has ended; its last payment was in April 2025. B.C. eliminated its carbon tax as of April 1, 2025. The credit arrived together with the federal GST/HST credit in one payment, and it wasn’t taxable.

For its last benefit year, July 2024 to June 2025, the yearly maximums were $504 for you, $252 for a spouse or partner (or a single parent’s first child) and $126 for each other child. Above an income threshold of $41,071 for individuals and $57,288 for families, the credit shrank by 2% of the income over the line.

Missed a year? If you haven’t filed a return for 2023 and earlier, you may be owed the credit for those years. There’s no application: the CRA decides eligibility and calculates the amount when it processes the return.

The B.C. sales tax credit is a different credit, and it continues: you claim it on your tax return, and it is refundable. The B.C. income tax guide covers it with the province’s other credits. Other help for B.C. residents, such as the federal Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and, for families, the provincial BC Family Benefit, has its own page.

Do you have to repay CERB or another COVID benefit?

You repay if you got a COVID-19 benefit by mistake or found out later that you didn’t meet its conditions, and you return the full amount of those payments. For CERB, reasons include:

• you earned over $1,000 in income for at least 14 days in a row during a 4-week period;
• you were paid for the same period by both the CRA and Service Canada;
• you didn’t meet the benefit’s other eligibility criteria.

Self-employed people who based their eligibility on gross rather than net self-employment income could keep CERB if their gross self-employment income was $5,000 or more in 2019 or in the 12 months before they applied, they met the other conditions and they filed their 2019 and 2020 returns by December 31, 2022.

How do you repay?

Repayment goes to whichever agency paid you. Benefits from the CRA go back to the CRA; CERB paid by Service Canada goes back to Employment and Social Development Canada. The CRA takes payments online, by mail or in person. Through online banking, add the CRA payee for COVID benefit repayments (named something like “CEB repayment”) and use your 9-digit social insurance number as the account number.

What if you can’t pay?

The CRA will set up payments over time if you contact it, even if you can’t pay right now, and it charges no interest on COVID-19 benefit debts. For debts it collects in general, the CRA says it can hold back benefit and credit payments or tax refunds and put them toward what you owe. It says it takes legal measures only when someone who can repay doesn’t co-operate. If the debt is part of a larger problem, the insolvency guide explains the options.

Is a repayment tax-deductible?

Yes. COVID-19 benefits were taxable, so a repayment made after 2022 is deducted in the year you pay it, on line 23200 of that year’s return. For CERB from the CRA, the amount you repaid appears in box 201 of your T4A slip; the T4A slip guide explains the other pandemic boxes.

What if you disagree with the CRA?

The 30-day window to ask for a second review of a COVID benefit decision has passed for every request. After a second review decision, you can apply to the Federal Court for judicial review within 30 days of receiving it. For other CRA decisions, see how to dispute a CRA decision.

Is the Alberta Energy Rebate still open?

The rebate took the place of Alberta’s fuel tax relief for July 1 to September 30, 2026, and that relief came back on October 1, 2026.

Renamed or paid once: the GST/HST credit and the Grocery Rebate

GST/HST credit

The GST/HST credit was renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit in July 2026, keeping the same eligibility, calculation and structure. Amounts and dates are on the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit page.

Grocery Rebate

The Grocery Rebate was a one-time payment on July 5, 2023, worth twice your January 2023 GST/HST credit. Getting it required a 2021 tax return. The credit it was based on continues as the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. Amounts by family type are on our Grocery Rebate page.

Where to go next

• Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit
• Carbon tax cancelled: what it means for you
• Unclaimed money at the CRA
• T4A slip explained
• Government benefits in Canada