Grocery rebate 2026: the June 5 one-time top-up and what came after it

Is there a grocery rebate in 2026?

Yes. The grocery rebate people refer to in 2026 is the one-time top-up the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) deposited on June 5, 2026. The federal government described it as a Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) top-up, and it was worth half of the GST/HST credit you were entitled to for July 2025 to June 2026 (CRA news release, April 2026).

A grocery rebate, in plain terms, is a one-time extra payment added on top of the regular GST/HST credit to help with food costs. Canada has now paid two: the original Grocery Rebate in July 2023 and the June 2026 top-up. Neither required an application.

Who got the June 5 top-up?

The June 5, 2026 top-up went automatically to anyone who had filed a 2024 tax return and was entitled to the GST/HST credit payment in January 2026. The CRA said more than 12 million people would receive it.

• You qualified if the CRA had assessed your 2024 return and found you entitled to a GST/HST credit for the January 2026 payment period.
• You did not qualify if your 2024 family income was too high for any GST/HST credit, or if no 2024 return had been assessed for you.
• Couples received one top-up per family, paid to the same spouse or partner who receives the regular credit.

Eligibility for the regular benefit is covered in detail on GST credit eligibility.

How the GST credit top-up was calculated

The GST credit top-up was 50% of your full 2025-26 GST/HST credit entitlement, which the CRA had worked out from your 2024 adjusted family net income. So the same income rules that shaped the regular credit also shaped the top-up.

For the 2024 base year, the credit was $349 per adult (or for the first child of a single parent), $184 per other child under 19, plus a single supplement of up to $184, and it was reduced by 5% of family income above $45,521 (CRA, payment amounts). Halving those maximums gives the largest possible top-ups below.

Worked example. A single person with 2024 net income of $55,000 had a 2025-26 credit of $533 minus 5% of $9,479, which is $59.05. Their top-up was half of that, about $29.53. The CRA's own examples were $533 for a family of four with $40,000 of income and $267 for a single person with $25,000.

Grocery rebate Canada: how 2023 and 2026 compare

The two grocery rebate payments in Canada worked the same way but used different base years and sizes. The 2023 Grocery Rebate was double your January 2023 GST/HST credit payment, while the 2026 top-up was half of a full year's credit.

The 2023 rebate page on canada.ca is now archived and marked no longer available, so a missed 2023 payment cannot be claimed through a new application today.

What replaced the top-up after June 2026

Instead of another one-off payment, the regular credit itself got bigger. From the July 3, 2026 payment, the GST/HST credit was renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and raised by 25%, an increase the CRA says is set for five years, from 2026 to 2031.

For July 2026 to June 2027 the maximum is $679 for a single person, $890 for a couple and $234 for each child under 19. The CRA's example family of four at $40,000 gets $272 more over the year than under the old rates. Details are on the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit page, and you can estimate your own figure with the GST credit calculator.

Will there be another grocery rebate?

No new grocery rebate or one-time top-up has been announced as of October 20, 2026. The payments left in the benefit year are the regular CGEB instalments on January 5 and April 5, 2027, the dates set in the CRA's guide to the benefit; the October 5, 2026 instalment has already been paid.

If a future budget adds a new top-up, it will be announced by the Department of Finance and the CRA. Until then, treat any website listing a 2027 grocery rebate date as unofficial.

What to do if you did not get the June 5 top-up

1. Allow 10 business days after the payment date, the waiting period the CRA sets for CGEB payments, before treating it as missing.
2. Sign in to your CRA account and open the benefit payment details to see whether a top-up was calculated and how it was sent.
3. Confirm your 2024 return was filed and assessed. The top-up was tied to that return and to January 2026 entitlement.
4. If the payment was sent by cheque and never arrived, follow the lost cheque steps on our GST cheque page.
5. If none of this explains it, contact the CRA. Common reasons for missing payments are covered in GST credit not received.

The April 2026 release did not describe how people who file their 2024 return late would be treated. If you file late, check the payment details in your CRA account after the return is assessed.