An Ontario parent earning 85,000 CAD gross with two children owes 1,296 CAD a month under the official federal table. Add a proportionate share of daycare and the cheque climbs to about 1,600 CAD. Move that same parent to Alberta, and the table figure drops to 1,241 CAD. Child support in Canada runs on a published formula, and this guide walks through every line of it. We break this down further in Canada Deportation Orders.
Short answer: the payor’s gross annual income, the number of children, and the province where the payor lives set a monthly table amount. A proportionate share of section 7 expenses gets added on top. Where each parent has the children at least 40 percent of the year, a set-off usually cuts what the higher earner sends.
The three inputs behind the table amount
Only three facts decide the base figure. Everything else is an adjustment layered on afterwards.
- gross annual income of the payor, before tax and before deductions
- how many children the order covers
- which province or territory the payor habitually lives in
Nothing the recipient earns enters the base calculation when the children live with them more than 60 percent of the year. That catches people out. A parent earning 200,000 CAD still receives the full table amount from a payor on 85,000 CAD, because the base figure measures one income.
Province matters more than most people expect, since each table is built on that province’s tax rules. Provincial statutes sit alongside the federal ones for unmarried parents, and our family law section covers those topics as it fills out.
How Child Support Monthly Figure Is Built, Line by Line
Picture an Ontario payor earning 85,000 CAD gross with two children. The other parent earns 55,000 CAD and has the children about 70 percent of the year. Daycare costs 6,000 CAD annually. Here is how the monthly total assembles itself.
| Line | What it is | Amount (CAD per month) | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ontario table amount, 85,000 CAD gross, two children | +1,296 | 1,296 |
| 2 | Payor’s 60.7 percent share of 500 CAD monthly daycare (section 7) | +304 | 1,600 |
| 3 | Set-off, only if each parent had the children 40 percent or more: subtract the other parent’s Ontario table amount at 55,000 CAD | -827 | 773 |
| 4 | Same payor, same income, but resident in Alberta instead of Ontario | -55 on line 1 | 1,545 |
Line 2 uses each parent’s slice of their combined 140,000 CAD income. Lines 3 and 4 are alternatives, never both at once. Under a genuinely shared schedule, the section 7 split also becomes discretionary, so the 304 CAD would be renegotiated.
Key takeaways
- Three inputs set the base figure: one income, how many children, and the payor’s province.
- Ottawa replaced the federal tables on October 1, 2025, so 2017 figures are out of date for current periods.
- Section 7 costs like daycare, braces and tuition are shared in proportion to income.
- A 40 percent parenting threshold triggers a set-off, not an automatic zero.
- Payments are tax neutral for orders made after April 1997.
- Provincial enforcement offices can garnish wages and ask for a passport suspension.
What changed on October 1, 2025
Most pages still tell readers the tables date from 2017. They do not. According to the Department of Justice Canada, the updated Federal Tables came into effect on October 1, 2025, rebuilt to reflect more recent tax rules rather than inflation. The official legal version now sits in Schedule I of the Federal Guidelines, SOR/97-175, where the Ontario table shows the 1,296 CAD figure used above.
Two consequences follow, and both get missed. First, the base figure is now zero for a payor whose gross income sits between 16,000 CAD and 16,999 CAD. That band tracks the federal basic personal amount. Second, the department states plainly that the new tables do not apply automatically to an order made before October 1, 2025.
That second point is worth money. If the updated figure differs from the one in an older order, the department says it could count as a change in circumstances. That is the doorway to a variation or a recalculation. Nobody sends a letter about it. You have to look it up.
Section 7 add-ons and how parents split them
Section 7 of the Federal Guidelines lists six categories of extraordinary expenses that sit on top of the table amount. That list is closed, so a cost outside the six is meant to come out of the base figure.
- child care needed because of a job, illness, disability or training
- the child’s portion of medical and dental insurance premiums
- health costs above 100 CAD a year that insurance does not reimburse, such as orthodontics or counselling
- post-secondary education
- extraordinary primary or secondary school costs
- extraordinary extracurricular costs
Parents share these costs in proportion to income, after subtracting any contribution from the child. Subsidies, credits and deductions come off first, so parents divide the real net cost rather than the sticker price. Hockey at 900 CAD a season rarely qualifies as extraordinary. Competitive figure skating at 12,000 CAD a year usually does.
Shared parenting, split parenting and the 40 percent line
Three labels appear in the Federal Guidelines, and each produces a different calculation. They describe time with the children, not decision-making authority, so your parenting order may use words that mean something else entirely.
| Arrangement | Test | How the amount works |
|---|---|---|
| Majority of parenting time | Children with one parent more than 60 percent of the year | Straight table amount from the other parent |
| Split parenting time (section 8) | Two or more children, and each parent has the majority of at least one | The difference between the two table amounts |
| Shared parenting time (section 9) | Each parent has the children at least 40 percent of the year | Both table amounts, the higher costs of two homes, and each household’s means |
Courts usually start a section 9 case with the straight set-off, then adjust. Section 9 is worded openly, so a 50/50 schedule hands nobody an automatic answer. Separation agreements go wrong here more than anywhere else, and our divorce and separation topic hub collects the surrounding issues as new guides land.
Adult children, taxes and the term you cannot bargain away
When a child reaches the age of majority, the table still applies by default. A judge may depart from it and set an amount that reflects the young adult’s condition, means and needs, plus what each parent can afford. A student living in residence with a summer job and a scholarship is the classic case for departing.
Tax treatment is simpler than people fear. For any order or written agreement made after April 1997, the Canada Revenue Agency treats the money as neutral. A payor deducts nothing on line 22000. A recipient reports nothing as income on line 12800. Both parties still record the totals on lines 21999 and 12799. Where one order covers the children and a former partner, the children’s amounts rank first. Spousal support becomes deductible only once the child amounts for the current and previous years are fully paid.
Child support belongs to the child, not to the adult who banks it. Under the Divorce Act, a judge can approve a different figure only after being satisfied that reasonable arrangements have been made for the children. A clause trading the payments for the house, or for less contact, will not bind a court.
When income changes, or the money stops
Most guides skip this part, and it is where real money quietly gets lost.
Getting the amount changed
An obligation does not follow a raise on its own. Someone has to act. Most provinces run an administrative recalculation service that refreshes the figure annually from tax data, which avoids court entirely. Those services generally will not touch arrears or section 7 items. Otherwise, you apply to vary the order, and the Guidelines give courts the power to require income disclosure.
Retroactive claims
Recipients who discover the payor has been earning far more can claim the difference going back. Canada’s highest court has confirmed that an award normally runs from the date of effective notice. It rarely reaches further back than three years before formal notice. Blameworthy conduct, such as hiding a raise, can push that window open. Waiting quietly can close it.
Enforcement
Every province and territory runs a Maintenance Enforcement Program that can garnish wages, seize bank accounts and register liens without a fresh court order. Federal tools stack on top. Department of Justice Canada guidance confirms that a program can request denial or suspension of a Canadian passport, or of certain federal marine and aviation licences. Triggers are three or more missed payments, or arrears of 3,000 CAD or more. Income tax refunds and employment insurance benefits can be intercepted as well.
One rule cuts both ways. Withholding the money because the other parent blocks visits is not a defence, and blocking visits because the money stopped is not one either.
What to do next
Pull your last notice of assessment. Open the 2025 table look-up on the Department of Justice Canada site, then read the figure for your province and your number of children. Compare it against what the order actually says. If the two numbers disagree, that gap is your starting point, and our contact page will connect you with the Lawverra team.
FAQ
An Ontario payor earning 60,000 CAD owes 554 CAD a month for one child under the 2025 tables. In Alberta, that same income produces 495 CAD. That 59 CAD gap is the province doing its work.
No. Both table amounts get calculated, and the difference usually flows to the lower earner. In the Ontario example above, the set-off leaves 469 CAD a month before any expense sharing.
Not for orders or agreements made after April 1997. The recipient reports none of it as income, and the payor claims no deduction.
Judges can impute income where a parent is intentionally under-employed, where earnings are diverted through a corporation, or where disclosure is inadequate. Schedule III of the Guidelines also sets out adjustments that move reported income up or down.
Whichever province the payor habitually lives in when the application is decided. If the payor moves abroad or their whereabouts are unknown, the recipient’s province supplies the table.
