The Ontario Trillium Benefit lands October 9 — what it's for, and what to do if it doesn't show up

If you live in Ontario and filed a 2025 return, a deposit may arrive on October 9, 2026. That's the Ontario Trillium Benefit (OTB), paid on the 10th of each month and moved to the last working day before the 10th when the date falls on a weekend. The remaining 2026 payments are November 10 and December 10.

Most people never think about it because it isn't a separate application. It's triggered by boxes you tick on your tax return. That also means a missed box can mean no money, so it's worth understanding what it is.

What's inside the OTB

The OTB bundles three credits into one payment:

• Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit (OEPTC): help with energy costs and property tax. You qualify through rent, property tax, home energy costs, or long-term care accommodation costs.
• Northern Ontario Energy Credit (NOEC): extra help for northern residents. Reported maximums are $189 for a single person and $290 for a family.
• Ontario Sales Tax Credit (OSTC): up to $378 a year for each adult and each child under 19 in the family.

All three are income-tested, so the amount shrinks as family net income rises. The CRA calculates the entitlement from your 2025 return and pays it across the benefit year, July 2026 to June 2027. You must have lived in Ontario on December 31, 2025.

Monthly or one lump sum?

You can choose how it's paid when you file:

• Monthly (the default): the annual entitlement is split across twelve payments, one on the 10th of each month.
• Lump sum in June: if you ticked the deferral option on your 2025 return and your entitlement is more than $500, the whole amount comes in a single payment on June 10, 2027.
• Small amounts: if your yearly entitlement is $500 or less, the CRA pays it as one lump sum in the first payment month (usually July) whatever you chose.

If your deposits are small, a monthly payment is often easier to budget around. If you'd rather have a chunk for a known expense, deferral works, but you wait ten extra months and can't change it mid-year.

The OTB is meant to offset fixed costs like heating and property tax. If it doesn't arrive monthly, treat it as a lump sum you're saving up, not as spendable cash today.

What it's up against: a typical Ontario budget

Using Metrestick's data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending, the average Ontario household spends about $29,100 a year on shelter and $11,700 on food, out of roughly $113,600 in total spending. Against numbers like that, the OTB is a modest offset, not a rescue. It matters most for lower-income renters and seniors, where a few hundred dollars is a real share of the heating budget.

You can compare your own spending to those averages in the cost of living tool. Also, for the federal side, the benefits you may be missing alongside the OTB, such as the Groceries and Essentials Benefit, are modelled in our second income calculator. For example, Metrestick's calculator puts the federal groceries credit alone at $679 for a single adult with $45,000 of net income.

If your payment doesn't show up

• Wait 10 working days after the payment date before contacting the CRA, since deposits can lag.
• Check My Account for your benefit notice. It shows your entitlement and whether you chose the monthly or the lump-sum option.
• Confirm your address and direct deposit details are current.
• Check you actually claimed it. If you rent, pay property tax, or pay for home energy, you apply by completing the Ontario Trillium Benefit section of your return (Form ON-BEN) each year, so a missed section can mean $0.
• Missed it for 2025? Late claims can usually still be made retroactively. Check CRA's current rules.

The takeaway

October's deposit is the quiet reminder that Ontario's biggest household benefit runs on your tax return, not an application form. Next spring, file early, complete the Ontario section, and choose monthly or lump-sum deliberately.

Benefit figures come from CRA and Ontario public sources as reported in September–October 2026. Spending averages are from Statistics Canada via Metrestick (metrestick.ca). This is general information, not tax advice; check canada.ca for your own entitlement.