Is There a Minimum Income Below Which No Child Support Is Owed?

If you earn very little, you may have heard that there is an income cutoff below which no child support is owed. That idea comes from the child support tables, which used to start at $12,000 and now start higher.

This article explains what the cutoff was, what changed in 2025, and what else a court may consider when a payor has a low income. The table is only one part of a support decision.

Where the low-income starting point comes from

Child support amounts in Canada are usually set using tables that match a payor's annual income and number of children to a monthly amount. The older version of the tables carried a note that no support was payable below $12,000 of annual income. That is the figure many people still remember as the cutoff.

That figure no longer reflects the current tables. The tables were updated by SOR/2025-166, and Ontario.ca says the new amounts apply to all Ontario child support matters starting October 1, 2025. The 2025 tables begin at $16,000 with a $0 basic amount, which raised the low-income starting point.

Old and new tables compared

Some official notices describe the timing of the update slightly differently from Ontario.ca. For Ontario matters, the date given by Ontario.ca is the one to rely on, and a lawyer can confirm how it applies to your case.

What happens below the line

A $0 basic amount at the first row of the tables means no table amount applies at that level. But that does not automatically mean the court stops there. What a court does for incomes below the first row depends on the facts and is worth confirming with a lawyer.

• Imputed income: a court may impute income if a spouse is intentionally under-employed or unemployed, unless the child's needs or the spouse's reasonable educational or health needs require it. The amount is what the court considers appropriate in the circumstances.
• Other grounds for imputing income include diverted income, property not used to generate income, failing to provide required income information and unreasonable deductions of expenses.
• Undue hardship: a court may award a different amount if the spouse or child would otherwise suffer undue hardship.

In practice, a payor who reports a very low income can expect questions about why and whether it is a fair reflection of what they could earn. An unintentional loss of work is treated differently from a choice to earn less. One Ontario Court of Appeal decision said that once a payor became unintentionally unemployed, it was not appropriate to impute his former full salary while imputing no income to the recipient.

Income reporting still matters

Annual income is generally determined using the sources under the Total income heading of the T1 General tax form, with adjustments. The court may look at income over the last three years if the current year would not be the fairest. Income from employment insurance, social assistance, a pension, workers' compensation, disability payments and other sources is among the income that must be disclosed. How each of those benefits is counted is a detailed question for a lawyer or accountant.

Special expenses can also be a separate topic. On either spouse's request, a court can provide for an amount to cover all or part of listed special or extraordinary expenses, including child care costs incurred because of employment, illness, disability or education and health-related expenses that exceed insurance reimbursement by at least $100 annually. Whether that applies at a low income depends on the facts.

Ontario's own child support regulation applies to some separated couples who were not married, and it is similar to the federal Guidelines. Section numbers may differ, so check the version that applies to you.

What to do next

• Check whether your order or agreement was made before or after the 2025 table update.
• Gather your last three years of tax returns and notices of assessment.
• List every source of income, including benefits and pensions.
• Write down the reasons for any low income, such as health, school or loss of work.
• Keep paying what your order requires until a court changes it or a written agreement ends it.
• Talk to a family lawyer about whether the 2025 tables, imputed income or undue hardship could apply to you.

Frequently asked questions