Canadian concern - getting my son's CDB backdated to 2005

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Hi parents.

In Canada - there is something called the Child Disability Benefit available to children who have disabilities within a certain criteria. My physician filled out the appropriate forms.

I received a cheque which was retroactive to 2009. This is the date of diagnosis. Nothwithstanding that my son was diagnosed with ASD at age 4 in 2009 - he has had the condition since birth. I had observed a few areas of concern even when he was less than one year old - but my concerns were mostly brushed off by family and even health care providers.

I know of other parents of children with ASD who are similarly functioning as my own son who have received back dated payments to 2005. This is the year in which this benefit was first offered (it is also the year of my son's birth). I also know of other parents who were advised by CanadaRevenue Agency that "they don't consider Autism a disability" and were denied???! !! ! The parents who were completely denied are getting advocacy so that this decision is reversed.

I tried to speak to someone from Canada Revenue Agency and advise that this amount needs to be adjusted and that the 2009 date was merely a date of formal diagnosis and that my son indeed has always had Autism and that it it needs to be backdated to his date of birth or the date the benefit was enacated - whichever applicable). The clerk insisted that the 2009 date was the date indicated by my son's physician and therefore was the date they backdate to. I advised that the form asked for the date of diagnosis - but that this did not indicate that the disability did not exist before then. I am talking to the taxman so I might as well be talking to a brick wall...

Anyways - I have contacted my member of Parliament (as this is a federal benefit) and they are working on it right now.

Any other Canadians have any experience in this regards?

Thanks.

you need to write a letter to your closest tax center asking them for the backpay seperately as they can only automatically send out backpay for up to 2 years. we actually got a letter in the mail from them stating that we may be eligible for additional backpay so i applied. it took about 6 months to get the backpay and i was disappointed in the amount we got. we got back to the time he was 2(6 now) that was just this past december. you don't have to get the forms filled out again or anything. you need to put his name and health card number and application information from the original application.

also for the ones that weren't eligable, autism may not on it's own bw considered disabling if the doctor didn't check the box asking him if he considers it to interfere in their ability to function normally. in that case he's saying yes, the child has it but it's not causing any major problems.

The government goes by the eligible date the doctor writes on the Disability Tax Credit paperwork you submitted. Some doctors will backdate to birth. Others choose to go with the diagnosis date. It's at the doctor's discretion unfortunately. The tax office is basing their calculations and adjustments on the information from the doctor. You might ask your doctor to write a note correcting the date and resubmitting with your original paperwork? I hope you're able to get it resolved.