The Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit pays qualifying Ontario renters and homeowners up to $1,488 a year, and the renters are the part most owners never hear about. The credit, usually shortened to OEPTC, is one piece of the larger Ontario Trillium Benefit, claimed on the same form you’d use for the Ontario Trillium Benefit generally and for the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant our guide to that grant already covers. This guide explains what the OEPTC is, who qualifies, how the amount is worked out, and how it differs from both that senior-only grant and from your property tax bill itself. For the rest of a Toronto property tax bill, see our guide to how Toronto property tax works or our complete Toronto real estate guide.
What the OEPTC is
The Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit isn’t a standalone payment with its own cheque. It’s one of three credits combined into the Ontario Trillium Benefit, alongside the Ontario Sales Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Energy Credit, and the Canada Revenue Agency calculates and pays all three together based on your income tax return. The OEPTC specifically is meant to offset the cost of energy and property tax, or rent in a building where property tax gets passed through, for Ontario residents at low and moderate incomes.
Our guide to the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant mentions the Ontario Trillium Benefit a few times, every time only to point out that it’s a separate payment from that grant. This guide is the explanation that page defers: what the OEPTC is, not just that it exists.
Who qualifies, renters included
You need to have been an Ontario resident on December 31 of the previous year, and you need to have either paid rent or property tax on your main residence for that year, or lived in a designated student residence, or lived on a reserve and paid for your home’s utility costs. That’s the biggest difference from the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant: this credit has no age requirement at all. A renter who paid rent during the year qualifies on the same basis as a homeowner who paid property tax, provided the building’s owner was required to pay municipal property tax on it, which covers the overwhelming majority of rental housing in Toronto.
You don’t apply separately as a renter or an owner. The same Form ON-BEN asks for whichever figure applies to you, rent paid or property tax paid, and the Canada Revenue Agency works out your credit from that figure and your income.
How much it’s worth
For the 2026 benefit year, which runs from July 2026 to June 2027 and is based on your 2025 income tax return, the maximum OEPTC is $1,307 for a non-senior and $1,488 for a senior, according to the Canada Revenue Agency’s own OEPTC page and Ontario’s own Trillium Benefit page, which list the same figures. Both figures split into two parts: an energy component, capped at $290 for everyone, and a property tax component that’s larger for seniors than for non-seniors. The property tax component itself is calculated from your occupancy cost, generally 10% of the rent or property tax you paid, up to its own cap.
Those are the maximums at low income. The credit reduces as your income rises, the same way the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant does, and reaches zero above a certain point. A single non-senior with no children, for the 2026 benefit year, starts seeing the credit reduced once their 2025 adjusted family net income passes $29,047, at a rate of 2% of every dollar over that threshold. The exact threshold shifts slightly by household type (single, married or common-law, with or without children) and by year, since it’s adjusted periodically, so confirm the current figure for your situation on the CRA page above before counting on an exact number.
Both figures include the same $290 energy component; the property tax component is larger for seniors. Figures reduce once income passes a household-specific threshold.
How to claim it
You claim the OEPTC on Form ON-BEN, attached to your regular annual income tax return, the same form our senior grant guide already walks through for that separate program. You need to file a return to receive it, even in a year with no income to report, and the form asks for either the rent or the property tax you paid that year. Filing without completing the ON-BEN section means the Canada Revenue Agency can’t calculate your OEPTC, so it’s worth checking that section specifically rather than assuming it’s filled in automatically by tax software.
Once your return is assessed, the Canada Revenue Agency calculates the credit itself. If your combined Ontario Trillium Benefit for the year comes to more than $360, you can choose monthly payments through the year or one lump sum the following June; below that amount, it’s paid as a single payment. You don’t submit a separate application beyond the ON-BEN form.
How this differs from the senior grant and from property tax itself
The Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant and the OEPTC are two separate payments that happen to share one claim form. The senior grant is capped at $500, requires you or your spouse to be 64 or older, and only looks at property tax paid by a homeowner. The OEPTC has no age requirement, pays more at its maximum, and covers renters as well as homeowners. A senior homeowner who qualifies for both receives them as two distinct amounts on the same Trillium Benefit payment, not one payment that includes the other.
Paying property tax is also not the same thing as receiving this credit. Your property tax bill, covered in full in our guide to Toronto property tax, is calculated from MPAC’s assessed value and the city’s tax rate, and you owe it in full regardless of whether you claim the OEPTC. The credit is a separate benefit payment that uses the property tax or rent you paid as one input to a formula; it never reduces the bill itself or arrives as a credit on your tax account with the city.
How income affects what you get
The OEPTC phases out gradually rather than cutting off sharply. Once your adjusted family net income passes the threshold for your household type, the Canada Revenue Agency reduces your credit by 2% of every dollar over that threshold, the same mechanism our senior grant guide walks through with worked numbers for that program. The threshold is higher for a couple than for a single person, and higher again for a senior than a non-senior, which is one reason the maximum amounts differ by age in the first place. A renter in Toronto can check our guide to average Toronto rents for what a typical rent payment looks like, since the amount of rent paid feeds directly into the property tax component of the calculation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit?
It’s one of three credits that make up the Ontario Trillium Benefit, meant to help Ontario residents with low or moderate incomes offset the cost of energy and property tax, or rent in a building where property tax gets passed through to tenants. The Canada Revenue Agency calculates and pays it alongside the Ontario Sales Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Energy Credit, based on the information on your annual income tax return and Form ON-BEN. For the 2026 benefit year, the maximum is $1,307 for a non-senior and $1,488 for a senior, made up of a shared $290 energy component plus a larger property tax component for seniors, before any reduction for income.
Do renters qualify for the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit, or only homeowners?
Renters qualify on the same basis as homeowners, which is the detail most people researching property tax credits miss. You need to have paid rent on your main residence during the year, in a building where the owner was required to pay municipal property tax, which covers the large majority of Toronto rental housing. There’s no separate renter application: the same Form ON-BEN asks for the rent you paid instead of property tax, and the Canada Revenue Agency calculates your credit from that figure and your income the same way it would for an owner. A renter and a homeowner with the same income and the same occupancy cost can end up with very similar credit amounts.
How is the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit different from the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant?
They’re two completely separate payments that happen to share the same claim form, Form ON-BEN, which is where the confusion usually starts. The senior grant pays up to $500 a year, requires you or your spouse to be 64 or older, and only considers property tax paid by a homeowner. The OEPTC has no age requirement at all, pays up to $1,488 at its maximum for a senior, and covers renters as well as owners. A senior homeowner who meets both sets of conditions can receive both, paid as two separate amounts rather than one payment covering both programs, and qualifying for one says nothing about whether you’ll qualify for the other since the income tests differ.
Does claiming this credit reduce my actual property tax bill?
No. Your property tax bill is calculated independently from MPAC’s assessed value and your municipality’s tax rate, and you owe it in full and on time whether or not you claim the OEPTC. The credit is a separate benefit payment, calculated from your income tax return and issued by the Canada Revenue Agency, that uses the property tax or rent you paid as one input to its formula rather than applying as a credit against the bill itself. If you’re looking for help with the bill directly rather than a benefit payment calculated from it, Toronto’s own property tax relief programs, covered in our guide to Toronto property tax, are the ones built to reduce what you owe the city.
How much income can I have and still get the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit?
There’s no hard income cutoff below which you’re approved and above which you’re rejected; the credit phases out gradually. For the 2026 benefit year, a single non-senior with no children starts seeing their credit reduced once their 2025 adjusted family net income passes $29,047, at a rate of 2% of every dollar above that. The threshold is higher for couples and higher again for seniors, and it’s adjusted periodically, so the exact number for your household type and the current benefit year is worth confirming on the Canada Revenue Agency’s own OEPTC page rather than assumed from a prior year’s figure.
Whether you’re paying rent or paying property tax directly, this credit is worth checking against your own numbers before you assume it doesn’t apply to you. Read our guide to the Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant if you or a parent might also qualify for that separate program, or our guide to Toronto property tax for the bill itself.