Canadian banks compress government payments into four cryptic labels: Canada FPT, PRO, RIT and FED. Here's what each one means, which program is actually paying you, and how to confirm it in under a minute.
Canadian banks use 4 short labels for government money: Canada FPT for federal-provincial-territorial credits like the CCB, Canada PRO for provincial programs like the Ontario Trillium Benefit, Canada RIT for tax refunds, and Canada FED for other federal payments.
One table, all four labels. Match yours by the code first, then narrow it down by the date pattern and amount on the linked page.
| Bank label | Stands for | Programs behind it | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada FPT Most common label | Federal, provincial, territorial | Canada Child Benefit, Groceries and Essentials Benefit (former GST/HST credit), BC credits | 20th monthly, plus near the 5th quarterly |
| Canada PRO Provincial programs | Provincial | Ontario Trillium Benefit, Alberta Child and Family Benefit | 10th monthly in Ontario, quarterly in Alberta |
| Canada RIT Refund of income tax | Refund, income tax | Your tax refund, including refunds from reassessments | About 2 weeks after e-filing, any time after a reassessment |
| Canada FED Federal catch-all | Federal | Advanced Canada Workers Benefit, CCB or CGEB at certain banks, new federal benefits | Varies by program |
Three checks identify any government deposit, in order of speed. Most people never need the third one.
Government programs run on fixed calendars. A deposit near the 20th points to the CCB, the 10th to Ontario Trillium, the 5th of a quarter month to the Groceries Benefit. Our master calendar lists them all.
Each program has published maximums, and a genuine deposit won't sit above them. The decoder pages for each label show the amount ranges per program for the July 2026 benefit year.
Every CRA payment appears in My Account with its program name, amount and date. It's the definitive answer when a deposit still doesn't add up, and it takes 2 minutes.
Direct deposits travel with a short sender descriptor, and the CRA batches dozens of programs through shared payment streams. The descriptor identifies the stream, not the program, so your bank prints Canada FPT because that's genuinely all it knows. The CRA knows exactly which benefit paid you; the label your bank shows is wholesale plumbing; it isn't the answer.
That's the whole reason this section of the site exists. The schedules on our Canada benefit payment calendar tell you when money arrives, and the decoder pages tell you what a label means once it lands. Together they answer the two questions behind nearly every benefit search: when does it come, and what was that deposit.
Program mappings come from the CRA's benefit payment dates pages and program documentation on canada.ca. Last verified July 8, 2026, re-checked quarterly, corrected within 24 hours when anything changes.