2019 PERSONAL INCOME TAX RETURN INFORMATION
The deadline for filing your 2019 personal income tax return is April 30, 2020. If you or your spouse are self-employed, your filing deadline is June 15, 2020. All taxes payable are due by April 30, 2020.
Also a friendly reminder that the deadline to contribute to your Registered Retirement Savings Plan is March 2, 2020. To confirm your exact 2019 RRSP contribution limit for the year, please refer to your latest Notice of Assessment or log on to your Canada Revenue Agency account at CRA My Account Online. Please contact our office if you have any questions.
The information provided below will help you assemble and organize your 2019 personal tax records and information slips. You will be receiving these slips in the near future, and the checklist will help you identify which documents apply to you. Once you have compiled your information, you can drop off your package at our office or contact admin@hvgp.ca to learn how you can securely send your information to us electronically for preparation.
There have been a number of updates to eligible tax credits in 2019, so please take a moment to review those highlighted for you below. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding your returns.
LINK TO 2019 Personal Income Tax Checklist
UPDATES FOR 2019
- Enhanced Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan – Starting in 2019, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) are being gradually enhanced. This means that if you contribute to either the CPP or the QPP, you will receive improved benefits in exchange for making higher contributions. You can claim a deduction for your enhanced contributions to the CPP or QPP.
- Canada Training Benefit – As of January 1, 2019, if you meet certain conditions, you will be able to accumulate $250 per year, to a maximum over your lifetime of $5,000, to be used in calculating your Canada Training Credit, a new refundable tax credit that will be available for 2020 and future years. Based on information from your return, the CRA will determine your Canada Training Credit Limit for the 2020 tax year and provide it to you on your Notice of Assessment for 2019. For 2020 and future years, you may be able to claim a Canada Training Credit equal to your Canada Training Credit Limit for the year or 50% of your eligible tuition and fees paid to an educational institution in Canada, whichever is less.
- Canada Workers Benefit – For 2019, the Canada workers benefit (CWB) replaces and strengthens the working income tax benefit (WITB). The CWB is an enhanced, more accessible, refundable tax credit.
- Communal organizations – For 2014 and later tax years, income from a business earned by the trust that is then allocated to a member of the congregation is deemed to be income from a business carried on by that member. This may allow members of a communal organization to claim the CWB for 2019 and later years, and the WITB for the 2014 to 2018 tax years.
- Kinship Care Providers – For 2009 and later years, for the CWB and the former WITB, a care provider may be considered to be the parent of a child in their care, regardless of whether they receive financial assistance from a government under a kinship care program. As a result, the care provider may be entitled to claim the child as an eligible dependent for purposes of claiming the benefit. Also, for these years, financial assistance payments received by care providers under a kinship care program are not included in income and not included when determining entitlement to benefits and credits based on income.
- Home Buyers’ Plan – The maximum amount you can withdraw from your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) under the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) increased from $25,000 to $35,000 for withdrawals made after March 19, 2019. If you are not considered a first-time home buyer for the purposes of the HBP, and you experience a breakdown in your marriage or common-law partnership, you may be able to participate in the HBP after 2019 under certain conditions.
- Medical Expenses Tax Credit – For expenses incurred after October 16, 2018, certain cannabis products purchased for a patient for medical purposes will be considered eligible medical expenses for the medical expense tax credit, once they become permitted for legal sale under the Cannabis Act.
- Donations and gifts – For donations made after March 18, 2019, in order to qualify for the enhanced tax incentives for donations of cultural property, the property no longer needs to be of national importance.
- Allowances for members of legislative assemblies and certain municipal officers – For 2019 and later tax years, non-accountable allowances paid to elected members of legislative assemblies, certain municipal officers, and members of public or separate school boards are required to be fully included in income.
- Zero-emission vehicles – If you are self-employed or claiming employment expenses, you may be able to claim capital cost allowance on zero-emission vehicles. Starting in 2019, there is a temporary enhanced first-year capital cost allowance of 100% for eligible zero-emission vehicles. Eligible vehicles must be acquired after March 18, 2019, and become available for use before 2024. The enhanced allowance decreases if the vehicle becomes available for use after 2023 and before 2028.
REMINDERS
- Tax on Split Income [TOSI] – On June 21, 2018, the government had passed new rules with the objective to eliminate the tax benefits of income splitting where the recipient of the income (a related family member) has not made a sufficient contribution to the family business. Essentially all income amounts and types are subject to the new rules. Any income taxed under the TOSI rules is subject to tax at the highest personal marginal tax rates, eliminating any advantage achieved from income splitting.
- Foreign reporting – If you held specified foreign property (examples – tangible property, funds deposited outside of Canada, shares of a company that is non-resident in Canada (i.e. US public companies)) with a total cost in excess of $100,000 at any time during 2019, you are required to file form T1135 – Foreign Income Verification Statement.
- Reporting the sale of your principal residence – You are required to report basic information when you sell your principal residence (date of acquisition, proceeds on sale and address).
- Canada Caregiver Credit (CCC) – The CCC replaces the Caregiver Tax Credit, Infirm Dependent Tax Credit and the Family Caregiver Tax Credit. The credit consists of $6,883 tax credit in respect to infirm dependents who are parents/grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews or adult children; or $2,150 supplement to an infirm dependent spouse or common-law partner if the individual claimed the spouse or common-law partner amount; an infirm dependent if the individual claimed an eligible dependent credit; or an infirm child who is under the age of 18 at the end of the tax year. The credit will be reduced dollar for dollar by the dependent’s net income above $16,163.
- Ontario Caregiver Tax Credit (OCTC) – This credit is similar to the Canada Caregiver Credit (CCC). The amount is reduced when there is a claim for an eligible dependent.
- Medical expense tax credit – This credit has been expanded to allow expenses related to service animals who are specially trained to perform specific tasks for a patient with severe mental impairment that help the patient cope with the impairment. Eligible expenses paid in 2019 include the cost of the animal, the care of maintenance of the animal (food and veterinary care), reasonable travel expense paid for the patient to attend a school, institution, or other facility that trains in the handling of these animals, and reasonable board and lodging expenses paid for the patient’s full-time attendance at a school, institution, or other facility.
- Tuition, education and textbook tax credits – The federal education and textbook credits are no longer allowed to be claimed. Ontario also eliminated the tuition and education tax credits. However, if you carried forward credits from previous tax years, you may claim these credits in 2019 and later years.
- Public transit credit –The federal non-refundable public transit credit for amounts paid for eligible transit passes were eliminated
Please contact us if you have any questions regarding your 2018 Personal Income Taxes, and remember to print the easy checklist for your reference.
