Did you make repairs or modifications in your home for your elders? Do you know if you are eligible to claim an Ontario home renovation credit?
You may be eligible to claim “Home accessibility tax credit” at the federal level. You may also be eligible to claim a provincial tax credit for “Senior’s home renovation” if you live in British Columbia and New Brunswick. If you live in Ontario, you may be eligible to claim the provincial credit for the “Ontario senior homeowners property tax grant”.
Federal Home accessibility tax credit
If you are “the individual” with a disability or a senior who is of 65 years of age or older can claim certain home renovation expenses for his/her qualifying house located in Canada for qualifying renovation.
You can also be able to claim home renovation expenses for your qualifying house located in Canada for qualifying renovation, if the above individual is your spouse or common-law partner, or is your relative, and the above individual lives with you.
A qualifying house is a house located in Canada, you own the house (either jointly or otherwise), “the individual” normally lives in this house, and “the individual” does not have generally another house.
“The individual” has only one qualifying house at any time during the tax year, however in a situation where you move from one qualifying house to another qualifying house in a tax year, the individual may have more than one qualifying house.
Your claim home renovation expenses for qualifying renovation for all your qualifying house is limited to $10,000.00 in a tax year. The limit applies to per qualifying house and not per individual.
A qualifying renovation is a repair in your qualifying house which is kind of permanent and long-lasting in nature, and the repairs have been done to allow the individual to gain access, be mobile, or function within the house. The cost of repairs will include the work performed and materials purchased for the qualifying renovation in the tax year.
If you perform the repairs your self, the expenses may include building materials, fixtures, equipment rentals, building plans, and permits. You can not claim for the costs of your own time or your own tools.
Please note the above work can also be performed by a family member, however, to claim the expenses for building materials, fixtures, equipment rentals, building plans, and permits, the relative has/have to be registered for GST/HST with CRA.
Some of your above expenses may also qualify and you can claim as a medical expense and a home accessibility expense. Get in touch with your tax professional.
Other grants or credits
Please note that your Home accessibility tax credit will not be reduced by any assistance, grants, or tax credits, that you are getting or entitled to from the federal or a provincial government.
Other important things to note
Ontario senior property tax grant
If you are 64 years of age or older on the day of the calendar year, you lived in a house which is you owned and is your principal residence, either you paid the property tax for that house or someone else paid for you, you are entitled to claim the Ontario provincial credit in each tax year for senior homeowners’ property tax grant.
The principal residence is your house located in Ontario where you usually live. You report your property tax expenses on Form ON-BEN with your T1 general personal income tax return. CRA will calculate your grant and will mail you a cheque separately in four to eight weeks’ time after you have received your notice of assessment.
You may also be entitled to claim the provincial tax credit where you paid rent instead of property tax. You need to report the amount of rent that paid and the name of the landlord on the same form mentioned above.
RKB Accounting has expertise in cross-border taxation and has been providing accounting and taxation services for the last fifteen years in Canada and USA. RKB services include incorporating a business on both sides of the border, bookkeeping, sales tax, payroll, and corporate and personal income tax. RKB’s expertise includes cross-border tax planning, long-term tax planning, helping business start-ups, business structure planning, and resolving complex tax matters. RKB a CPA(Delaware), CA(India), and CIA(USA) has over 25 years of experience in accounting and taxation in dealing with various countries in the world.
Disclaimer: Information in the blog/post/article has been presented for a broad and simple understanding. This is not legal advice. RKB Accounting & Tax Services does not accept any liability for its application in any real situations. You need to contact your accountant or us for further information.