New Canadian Tax Provisions and Pumpkin Spice Lattés

Photo by: kkmarais

Trying to balance your expenses between your kids, pet and pumpkin spice lattés (they really are delish) can be difficult.

However, the government wants to help.

On October 30, 2014, the federal government introduced 3 new tax measures to help you live a more affordable life in Canada. The new measures include a new family tax cut, an increase to the universal child care benefit and an increase to the dollar limits for claiming child care expenses.

Family Tax Cut

Starting in the 2014 tax year, a new non-refundable tax credit of up to a maximum of $2,000 will be available for eligible couples with minor children under 18 years of age.

The new Canadian tax cut would effectively allow for income splitting between a high-income earner and a lower-income earning spouse to take advantage of the spouse’s lower tax bracket. This CRA announcement  provides more details on this provision.

Universal Child Care Benefit

The federal government announced an enhancement to the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) effective January 2015.

• There will be a $60 increase to the monthly UCCB benefits from $100 to $160 for eligible children under 6 years of age.
• There will also be a new $60 benefit for children aged 6 to 17.

Child Care Expenses Deduction

Starting in the 2015 tax year, the federal government announced it will be increasing the maximum allowable child care expense deduction by $1,000. The following will be the new maximum dollar limits:

• $11,000 – Children who qualify for the disability tax credit
• $8,000 – Children under 7 years of age
• $5,000 – Children under 16 or children that had an impairment in physical or mental functions

To learn more about this new tax measure, see CRA announcement.

What do you think about the new Canadian tax provisions? Will you be buying more pumpkin spice lattés? Tweet us @bdgllp.