Here is how one can get Canada’s new dental profit and housing top-up

Jamie Golombek: To obtain profit funds, you should have filed a 2021 tax return with the CRA

Printed Dec 01, 2022 • Final up to date Dec 01, 2022 • 3 minute learn

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa. Photograph by Blair Gable/Reuters information

Eligible dad and mom with children underneath age 12 who don’t in any other case have dental care protection can go browsing as of Dec. 1 to use for the brand new Canada Dental Profit (CDB), certainly one of two new advantages contained in Invoice C-31, which acquired Royal Assent final month, the opposite being a one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Profit.

“By ensuring kids underneath 12 can see a dentist and by delivering necessary reduction to low-income renters, we’re making certain our help is compassionate, focused, and fiscally accountable” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland mentioned when the invoice grew to become regulation final month. “And for many who want it most, it’s coming at precisely the precise time.”

The CDB gives eligible dad and mom (or guardians) with as much as $650 tax free, per 12 months for 2 years, to cowl dental bills for kids underneath the age of 12. The CDB, which is estimated to profit 500,000 kids, is solely out there to households with out entry to non-public dental insurance coverage.

Relying in your adjusted household internet revenue, a tax-free cost of $260 (for household revenue between $80,000 and $89,999), $390 (for household revenue between $70,000 and $79,999) or the complete $650 (for household revenue beneath $70,000) is obtainable for every eligible youngster.

The CDB is simply out there for 2 durations, and you will get a most of two funds for every eligible youngster. The primary profit interval is for kids underneath 12 years outdated as of Dec. 1, 2022, who obtain(d) dental care between Oct. 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

To obtain profit funds, you should have filed a 2021 tax return, and should at present be receiving the Canada Child Benefit. As well as, the federal government indicated it’s best to ebook a dental appointment to your youngster earlier than making use of, since particulars about your youngster’s dental supplier and anticipated appointment date should be supplied on-line once you apply. In case your youngster fails to see the dentist by June 30, 2023, then you can be required to repay any CDB acquired.

In a media technical briefing on Nov. 30, the Canada Revenue Agency walked by way of the net utility course of, which can start receiving functions and processing funds for the CDB as of Dec. 1.

Notably, the net utility course of contains real-time revenue verification to find out program eligibility in an effort to keep away from sending CDB funds out to non-qualifying dad and mom. The transfer to upfront verification is in stark distinction to the rollout of COVID-19-benefits, which relied on a self-attestation system the place candidates needed to verify that they certified, together with whether or not they had earned a minimal of $5,000 of internet revenue in a previous 12-month interval.

The CRA is now seeking to reclaim $3.2 billion in COVID-19 financial aid benefit overpayments, from 825,000 Canadians it suspects acquired ineligible or extra funds from any variety of the COVID-19 packages for people as of Nov. 18.

In the meantime, the one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Profit (CHB) will present a tax-free cost of $500 to an estimated 1.8 million low-income renters with an adjusted internet revenue of lower than $35,000 for households (or beneath $20,000 for single Canadians), who pay no less than 30 per cent of their adjusted internet revenue in the direction of hire.

The CRA will start receiving functions and processing funds for this top-up on-line on Dec. 12, 2022.

To use for the CHB top-up, candidates might want to present the deal with of their principal residence(s), the full hire paid within the 2022 calendar 12 months for that residence, in addition to the identify and phone data of the individuals to whom the hire was paid.

Requested whether or not this latter piece of data may then be utilized by the CRA to trace doubtlessly unreported rental revenue by landlords, a CRA spokesperson would solely say the data can be utilized for verification functions for the top-up cost.

Jamie Golombek, CPA, CA, CFP, CLU, TEP, is the managing director, Tax & Property Planning with CIBC Non-public Wealth in Toronto. Jamie.Golombek@cibc.com

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