My Nerdy Life

 

6 Income Tax Deductions You May Have Forgotten About

Carrying on from my last post on tax refunds, let’s recap some of the lesser-known income tax deductions that you can claim. If you’re brave enough to wade through Canada Revenue Agency jargon, there’s some significant deductions to be had!

1. (Travel) Medical Insurance: If you purchased travel medical insurance (or any other private medical insurance), you can claim it as a medical expense since it qualifies as a Private Health Services Plan (Medical expense tax credit Line 330, Provincial Line 5868). The only catch is that you can only claim medical insurance, not trip cancellation or anything like that. If you’re like my parents and spend months of the year out of the country travelling, travel insurance can cost hundreds of dollars (they’re getting older so they’re considered more of a liability). This can be enough to push you over the medical expenses qualifying threshold of 3% of your Net Income or $2,171, whichever is less. You can also combine expenses with your spouse/dependents as well. So dig up your receipts and add up all your medical expenses (e.g., dentist, prescriptions, etc.) for anything that didn’t get covered by insurance to see if you qualify.
2. Public Transit: For passes 1 month or longer, you can claim any public transit pass in the country, including student U-Passes.
3. Children’s Activities: Yup that’s right you can just write off your kids and ship them off to the government for a refund… err wait maybe you can’t/shouldn’t do that. You can however claim things like sport activities, tutoring, language, and music classes (CRA link for more info).
4. Care of Eldery Parents: Depending on their income and age, if one of your parents is living with you, it may be possible to claim a deduction as a caregiver.
5. Charitable Donations:  You can claim a federal tax credit of 15% for donations up to $200, and 29% for anything over $200 to a maximum of 75% of net income.
6. Moving Expenses: This can be a big one. It includes the boxes, supplies, moving truck, and real estate commissions! So be sure to keep track of these and claim them. You can qualify if you move at least 40 km to be closer to work, your business, or to attend post-secondary full time.

What other deductions do you know about that are commonly missed?