Claiming Medical Expenses: Free Healthcare?

Free Health Care? Did you know that Canadians spend on average more than $1,000 on medical expenses each year? It’s estimated that government programs, via our taxes, cover about 72% of medical expenses, which means that we pay for the rest. Your clients may be over-paying on their taxes because they don’t know about medical expense deductions. 

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This week the government released the T4A form for 2020.  This is the first indication of how the various government assistance programs for 2020 will be reported on the tax return.

It’s a controversial subject that’s clearly lead to some divided results on our October poll. We asked: “Are government plans to introduce automatic free tax filing for the 12% of adults who don’t file tax returns to get benefits a good idea?” The results are in with 42% saying “yes” and 58% who shared some insightful thoughts and strong opinions with their “no’s”.

Back on July 17, the government announced that it would provide a one-time tax-free payment of $600 to more Canadians with disabilities.  These individuals will finally see payment of that amount beginning this week.  But there are more opportunities that qualified tax practitioners can help with before year end. 

Knowledge Bureau’s Income Tax Estimator, a sophisticated software tool used in teaching our certificate personal tax filing and planning courses, incorporates the most recent changes to tax brackets and known provisions including the calculation of the Canada Recovery Benefits.  We have now calculated the 2021 tax brackets based on CPI figures released last week to enable students and Knowledge Bureau Calculator subscribers to prepare projections for 2021 taxes payable as part of year-end tax planning activities. 

Today, even the smallest business requires timely and reliable information, if it is to succeed and thrive despite the pandemic and the constant threat of future CRA auditing. A new course from Knowledge Bureau, Budgeting & Forecasting for Small Business is designed to teach you how to use the information within bookkeeping systems to assist business owners to make sound business decisions throughout the year: an essential service during these times.