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. 

The pandemic has had a significant economic impact. Here’s a summary of the major pandemic response benefits extended by the federal government to help businesses weather the storm.

Today the federal government’s “Fiscal Snapshot” provided insight into the costs of the Emergency Pandemic Benefits designed to provide financial relief to individuals and businesses struggling during these tough times. One of them was the extension of personal income tax filing deadlines, and the waived T1 late filing penalties until September 1, despite maintaining a formal deadline of June 1. What did tax pros think about this when we asked them in our June poll?

It’s a good news/bad news story.  First the bad news:  On June 24, international credit ratings agency Fitch, one of three big credit rating firms based in the U.S., downgraded Canada’s pristine Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating rating from triple A to AA+ because of our greatly increased government debt.  It expects that debt will rise to 115.1% of gross domestic product (GDP); an increase of 88.3%  in 2020 over 2019 results.  So, what’s the good news? 

June 30 is not typically a tax filing milestone, but this year is an exception as it is the extended GST/HST deadline for businesses. What needs to be filed, and what’s due next week?

It’s time to ween off the CERB, at least in Manitoba, the implementation of a new program will supplement wages of those returning to the workforce: it’s time to get back to work!

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has slowed the opening of social immersion in Ontario and interrupted our plans to hold the Distinguished Advisor Conference in Niagara Falls, so we’ll be going there in fall 2021 instead.  This year’s DAC Acuity 2020 will be held virtually, with the unparallelled professional education and networking that are the hallmarks of the event and lots of interesting twists. There are also two ways to schedule the event into your busy calendar. Check this out: