If you own your home and pay taxes, you should read this:
There are two new tax credits that are relevant for home owners in preparing 2009 Personal Canadian Income Taxes. The First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit and the Home Renovation Tax Credit. If you or your accountant missed claiming these items; it is pretty easy to claim them now yourself.
The First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit is actually referred to as the “Home Buyer’s Amount” and can be found at Line 369 on Schedule 1 of your income tax return. If you bought a home between January 27 and year end; and you did not live in another home owned by you or your spouse or common-law partner in the year of acquisition or in any of the four preceding years; you can claim the credit of $5,000, which works out to tax savings of $750.00. Here is the link to the Canada Revenue Agency page with more information: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/hbtc/
The Home Renovation Tax Credit at Line 368 on Schedule 1 allows you to add up your receipts for items such as new appliances or home renovation work (see here for qualifying expenses) http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/hmwnr/hrtc/lgbl-xpns-eng.html ; and you get a credit for up to $10,000 worth of receipts. Your first $1,000 receives no credit. It applies to work performed or goods acquired after January 27, 2009, and before February 1, 2010. You need to enter the information from each receipt on Schedule 12. This results in a maximum non-refundable tax credit of $1,350 [($10,000 − $1,000) × 15%]. For more information on how to claim this credit; see here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/hmwnr/hrtc/clmng-eng.html
If you filed your return without claiming without claiming one or both of these credits; and you are entitled to them, you can prepare a T1 Adjustment . Its relatively straightforward. For Part A, just put your name, address, Social Insurance number, and state the 2009 Tax Year. In Part C:
Line Description Previous Amount of Change Corrected
368 Home Renovation Tax Credit 0 $result of Schedule 12 $____
369 Home Buyer Amount 0 $5,000.00 $5,000
You should include a completed Schedule 12 (do not send in receipts, but keep them in case CRA wants to see them) for the Home Renovation Tax Credit; and a copy of your Statement of Adjustments to support your Home Buyer Amount.
Mail this to: Canada Revenue Agency (T1 Adjustments)
Surrey Tax Centre
9755 King George Highway
Surrey, BC V3T 5E1
CRA will recalculate your T1 General Income Tax Return; and if they agree with your submission, which they should; they will send you a refund. You can expect it to take anywhere for 4 to 12 weeks.
I hope this is helpful.
David's Notary Blog 