Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth means that there are more reasons to file a tax return this year.

Even for those with little or no income, or who haven’t filed in recent years, filing a tax return is the only way to qualify for a range of tax benefits, including:

• Up to $260 a year for each member of your family from the new Ontario Sales Tax Credit
• Up to $1,000 ($1,125 for seniors) a year from the Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credit
• Up to an additional $500 a year to help senior homeowners pay their property taxes with the Ontario Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant
• Up to $1,000 for families (including single parents), or up to $300 for single people, in new Ontario Sales Tax Transition Benefit payments.

In addition, the tax rate on the first personal income tax bracket was reduced starting January 1, benefiting 93 per cent of Ontario personal income tax payers. The tax plan also includes the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax and tax cuts for business. It is estimated that these changes will help create almost 600,000 net new jobs within the next 10 years. The tax package is a key component of the five-year Open Ontario plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and build a stronger Ontario.

QUICK FACTS

• By filing a 2009 tax return, a single mother with a four-year-old child, earning $15,000 annually and paying $700 in rent monthly, could get more than $2,800 in tax-free income from Ontario’s tax credits and benefits. This family would also receive federal tax credits and benefits.
• Last year staff at Toronto charity St. Christopher House helped 1,359
  low-income clients find $3.48 million in tax savings and benefits, an average of $2,564 each.
• The Canada Revenue Agency coordinates free tax clinics in locations across the province.
• Replacing the Retail Sales Tax with the Harmonized Sales Tax will eliminate the hidden sales tax that many products carry. This will reduce business costs, which will make Ontario more competitive, leading to more jobs.

LEARN MORE

• www.ontario.ca/taxchange
• Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth

Links in this document provided courtesy of www.OntarioNewsNorth.com