The only deduction currently available for your children is the line for “Child care expenses”. Here is a list of eligible expenses that can be claimed and the type of supporting doc that is required:

• Caregivers providing child care services (e.g. a nanny that is an employee of your home and you provide a T4 for their income).
  • Does not include expenses paid to a family member to take care of your children.
• Daycare centre/preschool
  • Must be an official receipt from the centre that clearly states that they have received payment from YOU for child care expenses for YOUR CHILD
• Before and after school care
  • Must be an official receipt from the centre that clearly states that they have received payment from YOU for child care expenses for YOUR CHILD
• Day camps where the primary goal of the camp is to care for children (e.g. summer camps; Pro D day camps, Spring break camps).
  • Must be an official receipt from the camp that shows the date and times of the camp and the name of your child.

What does not count as a child care expense:

• Fees paid to an educational institution for tuition (e.g. private school)
• Fees for leisure or recreational activities such as sports or music lessons
• Clothing or transportation costs
• Education support expenses such as tutors, UNLESS you have a note from your doctor that the tutoring is required based on your child’s medical condition. If this is the case, you can claim these as medical expenses.

In summary: Child care expenses are mostly claimed by families with children BEFORE they start school. If you have school aged children that do not attend after school care or summer camps, you will unfortunately not have any eligible child care expenses.

Items that you buy in your business that cost over $500 and have a useful life of longer than one year need to be depreciated over time instead of written off all in one go. There are different classes of depreciation for different types of items and each class has a different depreciation % (e.g. furniture and equipment or computers).

The CRA rules for depreciation change often as the government likes to incentivize spending. We invest in professional tax software to ensure that all the current rules are applied to our clients’ assets AND that assets are properly tracked so that they are not forgotten about. Don’t worry, you don’t need to remind us about that piece of equipment you bought a few years ago!

If you are filing taxes with Homeroom for the first time, and you know you have undepreciated assets, please send us the full PDF of your prior year tax return so we can add the undepreciated capital cost to your return.

Your receipts do not need to be sent in with your return but do hold onto them in case of a CRA audit. Their information should be documented on a spreadsheet and submitted with your return. At Homeroom, if we file your taxes for you, we will provide you with the spreadsheet.

Basic Tax Checklist 

Rental Property Checklist

Business Tax Checklist