Comments on: Eligible Tax Deductions For Home Improvements

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:26:13 +0000

@ Steve:

Generally speaking the cost of the flooring would qualify provided you acquired the materials from a supplier registered for the GST.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:24:06 +0000

Dear Tax Man,
My wife and I bought a house this, and have done a number of projects including replacing a number of the floors and upgrading the heating/cooling system. I am quite certain that the heating/cooling system is eligible because we had the work done by a contractor, however the flooring was performed by my step father and I. Would the flooring (cost about $2000) still be eligible?

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:36:37 +0000

@ Greg:

Can you provide the link? I’ve reviewed each of the articles and only made a slight wording change to one but was unable to locate where I said the work must be initiated before February 1st.

By: greg sheehan

greg sheehan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:40:47 +0000

In previous posts you have stated that if the renovation work is intiated prior to February 1, 2010, you would be eligible for the credit. Revenue Canada, however, has advised me that the work must be completed and paid for before February 1, 2010 with documentation to confirm. So even if you have entered into a renovation contract after January 27, 2009 and there is a completion date prior to February 1, 2010, if the work is delayed beyond that date, for any reason, even if paid for, you are out of luck.

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:16:50 +0000

@ Ken

The Home Renovation tax Credit and ecoEnergy Retrofit home grant programs are separate programs. The HRTC has been set up so that you can take advantage of both programs.

Your heat pump cost you $6,000 and will permit you to claim the HRTC of $750 (provided the heat pump is fixed and permanently installed). In addition you can claim grants under the ecoEnergy Retrofit home grant program.

I hope this helps.

By: Ken MacCarl

Ken MacCarl — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:09:56 +0000

I have recently installed a heat pump. I will get a 400 dollar rebate from the cool savings program, also a 1500 dollar rebate through another progam. What figure do I claim for my HRTC. The cost of the unit was 6000 dollars. Do I claim the full amount, or only 4100 dollars. Also, the house is in the name of my common law partner, but I put out all the money. Who should claim the credit?

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:56:30 +0000

@ Megan:

The HRTC is available only on your principal residence. The principal residence is essentially the home your “family” ordinarily occupies. This being said, the property must be wholly or partly owned by the occupant and they need to live there.

It would appear that the HRTC would not be available on the second house.

By: megan

megan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:59:27 +0000

We own one house and just bought another. We are renovating the second but it will not be our primary house. Can we still collect the home renovations tax credit?

Also, if you are renting a property and doing renovations on the rented property, can you claim the home renovations tax credit?

1 last thing: If my husband’s name is on the title of the house but his father is a partner in the second house and is the primary dweller of the house, how does the collection of the home renovation tax credit work then?

Thanks in advance

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:37:40 +0000

@ Derek:

The HRTC is an additional credit that will reduce the amount of tax you pay. If you overpaid your tax during the year you’d get a refund.

In the example, I’ll assume you have no other income other than T4 income and had $6,600 deduced and reported on your T4. If we also assume the $6,600 was equal to the tax you would have owed before claiming the HRTC, you’ll get a $600 refund for claiming the HRTC.

I hope this helps!

By: Derek

Derek — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:21:41 +0000

Can you please clarify something for me? I’ll use an example…if I spend $5000 now on an eligible expense, then I can get a $600 non-refundable tax credit ($5000-$1000 base amount x 15%), which will be added to my other federal non-refundable tax credits on line 350 of my 2009 tax return. So, then that will be deducted from my net federal tax owed. So, let’s say my net federal tax would have been $6600, now it would be reduced to $6000, correct? My question is if I was already entitled to a tax refund because my income tax deducted throughout the year exceeded my tax owed, would I still receive the $600 tax credit. I should be eligible to receive it if my net federal tax exceeds my non-refundable tax credits, correct, regardless of what tax was deducted from me throughout the year?