Sunday January 31, 2010 marks the end of the Home Renovation Tax Credit. The Government of Canada has decided not extended the HTRC. Therefore, you only have a short time to take full advantage of the HRTC and then it’s gone.
Buy Your Materials Now!
Your purchases of eligible expenses before the January 31st deadline will still qualify for the HRTC even if they are installed after January 2010. If your eligible expenses involve work performed by a contractor or a third party, and the work is not completed by January 31st, only the portion that is completed before February 1, 2010 will qualify even if a payment has been made.
How Much Is the Credit?
The HRTC is 15% of eligible expenses over $1,000 to a maximum of $10,000. Therefore, the maximum credit that may be claimed is $1,350.
What Are Eligible Expenses?
Generally, if you have renovation or alterations to your principal residence, then the expenses will qualify. In addition, the expenses must be enduring in nature and integral to the home.
Here are some examples from the CRA of things that may qualify for the HRTC:
- Renovating a kitchen, bathroom, or basement
- Windows and doors
- New flooring – carpet, linoleum, hardwood, floating laminate, etc.
- New furnace, woodstove, boiler, fireplace, water softener, water heater, or oil tank
- Permanent home ventilation systems
- Central air conditioner
- Permanent reverse osmosis systems
- Septic systems
- Wells
- Electrical wiring in the home (e.g., changing from 100 amp to 200 amp service)
- Home security system (monthly fees do not qualify)
- Solar panels and solar panel trackers
- Painting the interior or exterior of a house
- Building an addition, garage, deck, garden/storage shed, or fence
- Re-shingling a roof
- A new driveway or resurfacing a driveway
- Exterior shutters and awnings
- Permanent swimming pools (in ground and above ground)
- Permanent hot tub and installation costs
- Pool liners
- Solar heaters and heat pumps for pools (does not include solar blankets)
- Landscaping: new sod, perennial shrubs and flowers, trees, large rocks, permanent garden lighting, permanent water fountain, permanent ponds, large permanent garden ornaments
- Retaining wall
- Associated costs such as installation, building plans, permits, professional services, equipment rentals, and incidental expenses
- Fixtures – blinds, shades, shutters, lights, ceiling fans, etc.
Examples of expenses that do not qualify:
- Furniture, household appliances, and electronic home-entertainment devices
- Purchasing of tools
- Carpet cleaning
- House cleaning
- Maintenance contracts (e.g., furnace cleaning, snow removal, lawn care, and pool cleaning)
- Financing costs
- Amount paid as part of the purchase of your new house, including “upgrades”
- Expenses to acquire goods that have been previously used or leased by you or an eligible family member (e.g., hot water tank)
- Expenses incurred to the rental and/or business part of an eligible dwelling
Expect Long Lines At Your Building Store
You should expect home improvement stores such as Rona and Home Depot to be busy this weekend so patience will be needed. Also Home Depot has announced that many stores will be open late this weekend.
No related posts.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Turns out that all the projects I am doing came a bit under budget. Still have about $1000 room that we’d like to use up. Off to Rona on Saturday!
@Tom – What are you going to do?
Since buying our house in May, we had already done the main floor with laminate, upstairs with carpet, insulated and drywalled the garage, and painted two bedrooms.
With the available credit room, decided to get the basement bathroom done. It was already roughed in, lino’d and painted. So we picked up a toilet, sink, shower, mirror and medicine cabinet.
Not bad for $10,000 hey? We bought almost everything on sale. Plus we’ll get the $1,350 HRTC back and $1000 in Rona gift cards.
@Tom – How did you accumulate $1,000 in Rona gift cards?
You get 10% of your purchases back in gift cards with RONAdvantage. Not in time for to spend towards the credit room, but we’ll find a way to spend them… probably on something that wouldn’t have been covered under the HRTC anyways. I wrote a bit about it here… http://canadianfinanceblog.com/2009/05/07/rona-and-home-depot-provide-further-incentive-to-renovate.htm
Would a central vacuum system qualify for the HRTC?