Ontarians will be receiving a late holiday gift not long after they ring in the New Year. The provincial government yesterday confirmed that eligible Ontarians will receive $200 rebate cheques in early 2025. The rebate is intended to help ease the financial burden of everything from higher interest rates to recent inflation.

To qualify, rebate recipients must be 18 years or older and an Ontario resident as of December 31^st, 2023, must have filed their 2023 tax and benefit return by December 31^st, 2024, and must not have been bankrupt or incarcerated in 2024. Eligible children will also receive the $200 rebate. A qualifying family with two parents and three children, for example, would receive $1,000.

Queen’s Park estimates the rebate will cost the treasury $3 billion and will be distributed to approximately 12.5 million adults and 2.5 million children. The Ford government says the cost of the new measure will be covered by higher-than-expected sales tax revenue, along with additional revenue generated by the federal government’s recent capital gains tax changes.

Under the program, families that “… qualify for a Canada Child Benefit (CCB) payment for 2024 would receive an additional $200 for each eligible child under age 18. The taxpayer rebate payment for children would be made to the person(s) who receives the CCB in respect of the child, who must be a resident of Ontario. In the case of a shared custody arrangement in respect of a child, payments would be split based on the most recent CCB available.” An alternative process to claim the $200 rebate per child will be made available to families that did not receive the CCB for 2024.

Federal government announces carbon tax payment amounts

The federal government recently detailed the payment process through the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses that will return a portion of the federal fuel charge collected from 2019-20 through 2023-24 in provinces where the levy applies.

Ottawa is promising to deliver the rebates by the end of 2024. It will be paid to approximately 600,000 Canadian-controlled private corporations with between one and 499 employees. Payment amounts will be dependent upon the province in which the eligible corporation operates and the number of employees the company employed in the calendar year in which the fuel charge year began.

According to the federal government, for example: “… eligibility for receiving a payment in respect of the 2022-23 fuel charge year will be based on the number of persons employed by the eligible corporation for the 2022 calendar year.”

An Ontario-based business operating between 2019 and 2023 would be eligible for the following rebates:

Bare trusts will not be required to file the T3 Return and Schedule 15 for 2024

The Canada Revenue Agency has confirmed that bare trusts will not be required to file a T3 Income Tax and Information Return and Schedule 15 (Beneficial Ownership Information of a Trust) for the 2024 tax year, unless a return is specifically requested by the CRA. The bare trust exemption had previously been issued for the 2023 tax year.

Other trusts affected by the federal government’s enhanced trust reporting requirements (with tax years ending after December 30^th, 2023) must still file a T3 return with Schedule 15. The return filing deadline is no later than 90 days after a trust’s tax year-end, which in most cases is the end of the calendar year. Trusts with a December 31^st, 2024, tax year-end are required to file a T3 return by March 31^st, 2025.

The RH Partners Tax Team

For more information on these and other tax measures that relate to your personal or professional financial situation, contact a member of the RH Partners Tax team today.