|
This is a good time to plan for summer camps for your children. The options are numerous and the prices vary widely. Some offer day camps where you drop off your children (or they take a bus). Other camps, especially the ones in the country, offer overnight camps that last several weeks. Fitting the interests of your children to the camp is a challenge in itself. Getting the maximum tax break is another.
The Income Tax Act allows a deduction for child care expenses. The maximum amounts per year that can be claimed for all child care are:
- $7,000 per child for children under the age of 7;
- $4,000 per child for children under the age of 17;
- $10,000 per disabled child up to the age of 17.
For any type of boarding school or camp, the maximum amount allowed per week (these amounts are included in the maximum amounts shown above), per child are:
- $175 per child under the age of 7;
- $100 per child from age 8 to 17;
- $250 per disabled child up to 17 years of age.
The deduction must be claimed by the lower income spouse, in most circumstances, and is limited to two-thirds of earned income (basically income from employment and business).
The higher income spouse can claim the deduction if the lower income spouse is disabled, in prison or hospital, confined to a bed or wheelchair (for at least two weeks), attending full time high school or post secondary school, or is separated.
Make sure you obtain receipts and keep your cancelled cheques. Auditing childcare expenses is a favourite activity of the CRA. The receipt should show the name of the camp (or person), the date and number of weeks attended, the amount paid and the nature of the camp. Most of the well-known camps produce acceptable receipts.
| 
