CAI Rural Supplement; Shared Custody
The Climate Action Incentive has been around since 2018, but this year is the first time it is being paid as a quarterly benefit payment instead of part of the income tax refund (or reduce taxes payable).
The first payment was made on July 15, 2022, by direct deposit or by cheque. The payment was for two quarterly payments for April and July. The next payments will be made October 2022 and January 2023.
10% Rural Supplement
If you are married or common-law and are entitled to the 10% rural supplement, check the notice you received July 15 to confirm if you did receive the 10% rural supplement.
It appears that there is a glitch with CRA and not all CAI payments with the rural supplement are correct; in particular for couples (married or common-law).
If you live in Winnipeg or surrounding municipalities like Ritchot, Tache, and Springfield, then you do NOT get the extra 10%; all other rural municipalities in Manitoba that do not border on Winnipeg, do qualify for the extra 10% rural supplement.
There seems to be an error with CRA. Depending on which spouse the CRA processed first, they may or may not have included the extra 10%.
The CAI notices were mailed on or about July 15; or you may be receiving the notices digitally. If you or your spouse did not receive it by mail, then you need to sign in to your CRA My Account to view the notice.
If you did not receive the extra 10% that you think you were entitled to receive, you can request CRA to adjust the benefit.
Contact the firm that filed your taxes for you to have any adjustments made. We have been contacting our clients by email to ask them to check their notices and we will adjust any of our clients that did not get the 10% rural supplement that they were entitled to. If you filed your own taxes, we do have adjustment forms available for you to complete and send in to CRA. You can drop by our office to pick up the form.
Shared Custody
If you are a single parent, your CAI payment is based on the custody on file with CRA, much like your CCB (Canada Child Benefit) and GST Credit. If you have shared custody; your CCB information regarding custody will be used to determine the amount for CAI. The CAI for the children will be 50% of the normal amount if you have shared custody.
Marital Status change or Moving
The Climate Action Incentive is based on where you are living and your marital status on the day the payment is made. So when either of these change, it’s important to contact CRA immediately so benefits are paid correctly.
Contact CRA Benefits immediately (1.800.387.1193) if:
– you move
– your marital status changes or you change your name
– the number of children in your care changes
– you start or end sharing custody of one or more children
– your banking information changes
– the recipient of the notice has died
You can also update your information online if you have signed up for CRA My Account.
OAS extra 10%
In July, Service Canada sent letters to seniors 75+ to advise their basic OAS will be increased to $733.51. The amount stated in the letter did not include any information about the Guaranteed Income Supplement; so it was misleading and some seniors thought their OAS and GIS was lower than the previous month. All seniors eligible for the GIS will receive letters later in July notifying them of their combined amount of OAS and GIS. The GIS is added to the basic OAS.
Death Café
Our last Death Café was in 2019 and we look forward starting them up again. We have chosen two dates in September to host Death Cafés. If you are interested in attending, give us a call to reserve your spot: 204.422.6631. If you do not know what a Death Café is, call us, or check out their website: Deathcafe.com. Death Café is an international movement founded in 2011.
A Death Café is where people gather to discuss death and other end of life topics with other people that are open to this discussion. There is no particular agenda other than sharing and awareness. At a Death Café, we gather to eat a snack, drink coffee or tea or juice, and discuss death. It is a discussion group of death with no agenda, objectives, or themes; and there is no cost to attend. The goal is in helping to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.
Anni Markmann is a Personal Income Tax Professional and Certified Financial Planner; living, working, and volunteering in our community. Contact Ste Anne Tax Service at 204.422.6631 or 36 Dawson Road in Ste Anne (near Co-op) or info@sataxes.ca