Tax Credits and Strategies for Married Couples

There are a number of different tax credits and savings strategies that married or common law couples can take advantage of. These include claiming non-refundable tax credits for medical expenses, the new family care-giver tax credit, and if they have children, they can use the art activity credit.

Tax Credits for Married Couples

Hi my name is Alan Madan, your trusted accountant. Today I will use the story of Jack and Jane to illustrate some tax saving credits for married couples and personal tax saving tips.

Jack and Jane recently realized that tax season is approaching, and hoped to maximize tax season personal tax credits. They had been maximising their savings ever since they met and wanted to continue to do so. For 2013, they decided to make use of all the individual personal tax credits and strategies available to them in order to exponentially increase their savings.

Claim non refundable tax credits for medical expenses paid:

Jack had a nasty fall recently where he broke his leg. Jane had paid for all the pain killer prescriptions, cost of the crutches, and treatment. Having the lower net income, the total medical expenses totalled to more than 3 percent of her income. Hence, Jane was eligible for and able to claim the non refundable tax credits for medical expenses.

Claim the new family caregiver tax credit:

Unfortunately, it took Jack more than a year to recover and for his leg to gain back full function. For that entire year Jane had Jack as a qualifying dependent with impairment. She was able to claim the eligible dependent credit, the care giver credit, as well as the spouse or common law partner credit, plus $2000. These tax credits are only available for married or common law relationships.

Claim the art activity credit for your child:

After nurturing her own musical and artistic side, Jane decided to encourage her daughter’s artistic side as well. She enrolled Jill in painting classes, which cost no more than $500. These developmental classes helped Jill explore her creative side and allowed Jane to claim a 15 percent non refundable tax credit.

I hope you found this article about tax credits for married couples useful. For more related information, tips, and tricks, please have a look at our other articles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ALLAN MADAN

CPA, CA

Allan Madan is a CPA, CA and the founder of Madan Chartered Accountant Professional Corporation. Allan provides valuable tax planning, accounting and income tax preparation services in the Greater Toronto Area.

Related Resources