Monday, March 1, 2010

HRTC Revisited: Common Element Expenses For Condos

Canadian income tax deadlines are just around the corner, and just in time, the Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI) has released an information bulletin to clarify how the Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) affects condominium corporations and condo owners.  The document includes the legal interpretation of HRTC rules and the legal responsibilities for condo boards and property management companies.

As a follow-up to our original HRTC post, condo owners, boards and management companies may find this information helpful.  Based on the bulletin, the statement of eligible expenses may take some time to prepare, and in some cases further clarification may be required from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  Condo owners who wish to claim eligible common expenses related to HRTC on their return may want to contact their condo board or property management office as early as possible tgive administrators enough time to prepare and provide any appropriate documentation, where applicable.

Some of the questions answered in this bulletin include:
  • Do condo corporations have to provide an HRTC receipt to condo owners?
  • Do reserve fund expenditures qualify as eligible expenses?
  • Do ancillary expenditures related to eligible expenses qualify as eligible expenditures?
  • Are the common element portions for parking spaces and lockers included in the portion of eligible expenses assigned to an individual unit which owns those parking spaces and lockers?
For complete details, please click here to read the CCI’s HRTC info bulletin.