Claiming for an eligible dependant

In previous years, if you were a single parent, you could claim for one of your children in a section called Equivalent-to-spouse-amount. It is now called Amount for an eligible dependant.

If your child has no income, you can claim $6,482. However, if you are going to claim one of your children as an eligible dependant, you have to fill out another schedule.

You have to fill out Schedule 5. You enter the name, date of birth, address, and net income of your child. If this is a young child, he or she will probably have no income. An older child might be working part time. You would have to take your child's net income away from $6,482. You enter the amount you are going to claim on line 305 of Schedule 1.

CPP and EI payments made by you

If you are working, you will be able to enter the amounts you paid for CPP and EI. (You can find these amounts on the T4 your employer gave you in the early part of the year.) CPP contributions go on line 308, and EI premiums go on line 312 of Schedule 1.

Other amounts you might claim

There are several other amounts you may be able to include, but the ones mentioned here are the most common ones. You may want to consult one of CCRA's tax volunteers for help if you are going to claim any other amounts that can be included in your tax credits. Most of these amounts are found on lines 314-326 in the real Schedule 1.

Medical expenses

If you have had a lot of medical expenses during the year, you may be able to claim a tax credit for some of these. The government believes it is reasonable for us to pay a certain amount in medical expenses, but if you have to spend a lot, you are able to get a bit of a tax break.

Your medical expenses have to be more than 3% of your net income or more than $1,728, whichever is less. So if your net income was $15,000, 3% would be $450. This is much less than $1,728, so you could claim any medical expenses over $450 but less than $1,728 that you had paid for during the year.

• To claim the medical expenses, you have to add the amounts on all the receipts and put the total on line 330 of Schedule 1.

• Now subtract either 3% of your net income or $1,728, whichever is less. This amount goes on line 332.

Remember it is quite simple to work out a percent of a money amount. To find out how much you can claim for medical expenses, first find your net income - on line 236 of your T1 form - and multiply it by .03. Use a calculator if you wish. Just remember the decimal point and the two decimal digits in the answer. This will give you 3% of your net income.

Enter your allowable medical expenses on line 332 of Schedule 1.