When I eventually get around to thinking about preparing my income tax return, the first thing I do is to check to see if there are any new tax deductions or credits that are available to me. Usually, there aren’t, because I tend to keep up on this stuff, but this year I discovered a new tax credit called the Digital Subscription Tax Credit. It’s new for 2020.
Under this tax credit, you can claim up to $500.00 annually for digital subscriptions with a qualified Canadian journalism organization. You get a tax credit of 15% of the amount you claim. So if you claimed the maximum of $500.00, that works out to a tax saving of $75.00.
To qualify for the credit, a digital news subscription must entitle the subscriber to access content in digital form that is primarily written news.
A list of qualifed journalism organizations, can be found on the CRA website at the link below. Check to see if your newspaper subscription is on the list:
List of qualifying journalisim organizations
Individuals who have a subscription that is eligible, can claim the credit on Line 31350 of your T1 Income Tax and Benefit Return for the 2020 to 2024 tax years.