Tax on UCCB payments frustrates parents
An Edmonton mother was not impressed when she learned changes to the Universal Child Care Benefit would mean extra taxes.
Earlier this month, the federal government announced parents would receive an additional $60 per month per child under the age of six. For the first time, parents would also receive $60 for each child between the ages of 6 to 17.
Parents received the increase backdated to Jan. 1st in a single payment earlier this month.
Tina Ward has paid a subsidized rate since she put her daughter into daycare five years ago. Ward initially thought the extra cash was great. But then she heard the government eliminated the Child Tax Credit.
"That little bit of extra that you thought you were getting, it's useless now," she said. "It's like kind of being lied to."
Accountant Sunni Stephan said the loss of the Child Tax Credit means there is nothing to offset the added taxes from the benefit.
She says that could have implications next spring.
"Most people receive a refund when I do their taxes at year end," she said. "I think that this will change that for a lot of my clients. Most of them will end up paying if they do have children."
Stephan estimates parents will only gain about $100 or $200 from the new benefit.
She worries some of her lower income clients will spend the benefit, leaving them unable to afford a higher tax bill next spring.
