OTTAWA -- Filing taxes can be complicated for any of us; even more so for the homeless or someone living in an emergency shelter.
Clients at the Ottawa Mission are receiving help with their taxes from the experts at H&R Block, who are doing it for free.
"Being our expertise and wanting to help the community, this is the way we can do it," says Michel Belanger, H&R Block’s district manager for Ottawa-Gatineau.
He says although it’s "an obligation" to do your taxes, there are advantages to getting it done, especially for someone with low or no income, in order to take advantage of certain tax credits.
Those tax benefits are important to the clients.
"To access the benefits that they’re entitled to, to help them get back on their feet," says Eileen Leo with The Ottawa Mission.
"The average filing here, in past years, has been around a thousand dollars."
Belanger says doing a tax return for someone with virtually no income would cost starting at $49.
Those who qualify for credits, average about $1,000 dollars back through different programs.
"You’d be looking at your GST payments - so, if you don’t file you’d lose out on your GST payments, the Climate Action Incentive, which is new for the last couple of years, and also the Ontario Trillium," Belanger says.
The Mission also provides a mailing address for those filing, and the program runs virtually until Sunday.
"They’ve been a great partner with us, the more we can help - the better it is," says Belanger.
The Canada Revenue Agency says there are also free tax clinics for eligible individuals who "have a modest and a simple tax situation," available through community groups. Those can be found on the CRA website.
