Everything’s green for St. Patrick’s Day – shamrocks, green shirts, even green beer – making it the perfect day to think about taking action to make our environment a cleaner, greener place.
Being green is its own reward, of course, but there are also financial rewards such as tax credits. See how many of these green tax credits you’ll be able to claim this year.
Income Tax Credits
Do you take public transit? Then you’ll definitely want to use the Public Transit Tax Credit when you do your income tax. You don’t have to be a student and, as this is a federal tax credit, you don’t have to live in any particular province; you can claim the full amount of public transit passes that permit unlimited travel on buses, streetcars, subways, commuter trains and even local ferries.
Have you installed a geothermal ground source heating system or solar thermal heating equipment in 2012? If you did and you live in Manitoba, you’ll be able to claim the Green Energy Equipment Tax Credit (15% of the eligible capital installation cost of geothermal ground source heating and 10% of the eligible capital cost of qualified solar thermal heating equipment installed in 2012).
Provincial Sales Tax Credits and Exemptions
The provinces are also making efforts to reward people and businesses for being green.
Did you buy or lease an alternative fuel or hybrid vehicle? Several provinces offer rebates of the provincial taxes you pay when you buy or lease a hybrid vehicle. In Prince Edward Island (PEI), provincial sales tax rebates of up to $3,000 are available on hybrid vehicles purchased or leased; Quebec offers a similar rebate on the QST (Quebec Sales Tax).
Ontario runs an Electric Vehicle Incentive Program; those who purchase a new plug-in hybrid electric or battery electric vehicle are eligible for an incentive ranging from $5,000 to $8,500. They can also apply for rebates of up to $1,000 or 50 percent of the cost of installing an electric vehicle charging station at their home or business.
And BC offers a similar program. The Clean Energy Vehicle Program provides up to $5,000 off of the pre-tax sticker price per eligible clean energy vehicle. The vehicle you buy doesn’t have to be electric; new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and compressed natural gas vehicles are also eligible.