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Thank you for your e-mail received in our office on December 22, 2011 regarding the Cost of Living increase for the Municipal Pension Plan.
Effective January 1, 2012, a cost-of-living increase of 3.2 % will be added to your pension. Annual cost-of-living adjustments are not guaranteed; however, once granted, adjustments become a permanent part of your guaranteed basic lifetime pension.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact our office at 1 866 876-6677.
Regards,
Denise Johnson
Client Representative
Municipal Pension Services | Pension Corporation
Phone: 250 356-9657 (Victoria) 1-866-876-6677 (within BC)
1-800-663-8823 (Canada/US) Fax: 250 953-0431
Visit us online at www.pensionsbc.ca
Hi Marc,
In my never-ending quest to find a deal, I’ve been doing a lot of research into the tax benefits available to people with a disability.
And I’ve found a lot.
Now, I never would have started on this road if one of the other students in UVic’s CDSMP course hadn’t mentioned that the CRA definition of disabled changed last year to include people with multiple disabilities. That got me started.
Please see materials (7) attached, including a Financial Post story about the Registered Disability Savings Plan which seems like a good deal to me.
You can also view all of the new federal credits and tax exempt programs for people with disabilities at:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/dsblts/menu-eng.html
One of the most important pieces of news is that if you have multiple permanent disabilities that affect two areas of function you can be considered disabled for tax purposes. This means that people with a whack of “minor” disabilities—including mental illnesses—can now receive a tax credit of $6,900/year retroactive to when they were diagnosed with dual disabilities or 2005 (whichever came later).
The paperwork for this is pretty easy and the CRA usually doesn’t challenge the info if your doctor signs off on it.
And did you know that if you do any renovations to your home to accommodate your disability then you can claim that as a medical expense? I renovated my bathroom last summer to include safety bars and a wider door opening. Now I can claim the entire reno as a medical expense. Yes!
One further note: the RDSP provides folks with the opportunity to get thousands of dollars of free cash but the deadline is March 2.
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