Once a year, we engage volunteers through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) to file simple tax returns for people who meet the eligibility requirements for the program. We serve clients of SWCHC and people who live in our SERVICE AREA.

Our next clinics will take place in March/April 2021. The registration details and dates will be posted on this page when they are available.

We are grateful to the team of exceptional volunteers who make this possible. Thanks volunteers - for playing your part to enable the best possible health and wellbeing for the people and communities we serve!

Information for Ottawa Community Housing Tenants:

If you are a resident of Ottawa Community Housing, your Ontario Trillium Benefit will be greatly reduced this year.

Here is an explanation:

• A decision was made by the City in 2014 to exempt Ottawa Community Housing from Property Taxes, and therefore applies to all tax returns done since tax year 2015.

• The main Trillium benefit has two parts:

• A sales tax credit

• A combined credit for energy and property tax (OEPTC): this can only be claimed by tenants whose rent includes a portion that covers the landlord’s property tax for that unit.

• Since OCH does not pay property tax, OCH tenants cannot claim this portion of the Trillium credit. This affects the Ontario Energy and Property Tax component of the Trillium Benefits, but has no impact on the Sales Tax component.

Volunteer Tax Clinics like ours were not made aware of this change, and filed taxes as though OCH tenants were paying property tax.

How does this impact OCH tenants?

• OCH tenants cannot claim the OEPTC. This will mean that Trillium benefits for these tenants will be lower than they were in previous years starting in July 2020.

• Ontario has begun to enforce this. As a result, some OCH tenants have been reassessed by the Canada Revenue Agency and are being required to repay that part of the credit.

If you have had your taxes filed with SWCHC and have questions, please contact us.