TAX CLINICS Coalition

NDG TAX CLINICS

The NDG Community Council has been helping individuals to fill their tax declaration for free for more than 20 years. Our service is offered from March to December. In 2021, to be able to serve residents safely, we will work on appointments or with an envelope system. You can contact us at 514 484 1471 or taxndg@ndg.ca to schedule an appointment in the following month or to obtain more information.

COORDINATOR Julie Cormier - taxndg@ndg.ca 514-484-1471 #225 DONATE

ATTENTION

Dear residents,
Due to COVID19 situation, our service is slower than usual. When you call for your appointment, our receptionist will inform you of the delay. Please note that we may not be able to complete all the declarations of the residents who contact us and that the eligibility criterias (see below) remain the same.

Useful links and documents

DO IT YOURSELF WORKSHOPS

Every year, through the month of March, we offer the occasion for residents to learn how to complete their simple tax declaration on their own.
In 2021, we will be offering multiple online sessions for residents to learn. If you would like to participate to one of our free workshop, please contact us for more information at taxndg@ndg.ca

2021 SCHEDULE

DROP YOUR DOCUMENTS

If you are not available to meet one of our volunteers on appointment, you also have the possibility to drop your documents at one of those time***:
***Please verify your eligibility for free tax services (see below) or by calling 514 484 1471 before coming.

NDG Community Council

(5964 Notre-Dame de Grâce, #204)

From 15 March to 20 April

Mondays 10am -12 and 3pm-6pm

Tuesdays 10am-1pm

The Depot Community Food Center

Tuesday 11 March 12-2 pm (6450 Somerled)

Tuesday 6 April 4:30 pm-6:30 pm (6505 Somerled)

Thursday 22 April 12-2 pm (6450 Somerled)

Centre Walkley (6650 Cote St-Luc)

Wednesday 17 March 9:30 am-12

Wednesday 14 April 4 pm-6 pm

Centre St-Raymond (5600 Upper Lachine)

Friday 26 March 1pm-3pm

Saturday 10 April 1pm-3pm

TO BE READY FOR A FREE TAX CLINIC YOU NEED

YOU QUALIFY IF:

1) You live in NDG and
2) You are not self-employed and
3) You had a modest income:

Single person: income less than $25,000
Couple: combined income less than $30,000
Income from investments less than $1,000
**Add 2000$ for each dependant

DOCUMENTS

To have your tax returns completed, you will need the following documents depending on your personnel situation. Through the year, keep all documents together; you will avoid stress when tax season comes. You will also be able to claim all credits and possibly get a bigger reimbursement!

INCOME TAX RETURN DOCUMENTS:

Employee: T4, RL-1
Employment Insurance receiver, T4E(Q), RQAP T4E, RL6
Workers Compensation benefits, or social assistance(welfare):T5007, RL- 5
Student: T2202A, RL- 8 (from school, college, university) , RL1 T4A (Loans and bursaries), Bank statement (interests paid on student loan)
Parents with Children: Parental benefits T4E (Q), RL-6, RL24 or receipt from daycare or school, RL-24 from school or/and camp, RL30 (subsidized daycare), RL19 (advanced payments), Receipt for any sports activities or art amount fees
Retired Person: T4A (OAS), T4A(P), Rl-2, Optional (T4RIF ) or/and T4RS
Medical expenses, homecare and caregiver expenses (pharmacy, dentist, optometrist, etc)
Seniors (70 +): Monthly rent for apartment, Home cleaning, Snow removal, Meals on Wheels, etc.
Tenants: RL31 (ask your landlord for it in February every year) If you live in a subsidized apartment, you will NOT be receiving a RL31.
Notice of Assessment from previous year (Québec and Canada)

NDG TAX COALITION

MEMBERS & PARTNERS

Many NDG organizations offer free tax clinics for many years. The NDG Community Council, the Senior’s Citizens Council, the Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi and the CIUSSS , in partnership with the Community Volunteer Program, offers free tax services to their clients, or to all NDG residents. In 2011, the Council joined all organizations offering tax services for modest income residents to create the NDG Tax Coalition. The mandate of the Coalition is to coordinate services and share resources to better serve the community. The Council is engaged to pursue with the Coalition and to recruit new partners.

MEMBERS:
NDG Community Council, NDG Senior Citizens Council, Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi NDG, The Depot Community Food Center, CIUSSS, CSL Library, StRaymond Community Center, Walkley Community Center, Westhaven Community Center.

Your organization wants to host a tax clinic?

The needs for tax preparation services in NDG always exceed the available spaces in the existing clinics. Every year, clinics are full and families must be send in organisations our of our neighborhood. If your organization wishes to propose a tax clinic, resources are available to you. The Community Volunteer Program was created to support those needs.

If you organise a tax clinic, you will work autonomously regarding the logistic of your days of consultations, the appointment management (or no-appointment service) and the greeting of your clients. Tax services works with the help of volunteers. You will be responsible to recruit your volunteers and offer an appropriate training. The Volunteer Program offers training material and many other useful information to organise a clinic.

Visit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/volunteer/ for all necessary information. You can also communicate with the Tax coordinator at the NDG Community Council for more support.

SUMMARY

Each year we serve 300-600 tax returns. Participants: 50-70 volunteers, 8-10 organizations, 7-8 locations

2020

In spring 2020, in collaboration with the NDG Tax Coalition, the Council had prepared to provide free tax clinics across the neighbourhood as we usually do. While the training of nearly 70 volunteers was going well, the COVID 19 pandemic striked. All training was stopped, our plan had to be put in pause.

Because we are aware of the importance of this free service for our population, we worked with our partners and got creative! The government gave extensions to all residents to produce tax declarations, which relieved some of the pressure on our Tax service.

By the 2nd week of April, we were back running with an envelope and a virtual system.

A total of 437 tax returns were completed and submitted through the months of April to December 2020. Three (3) ‘Do it yourself’ virtual workshops were also organised for residents to learn how to complete their own tax returns online, a total of nearly 90 residents assisted in those sessions.

The Council completed the training of the volunteers online through countless short Zoom sessions in both French and English, allowing all our volunteers to develop new capacities and serve the clinics. This program, therefore, serviced not only the residents but also the volunteers - many of whom were new immigrants seeking to gain work experience and self-confidence.

The Council was unfortunately not able to engage with all of the 70 extraordinary volunteers who did their training because of the COVID situation.

2019

2018

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

The NDG Community Council is looking for volunteers for the 2021 free tax clinics all over NDG. We need up to 50 volunteers to help low-income residents of NDG prepare their tax returns free of charge at clinics across the neighborhood in March and April 2021. Once again, we will keep offering the service all year and you might also have the opportunity to keep volunteering for the rest of the year. The Council offers a full training to volunteers but, if you already have experience, it is great! You must be fluent either in French or in English, be comfortable working on a computer and available to participate in at least 2 tax clinics (flexible schedule to be sent later).
You think you could be a good volunteer for the tax clinics? You want to have more information? Please let us know by email at taxndg@ndg.ca and we will contact you back with details on how to register! REGISTRATION MUST BE DONE BEFORE FEBRUARY 7th 2021 to be approved for the tax season.