2020 Ontario Budget Highlights

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

The anticipated 2020 Ontario budget was released today. Surprisingly, there were no substantial personal or corporate tax measures introduced. The budget reiterated the COVID-19 measures the Ontario government has put in place to date and touched upon a couple of new ones.

New COVID-19 measure introduced in the budget

Over the last number of months, the government has introduced a number of COVID-19 measures. One additional measure applicable to small business introduced is:

Property tax relief – Beginning in 2021, municipalities would be able to adopt a new optional property subclass for small business properties. The small business property subclass will allow municipalities to provide targeted tax relief by reducing property taxes to eligible small business properties.

Lowering Payroll Taxes for Employers

The EHT exemption increase from $490,000 to $1M will be made permanent. This is an increase in payroll tax savings for employers of up to $9,945 per year.

EHT installments starting in 2021 will be based on a $1.2M starting point for payroll threshold, up from the previous $600k. This will defer the need to pay EHT during the year.

Corporate Tax Measures – Some New Extensions of Deadlines

1. Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit (ORDTC). The proposed change would parallel the extension of the reporting deadlines for federal scientific research and experimental development claims. Corporations with tax yearends from September 13, 2018 to December 31, 2018 would have an additional six months to file an ORDTC claim and those with tax year-ends from January 1, 2019 to June 29, 2019 would have until December 31, 2020 to file a claim.

2. Ontario Cultural Media Tax Credits – There is an extension to deadlines for many aspects of these credits including The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit and the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Personal Tax Measures

1. Introduction of the Senior's Home Safety Tax Credit which is a refundable tax credit worth up to $2,500 and based on $10,000 of eligible home renovation improvements.

If you have any questions about these measures or other aspect of the Ontario 2020 Budget please contact your RMT representative.