Income Tax Clinics for Low-Income People

Filling out tax returns can be a daunting task. However, it is important to not overlook it in order to benefit from all available tax credits and deductions. That is why tax clinics allow people on a low income to take advantage of such services as help with filling out tax returns, for free or at a low cost.

Eligible criteria

The Income Tax Assistance - Volunteer Program is a program administered jointly by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Revenu Québec. It provides free assistance to eligible individuals through the collaboration of hundreds of community organizations and thousands of volunteers. Criteria must be met.

Income limits

To take advantage of the services offered by tax clinics, you must meet the annual income criteria provided by the program, depending on your situation:

Number of people	Maximum Income
A single person	$35,000
A couple	$45,000
An adult with one child	$45,000
Each additional dependent	$2,500

Some community organizations may set different maximum or minimum incomes than these.

Tax situation

To be eligible for a tax clinic, your tax situation must be considered “simple”.

Complex tax situations are excluded from the volunteer tax program. Your situation will be considered complex if one of the following criteria applies:

you are self-employed (except in certain situations, if your income is less than $1,000) or have employment expenses;
you have rental or business income and expenses;
you sold a residence;
you own property abroad;
you have capital gains or losses;
you declared bankruptcy; or
you are completing the return of a deceased person.

Taking advantage of available tax credits

Even if you do not think you will have any taxes to pay, it is important to fill out your tax return. In fact, people on a low income might be eligible for many tax credits just by sending in their returns.

For example, you may be eligible for the following refundable and non-refundable tax credits:

Provincial Government - Québec	Federal Government - Canada
Caregivers: Tax credit for caregivers Seniors: Independent living tax credit for seniors, Home-support services for seniors, Grant for seniors to offset a municipal tax increase Families: Children's activities, Childcare expenses Medical expenses Solidarity (formerly QST credit)	Caregivers: Canada caregiver amount for spouse or common-law partner or eligible dependant age 18 or older, Canada caregiver amount for other infirm dependants age 18 or older Handicapped people: Disability amount (for self), Disability amount transferred from a dependant Childcare expenses Eligible medical expenses you can claim on your tax return

Numerous tax clinics for different clientele

There are many types of clinics depending on the clientele and during what period the returns are filled out.

Clinics for seniors: these clinics only accept people aged higher than a certain age (for example over 50, 60 or 65 years old). Seniors can still receive services in clinics that accept clientele of all ages.
Clinics for newcomers: these clinics take care of the returns of immigrants who have been in Québec less than 5 years and whose situation may make filling out tax returns complicated.
Clinics for «everyone»: these clinics are open to everyone on a low income no matter the age.

To find the contact information of a clinic near you, you can contact us by telephone at 211, by chat at the bottom right of this page or by using our search tool above. If you make a search on our website, please be sure to check the territories and clientele served by each clinic. This information is available in each search result.

Please note that the majority of tax clinics offer their services only from February to May. Some may make an exception. Only active clinics appear in the results of our search tool.