Tax Credits and Deductions Newcomer Families Often Miss

A lot of newcomer families leave money on the table every spring. Not because they’re careless — because the Canadian tax system is built to reward people who know which forms to file, and nobody hands you that list at the airport.

I’ve sat at the kitchen table with family members going through shoeboxes of receipts in April, trying to figure out what counts and what doesn’t. The pattern is always the same: there’s money waiting for them, they just didn’t know it was theirs to claim.

This is a plain list of the credits and deductions newcomer families miss most often. It’s not every rule. It’s the ones I’ve watched families overlook for years. Verify the current 2026 amounts at canada.ca before you file — the numbers below were accurate for the 2025 tax year.

File a return your first year, even with zero income

This is the single biggest miss. Many newcomers think: I didn’t earn anything in Canada this year, so I don’t need to file.

Wrong. Filing is how the CRA knows you exist. Filing is how you turn on the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit, the climate action incentive (where it applies), and your provincial credits. No return, no benefits.

This applies to everyone in the household: working adults, stay-at-home spouses, adult kids over 19, and seniors. Each person files their own return.

The GST/HST credit (apply with form RC151)

The GST/HST credit is a quarterly tax-free payment to lower-income individuals and families. For an adult with a modest income it can be a few hundred dollars a year. For a couple with kids, more.

Here’s the catch for newcomers: in your first year, the CRA doesn’t have your income history. You have to apply using form RC151 — “GST/HST Credit Application for Individuals Who Become Residents of Canada.” Most people never hear about this form. Their tax software won’t always prompt them either, because they’re filing as a new resident.

After year one, the CRA will assess you automatically based on your tax return. But year one, you apply manually. (Verify the form name and the current process at canada.ca before filing.)

Canada Child Benefit (apply with form RC66)

If you have kids under 18, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is probably the single biggest payment your family will get from the government. For kids under 6, it was up to roughly $7,800 per child per year in 2025. For kids 6 to 17, up to about $6,570. Amounts shrink as family income rises (verify the current 2026 figures at canada.ca/cra).

For newcomers, the CCB doesn’t start automatically. You apply using form RC66 (“Canada Child Benefits Application”) plus form RC66SCH if you’ve become a Canadian resident recently. The CRA also needs to know about your world income for the years before you arrived, so they can calculate the right amount.

Apply as soon as you land. Payments start the month after you become eligible, and the CRA can usually backdate up to 11 months if you apply late — but don’t count on it.

Moving expenses (within Canada, mostly)

This one trips up a lot of people. Moving to Canada from another country generally doesn’t qualify for the moving expense deduction. The rule is that the move has to be to start a job, run a business, or attend a post-secondary school full-time, AND you have to move at least 40 km closer to your new work or school.

For most newcomers, the first international move doesn’t count. But the second move — from Toronto to Calgary for a new job, for example, or from Vancouver to a university town — often does. The expenses you can claim include:

• Transportation and storage of household items
• Travel costs for you and your family
• Temporary lodging up to 15 days
• Lease cancellation fees on your old place
• Certain costs of selling your old home and buying a new one

Keep every receipt. The CRA can ask for them years later.

Medical expenses

Newcomer families almost always under-claim medical expenses. Provincial health insurance covers a lot, but a lot of things it doesn’t: prescription glasses, dental work, prescription drugs not covered by your plan, physiotherapy, chiropractic, certain medical devices, ambulance fees, and travel for medical care if there’s no provider nearby.

You can claim medical expenses for yourself, your spouse, and your dependent children. The credit only kicks in on expenses above a threshold (3% of net income or a set dollar amount, whichever is lower — verify the 2026 number at canada.ca).

Tip: it’s usually better to claim all medical expenses on the lower-income spouse’s return, because the 3% threshold is calculated on their income.

Tuition and education credits

If you or your adult kids are studying at a designated post-secondary institution in Canada, the tuition tax credit can be significant. The school gives you a T2202 slip — keep it.

Two things newcomers often miss:

• Unused tuition credits can be carried forward to future years when the student has income to use them against.
• A student can transfer up to a set amount of unused tuition credits to a parent, grandparent, or spouse each year (the 2025 federal transfer cap was $5,000 — verify current amount).

So if your kid is in university and not earning much, their tuition can lower your tax bill. They have to file their own return first and sign the transfer.

Childcare expenses

If you pay for daycare, before- and after-school care, day camps, or a nanny so you can work or study, those costs are deductible — usually on the lower-income spouse’s return.

The deduction is capped per child (the 2025 cap was $8,000 for kids under 7, and $5,000 for kids 7 to 16 — verify current amounts). You need receipts with the caregiver’s name and, if it’s an individual, their Social Insurance Number. Many newcomer families pay friends or family informally and don’t get receipts. Without a receipt, no deduction.

Disability Tax Credit

This is one of the most underused credits in the whole system. If you, your spouse, or your child has a prolonged physical or mental impairment that markedly affects daily living, you may qualify. It’s not just for severe disabilities — chronic conditions, autism, ADHD with significant impairment, severe diabetes, and many others can qualify if a doctor certifies them on form T2201.

Once approved, the credit can be backdated up to 10 years and refunds can be substantial. It also opens the door to the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), which comes with government matching grants.

If anyone in your family has a real, ongoing health condition, ask your doctor about the DTC. The worst they can say is it doesn’t qualify.

Foreign property reporting (this one’s a trap, not a credit)

Worth mentioning because it bites newcomer families hard. If you own foreign property worth more than $100,000 CAD total at any point in the year — bank accounts, rental properties, stocks held overseas, etc. — you have to report it on form T1135. The family home you used to live in is generally excluded, but rental properties and investment accounts are not.

The penalty for not filing T1135 starts at $25 a day and adds up fast. This isn’t optional, and it’s not a credit — it’s a disclosure form. Many newcomer families have no idea it exists until the CRA writes them years later.

Good news: in your first year of Canadian residency, you generally don’t need to file T1135. Starting year two, you do if you cross the threshold.

Public transit and employment credits (check your province)

The federal public transit credit ended years ago, but several provinces have brought back versions of it for seniors or low-income riders. Provinces also offer their own credits — rent and property tax credits in Ontario, the climate action tax credit in BC, similar in other provinces.

When you file, your tax software should ask about your province. Don’t skip those questions. That’s where the provincial money lives.

How to actually check what you qualify for

Three free tools, in order of usefulness:

• CRA My Account at canada.ca — once you register, you can see your benefit eligibility, past returns, and any credits the CRA has on file for you.
• Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) — free tax clinics for modest-income families, often available in multiple languages. Search “free tax clinic” plus your city.
• A tax preparer who’s done newcomer returns before — not all preparers know the newcomer-specific forms. Ask.

What our parents would say

A lot of our parents grew up in places where you don’t volunteer information to the government. You keep your head down and you don’t make yourself a target. Filing a tax return when you didn’t have to feels like asking for trouble.

Canada is genuinely different on this one. The system is built to pay you back if you file. Skipping the paperwork doesn’t make you invisible — it just means the money the government already set aside for your family stays in Ottawa.

File the return. Apply for the credits. Keep your receipts in one shoebox instead of three. Verify the current 2026 amounts at canada.ca before you act, because the numbers shift most years. And if you missed claims from past years, ask the CRA to adjust them — up to 10 years back. People recover thousands this way.

Our parents weren’t wrong to be cautious. They were cautious about the wrong system. This one rewards the paperwork.