News release

Canada Revenue Agency tells monthly public transit pass holders: Keep your pass!

Ottawa, June 19, 2006... The Canada Revenue Agency is advising transit users to keep their monthly transit passes and receipts if they plan to claim a proposed new tax credit for public transit use on their 2006 income tax return.

If a transit pass displays the following information, the pass itself will be sufficient to support a claim for the tax credit:

• an indication that it is a monthly (or longer duration) pass;
• the date or period for which the pass is valid;
• the name of the transit authority or organization issuing the pass;
• the amount paid for the pass; and,
• the identity of the rider, either by name or unique identifier.

If a transit user's pass does not contain all of this information, the Agency advises that transit users also obtain a dated receipt, or retain cancelled cheques or credit card statements, to support the claim. The credit will be available for the portion of the pass that is used on or after July 1^st, even if the pass is purchased before that date.

Additional information on how to claim the proposed tax credit for public transit passes will be posted soon on the Canada Revenue Agency Web site at www.cra.gc.ca.

The transit pass credit, announced as part of the May 2006 federal budget, will allow individuals to claim the cost of passes for commuting on buses, streetcars, subways, commuter trains and local ferries. In addition to claiming his or her own cost of transit passes, an individual can make a claim on behalf of a spouse or common-law partner, and the individual's children under the age of 19, to the extent that they have not already been claimed by them.

This document is also available for download in .pdf format.

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