If you or your spouse or common-law partner have children and you’re claiming the work premium and/or adapted work premium tax credits on your Québec tax return, you can designate one of them as your dependant child. This will allow you to claim the maximum tax credit amount possible that’s applicable to your situation, since both these tax credits are calculated based on your family income and family situation.
Tax tip: If you have more than one dependant child, designate the child with the lowest income as your dependant child to get the most in work premium and/or adapted work premium amounts.
You can designate your child or that of your spouse’s as a dependent child if:
- You or your spouse received child assistance payments for the child from Retraite Québec for December 2016
- You or your spouse are claiming (or could have claimed had the child not earned income) an amount for a child under 18 enrolled in post-secondary studies for that child
- Your child’s over 18 but is a full-time student at the secondary level or pursuing post-secondary studies and they received an RL-8 slip with an amount in box A or
- Your child’s under 18, lives with you, doesn’t have a child of their own, and isn’t recognized as an emancipated minor by a court
Note: If custody of the child is shared under a judgment or written agreement, the child is deemed to have lived with you only if, you or your spouse had custody at least 40% of the time during the year.
Unfortunately, you can’t designate as a dependent child if the child was confined to a prison or a similar institution on December 31, 2016 for more than six months.
Remember, your designated dependent child can’t claim any of the tax credits respecting the work premium for the year.
Where can I learn more?
- Work premium (Revenu Québec website)
