The Financial Relief Navigator is an online tool that can help you find support to raise your income or lower your expenses in these challenging times. The tool will suggest income benefits or other support programs you may be eligible for in your province/territory in...

This report, Roadblocks and Resilience Insights from the Access to Benefits for Persons with Disabilities project, provides insights on the barriers people with disabilities in British Columbia face in accessing key income benefits. These insights, and the accompanying service principles that...

A report from Auditor General Karen Hogan concludes that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) managed the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) program so that millions of eligible families received accurate and timely payments. The audit also reviewed the one-time additional payment of up to $300 per child issued...

This toolkit has been created to support the Virtual Self Filing tax filing model piloted in 2020 by community agencies in Ontario. In this model, individuals file their own tax return but receive support from community agency staff or volunteers to do so.  This resource was made possible through...

Questions and answers released by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) about filing your taxes, including information on: Prior to filing your tax return changing your address getting someone else permission to access your tax information getting free tax help Filing your tax...

During 2020, alternative approaches to the traditional community tax clinic model have become even more valuable as COVID-19 lockdown measures prevented in-person program delivery. In response to the growing demand for alternative ways to deliver tax-filing support, Prosper Canada partnered...

This tax season, community tax clinics across Canada will be preparing to support clients virtually rather than in person amidst physical distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adapting to a virtual tax clinic model means preparing for different ways of volunteer preparation, client...

Service design consultancy Bridgeable provides an overview of the project partnership with Prosper Canada in April 2020 to take a design sprint approach in providing remote tax-filing and benefits application service solution. Over the course of four consecutive days, Bridgeable worked with...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a guide to assist intermediaries in serving individuals to access their Economic Impact Payments (EIPs). The guide, Helping Consumers Claim the Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations , provides step-by-step...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many Canadians were having difficulty making ends meet, and the pandemic has further impacted the financial well-being of financially vulnerable Canadians.  In this webinar, we present research on how COVID-19 has impacted the financial security of Canadians...

This publication explains a worker’s legal rights under the Employment Standards Act regarding hours of work and pay, overtime, breaks, holidays and vacations, and leave from your job. It also has information about how to make a claim against an...

This resource explains what a worker should do if they have a job-related injury or disease, how they can apply for benefits from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and what happens when the Board gets a report of their injury. It also has sections about what their employer must do, and...

This resource provides a list of free legal information resources produced by Community Legal Education Ontario...

This paper explores the intersection of digital innovation, digital services, access, and taxpayer rights in the Canadian context, in light of the experiences of vulnerable populations in Canada, from the perspective of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. Many aspects of the CRA’s digitalization...

The CVITP provides people, who may otherwise have dif culty accessing income tax and bene t return (return) ling services, with an opportunity to meet their ling obligations. Often, ling a return is required to gain access to, or continue to receive, the government credits and bene ts...

The mandate of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman is to assist, advise, and inform the Minister about any matter relating to services provided by the CRA. The Taxpayers’ Ombudsman fulfills this mandate by raising awareness, upholding taxpayer service rights, and facilitating the...

This booklet contains information on retirement planning on a low income. Topics include four things to think about for low income retirement planning, a background paper on maximizing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and determining Old Age Security (OAS) and GIS eligibility for people who...

The position of Taxpayers’ Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) was created to support the government priorities of stronger democratic institutions, increased transparency within institutions, and fair treatment. As an independent and impartial officer, the Ombudsman handles complaints about the service of...

Narrowing the definition of disability used by the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) could have serious implications. Improving the program’s assessment process would yield better results for applicants, Ontario's social safety net, and the government. This report explores the role of...

L’Explorateur d’allègements financiers : un outil pour connaître les mesures d’aide et d’allègement liées à la COVID-19 dont vos clients pourraient bénéficier En réponse à la pandémie de COVID-19 et en raison de la complexité des mesures d’aide et d’allègement offertes à...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the complexities of the benefits and financial relief measures available to Canadians, we developed the Financial Relief Navigator (FRN), an online resource that helps vulnerable Canadians and those that work with them access critical emergency benefits and...

WoodGreen Community Services, a large multi-service frontline social service agency in Toronto, provides free tax preparation services year-round to people living on low incomes. WoodGreen was interested in designing a novel solution to address the tax filing needs of homebound seniors who are...

Many frontline community organizations provide free tax preparation services to people living on low incomes across Canada using a variety of methods. However, when COVID-19 struck, a large majority of agencies offering free tax-filing supports were forced to close their doors and halt in-person...

Benefits and credits provide income and financial support for many individuals. This toolkit contains information on common tax credits and benefits, benefits for specific populations, and practitioner resources including case studies and information on identification documentation for accessing...

This toolkit contains resources and information which may offer support to organizations, agencies, or frontline staff supporting individuals, during a challenging time. This toolkit was developed in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and more resources will be added as they become...