What’s going up (or down) in 2018
With the arrival of the New Year, some taxes, fees and prices are changing. Here’s a list of things that will cost you more — and where you’ll get some money back — in 2018:
PUBLIC TRANSIT
Fares for the STM, Réseau de transport de Longueuil, Société de transport de Laval and Réseau de transport métropolitain (the former AMT) will remain the same — at least for now: a freeze has been put into effect until July.
YOUR TAX BILL (AND TAX REFUNDS)
The provincial income tax rate on the first $42,705 of an individual’s income was reduced in November to 15 per cent from 16 per cent. While the change was retroactive and applies to the whole 2017 taxation year, taxpayers won’t see the effect until they file their taxes.
As of Jan. 1, source deductions have been updated to account for the change. That means taxpayers will see a little less (around $11 every two weeks, if they make $42,705 or more) deducted from their pay cheques.
Parents of children age four to 16 will receive $100 for each child from the provincial government for school supplies starting in January, if they’re signed up for direct deposit. Parents receiving cheques from the province will have to wait until February.
Provincial child assistance payments will rise 0.82 per cent.
There will be a few other changes to your tax bill — employment insurance premiums are rising three per cent to $1.30 per $100 of insurable income in Quebec. (Quebecers pay lower EI premiums than residents of other provinces because the provincial government runs several programs that are covered by EI elsewhere).
The maximum insurable earnings are rising to $51,700 from $51,300.
Quebec Parental Insurance Plan premiums are staying the same, as are Quebec Pension Plan contributions, though the maximum employee contribution will rise to $2,829.60 from $2,797.20.
BUSINESS TAX
Federal tax changes aimed at preventing high-income individuals from using private corporations to divert some of their income to family members who make less, in an effort to reduce their tax burden, went into effect on Jan. 1. Under the new rules, if a family member receiving this sort of transfer (usually paid in the form of dividends) doesn’t contribute to the business, they’ll have to pay the highest marginal rate on the income.
Employers will see the EI premiums they pay rise to $1.82 per $100 of insurable income, per employee, from $1.78.
DAYCARE
Fees for subsidized daycare will also be changing. Thresholds to qualify for different fees will be rising, as will daily fees.
For low and middle-income parents, the increase means an additional $0.30 per day, for the first child. At higher incomes, that rises to $0.75 per day, per child.
MORTGAGES
As of Jan. 1, all prospective home buyers will now have go through a “stress test” to qualify for a mortgage. The test will verify whether the prospective borrower can afford to pay the five-year benchmark rate published by the Bank of Canada or two per cent more than the contractual mortgage rate they negotiated — whichever is higher.
Currently, the stress test applies only to borrowers with a down payment of less than 20 per cent.
PARKING
Some lots managed by Stationnement de Montréal will have rate changes. A map of new prices is available online: statdemtl. qc.ca/en/find/parking-lots.html
PARCELS
Canada Post will be increasing the price businesses pay for sending a parcel within Canada by an average of four per cent on Jan. 15, depending on the type of customer sending the package. The cost of sending a package to the United States is set to rise by an average of 1.2 per cent.
MILK
Quebec dairies are asking the provincial body that regulates milk prices for an increase of 3.48 per cent in 2018. However, a decision isn’t expected until February.