The Canada Revenue Agency Announced Major Changes That Could Affect Your 2022 Taxes

COVID-19 benefits, new tax brackets and more!

Assistant Editor, MTL Blog

The exterior of a Government of Canada building, Right: A Canada Revenue Agency tax form.

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As tax season fast approaches, navigating this time of year is no easy feat and with new changes outlined by the Canada Revenue Agency — it can sometimes feel too overwhelming.

We’re making tax season a little bit easier for you to cope with a list of the newly announced changes that could affect your 2022 taxes, including significant changes to tax brackets and the first-time homebuyers' tax credit.

Here are nine changes, updates and tax credits to take note of ahead of the annual filing:

Repaying COVID-19 benefits

Canadians who received COVID-19 benefits from the CRA in 2022, including the Canada Recovery Benefit, Canada Sickness Recovery Benefits and/or the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, you should receive a T4A slip with all required information.

Work from home expenses

If you worked from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eligible Canadians can claim up to $500 for work-from-home expenses. Exact amounts are determined based on overall expenses. However, if you haven't been keeping track, you can use a flat rate method of $2 for each day worked from home.

Tax brackets have changed

The Government of Canada changed the tax brackets for 2022 to account for inflation. The new federal tax brackets for 2022 were raised according to an indexation of 2.4%:

$0 to $50,197 of income (15%)
More than $50,197 to $100,392 (20.5%)
More than $100,392 to $155,625 (26%)
More than $155,625 to $221,708 (29%)
$221,708.01 and higher (33%)

Air quality improvement tax credit

Self-employed Canadians or member of a partnership in 2022 may be eligible to claim a refundable tax credit that equals to 25% of your total ventilation expenses used to improve the air quality at your place of business.

Disability tax credit

For 2021, and later tax years, an individual diagnosed with type I diabetes is "deemed to have met the the two times and 14 hours per week requirement for life-sustaining therapy," the CRA said.

First-time home buyers' tax credit

If you purchased a qualifying home for the first time in 2022, it's important to note that the first-time home buyers' tax credit has increased to $10,000 for a qualifying home purchased after December 31, 2021, double the amount of previous years.

Home accessibility tax credit

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, "the annual expense limit of the home accessibility tax credit has increase to $20,000."

TFSA limit increases

The TFSA contribution limit for Canadians was $6,000 until 2022, but has increased to $6,500 for the 2023 year.

RRSP limit increase

The annual RRSP dollar limit for 2022 is $29,210.

This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax or accounting advice.

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