Is November the Time to Revise Our Power of Attorneys and Help the Lung Association?

My husband and I have personal powers of attorney for each other. They state that each of us can make all decisions on behalf of the other whether its about our financial dealings or our children. Yes, we really trust each other! They were written, though, when we needed to travel abroad with our children and were intended primarily to ensure either of us could act for both during some unusual circumstances. I’ve been intending to revise and update our Powers of Attorney for some time and as an added incentive, I recently noticed an article in our newspaper about the Ontario Lung Association and charitable lawyers.

How Much Will It Cost to Write Up a Power of Attorney?

During November, various lawyers have agreed to donate their time (and the time of their staff) to draft Powers of Attorney in return for a donation to the Lung Association. The minimum donation is $50 per document, although anything higher will be graciously received.

We’ll actually need two POAs each: one for Personal Care (health issues) and one for Property (financial issues.) So that’s $100 each, or $200 for both of us. How does this compare to just paying a lawyer to draft the documents?

I haven’t checked every source for Powers of Attorney in Ontario but here are a few examples:

  • The Ottawa Orleans Lawyers website quotes a cost of $150 for a POA for property or medical care, or a cost of $250 for both documents. For a couple, the cost of both documents each is $300.
  • A website quotes a 2010 survey of lawyers as saying the cost to prepare a POA is between $108-219 in Ontario.
  • The Wise Law Office in Toronto charges $75 for each Power of Attorney.
  • You can create a “fill in the blanks” Power of Attorney for property and financial matters using an online service for $49. They don’t guarantee that it will apply to your circumstances, however, and say you would have to review it with your lawyer if you wanted confirmation.

So in general, it usually costs about $75-200 to get a straight-forward Power of Attorney drafted in Ontario by a lawyer.

How Can I Find a Lawyer Participating in the Will Campaign for the Ontario Lung Association?

The article I read suggested visiting the website on.lung.ca/TheWillCampaign to check for lawyers in our area who are participating in this initiative.

The website says they have lawyers participating in the program in:

  • Belleville
  • Brampton
  • Brantford
  • Cambridge
  • Chatham
  • Etobicoke
  • Hamilton
  • Kingston
  • London
  • Mississauga
  • Niagara Falls
  • North York
  • Orangeville
  • Ottawa
  • Sault Ste Marie
  • Simcoe
  • St. Catherines
  • Thorold
  • Waterloo
  • Welland
  • Windsor

If you’re interested, check the website and phone or email the contact provided on the site to receive a referral to a participating lawyer.

We emailed today but we won’t be ready to revise our Powers of Attorney just yet. In a few weeks, I’m attending a program on planning for Advanced Care and want to ensure I know about any tips they suggest for the medical POAs. (If any are particularly noteworthy, I will include them in a future article.)

What Does It Cost to Prepare a Basic Will Using the Ontario Lung Association Will Campaign?

You can also ask for a referral to a lawyer to prepare a basic will. The donation in that case is $100 per person.

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Do you have an up to date will and powers of attorney? If not, would you consider using a program like this to help yourself and others? Please share your views with  a comment.

Charitable Tax Receipts

As our final T-slips arrived last week, I’ve started pulling together the massive pile of paper that I’ll need to calculate our taxes. The stack of dental and eye doctor receipts are generally useless but the stack of charitable receipts is worth a good ka-ching. That’s what gives me the incentive to make sure that I’ve found them all.

The Danger of E-Receipts for Charitable Donations

I can understand charities trying to cut costs by not mailing out paper receipts. If the banks can tell me that it costs them $2 to send a bill, then a charity that has to send out receipts could waste thousands of dollars a year.

The danger is that most charities send e-receipts or send a link to a website with an e-receipt, almost as soon as you make a donation. Even if the donation was made January 1. That means you have to remember to find them all when tax time comes the following spring.

Try to make it easier on yourself. Set up a folder called either Taxes or Charities on your email account. Move the notes to that folder as soon as you receive them.

Similarly, for paper charitable receipts, try to keep a folder or a binder with a “page protector” folder in it. File the receipt as soon as it arrives so you can find it when you want it.

What *Me* Give? I Don’t Donate. Or Do I?

You may think you don’t donate much. If you’re like many of us, though, you probably give $20 here or there without even thinking about it, especially if you work in a large office or other place where co-workers are canvassing for their causes.

Here are some of the receipts we had to remember to find:

  • Run for the Cure (Sept/Oct)
  • Daffodil Days (April)
  • Red Cross Appeals
  • Heart and Stroke Skip-a-Thons
  • Ride for Heart (May/June)
  • Camps (May-August)
  • In Memorium Donations (for friends and relatives who died and requested donations to charities)
  • Movember (October/November)
  • Social Outreach Charities
  • United Way (especially if your workplace coerces you into giving even if you wouldn’t otherwise)
  • Nursing and Palliative Care
  • War Amps (March-May)

I’m sure I’ve missed a few. We’re always being hit up for donations to support our children’s, nieces’ and nephews’, siblings’, extended families’ and friends’ charities of choice. Hopefully, though, this list will get you thinking, and maybe checking your email archives.

What If I Miss a Receipt from a Charity?

Fortunately, the CRA let’s you claim charity receipts from any donations made during the current tax year and the previous 5 years. So on your 2013 return, for example, you can claim charitable contribution receipts from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Why Might I Give My Charitable Donation Receipts to My Spouse or Partner?

Unlike many circumstances where the CRA seems determined to treat married and legally-common-law couples as if they are single, for charitable giving they are willing to admit you’re in a partnership. They are willing to treat a donation made by either spouse or partner as a joint donation. Consequently, one person can claim all of the charitable contributions made by both parties.

Why bother?

The benefit is because there is a different tax credit for the first $200 you contribute and for each dollar given above $200.

If both spouses or partners claim their charitable receipts separately, the $200 hurdle has to be jumped twice. If the receipts are combined, up to an additional $200 benefits from the maximum tax credit.

Here’s an example:
Imagine Sarmud and his wife Noor both donated $200 each in 2013.
They live in Newfoundland.
If they claim their receipts separately, each one will get a tax credit (combined federal and provincial) of $45.40.
If one of them claims the full $400, the tax credit is $130.
That’s $39.20 more tax credit.

Why Might I Choose to Wait to Claim my Charitable Contributions?

Around here there is no benefit in waiting. We donate well over the $200 hurdle each year. However, for some people there may be an advantage in waiting a year or two to claim their charitable givings.

Jumping the $200 Hurdle
The impact of charitable donations on your taxes varies. The first $200 donated gets you less back than all amounts above $200.

Because of this 2-tiered system, it may be worth gathering your receipts for 2 or more years before claiming them to maximize how many dollars are claimed above the $200 level.

For example, using the CRA calculator:
For a person living in B.C., if you claim a $200 donation, your total tax credit is $40.12.
If the donation was $400, the total tax credit is $127.52.
That means waiting until you have $400 gets you $47.28 more in tax credit

So what are you waiting for? Go out there. Give money. Then claim it in the best way to get the best tax credit.

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Will you be eligible for the First-Time Donor’s Super Credit? Do you resent the fact that only new givers are getting a reward? Please share your insights with a charitable comment.