Ontario Tax Credits for Websites!!

[GeorgeK]

I was doing some research today, and came across this little-known program:

http://www.omdc.on.ca/English/Ontari...ax-Credit.html

Webhosting would count as part of "marketing and distribution" costs under this "Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (OIDMTC). Labour and other web content creation costs are eligible, too.

It definitely applies to websites (I called them and asked). Page 9 has some language that might exclude adult websites, if they are "contrary to public policy", however one can seek an advance ruling.

Might be worth exploring with your accountants.

[Hardlinks]

Very cool, George, will pass that on.

[WiredGuy]

Very interesting, I'm sending this over to my accountant.
WG

[Spoff]

Good find.. just emailed that over to the accountant! Thanks for this.

[GeorgeK]

You're welcome. What's funny is that my accountants are in the same building where that program is administered (different floor, though), but I discovered it before they did.

I don't think I'd personally have big deductions for this past year, but if I restructure my spending for future years as I develop content, they should be qualifying expenditures (one can seek a ruling in advance, to be extra sure).

If you are an owner-manager of your corporation, salary you pay yourself is NOT arms-length, and thus doesn't qualify for the tax credit. But, marketing (can one say "AdWords"??), distribution costs (webhosting??), and other content creation costs would appear to be eligible. Since a website is dynamic and updated often, you can have multiple versions, e.g. version 1.0 on June 1, 2005, version 2.0 on March 1, 2006, etc., and perhaps qualify multiple times for the credits, although one should talk to them to be sure (that's what the guy I was talking to said, but I wouldn't take it for gospel --- best to review the documents carefully with your beancounters).

[SilentKnight]

Helpful info, thanks for sharing.

For those of you who do your own photo and video production as well, there's a lot of items RevCan allows you to write off as 'props'. Hell, last year we even wrote off our artificial xmas tree since we featured it in a photoshoot.

Then again, if our corporation declares bankruptcy someday...we'll be celebratin' christmas around the tabletop tree again.

[LadyMischief]

Definitely going to look into this one.. thanks ;)

[IWantU_Jeff]

This just a provincial thing in ON? Wonder if QC has anything like that?

[GeorgeK]

That one is provincial, so only for Ontario people. I don't know about Quebec tax stuff, I'm afraid.

The tax system would be a lot simpler if they eliminated personal and corporate income taxes entirely, and instead generated all revenues from a national sales tax (maybe 20 or 25% rate). That would tax consumption only, and not investment, labour or income-producing activities. Plus, it would save a huge amount of paperwork (my GST and PST returns are simple to do). It would be a boost to the economy, and reduce the need for tax accountants.

In the Canadian federal election, though, the Conservatives want to reduce the GST from 7% to 5%, grrrr. It might be popular, but it's bad economics. He should be reducing income taxes, and raising the GST.