Earlier this year, the government shared its progress on the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP).
The CDCP will be available to Canadians with an annual family income of less than $90,000 who do not have dental benefits. Co-pays will be waived for eligible Canadians with a family income of less than $70,000.
Canadians who have access to private dental coverage are not eligible for the CDCP. This means that if you offer group dental coverage** as an employer you must report on T4s/T4As if dental coverage was available on December 31 of the reporting tax year for:
- Employees,
- Employees’ spouses and/or dependents,
- Former employees, and
- Spouses of deceased employees
**potential dental coverage includes Health Care Spending Accounts.
This new tax reporting requirement is mandatory starting with the 2023 tax year. Employee tax slips will include new boxes for employers to complete:
- Box 45 (T4): Employer Offered Dental Benefits. This new box will be mandatory.
- Box 015 (T4A): Payor Offered Dental Benefits. This new box will be mandatory if plan sponsors report in Box 016, Pension or Superannuation. The box will otherwise be optional.
The following is the code system for completing the boxes. Choose the appropriate code based on whether Dental coverage was available to the plan member – not whether the plan member has chosen to participate in the coverage. For example, if a plan member has waived coverage or has chosen not to participate in the plan, they would still have access to coverage.
- Code 1: The plan member has no access to dental care insurance or coverage of dental services of any kind.
- Code 2: Only the plan member has access to any dental care insurance, or coverage of dental services of any kind.
- Code 3: The plan member, their spouse and their dependents have access to any dental care insurance, or coverage of dental services of any kind.
- Code 4: Only the plan member and their spouse have access to any dental care insurance, or coverage of dental services of any kind.
- Code 5: Only the plan member and their dependents have access to any dental care insurance, or coverage of dental services of any kind.
You can find further information about completing tax slips for employees on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website:
For questions or guidance on this, or anything else, please reach out to your Arbutus Financial team member.