In 2008, the federal government created the Registered Disability Savings Plan, which provides those with disabilities to have access to an incredible amount of government funding without affecting any provincial funding that they may receive.
I have a number of friends, some older and some younger, that have been diagnosed with MS and until I told them about the RDSP, had never heard about it.
As well, a couple of them did not know about the possibilty of getting the Disability Tax Credit to reduce their taxes on their annual tax returns.
My goal of this topic in this forum is to answer questions and to assist those of you interested, get the information needed to obtain up to $90,000 in government grants and bonds.
Since there is a lot of information on this topic and each person’s situation is different I will start with the qualifications of being able to open an RDSP:
1. you must be a resident of Canada
2. you must have a Social Insurance Number (SIN)
3. you must be under the age of 59 to contribute and 49 to collect any of the grants and bonds
4. you must have the Disability Tax Credit (DTC)
The first 3 are self explanitory of what they are, the last one, DTC, is where most people get tripped up.
The Disability Tax Credit allows people that have a difficult time, walking, hearing, seeing, dressing themselves, feeding themselves, and issues with mental functions for everyday living and elimintation (bowel/bladder functions).
For my friends with MS, they have great difficulty walking, so they received the DTC because they are unable to walk as far or as quick as those without MS.