Introduced in the 2019 federal budget as one of several measures to support Canadian journalism, the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit provides a refundable 25-per-cent tax credit on the salary or wages paid to eligible newsroom employees of a “qualifying journalism organization.”
Qualifying labour expenditures per eligible newsroom employee are capped at $55,000 for a taxation year.
The federal government’s 2023 Fall Economic Statement proposed to increase the cap on labour expenditures per eligible newsroom employee from $55,000 to $85,000. It is further proposed that the Canadian journalism labour tax credit rate be temporarily increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent for a period of four years.
As a result, organizations would be able to claim up to $29,750 in eligible labour costs per eligible newsroom employee per year.
These changes would apply to qualifying labour expenditures incurred on or after January 1, 2023. The credit rate would return to 25 per cent for expenditures incurred on or after January 1, 2027. In total, this represents a $129 million investment through 2028-2029.
Transitional rules would apply to prorate these changes in cases where an organization’s tax year does not follow a calendar year.
More details about the plan can be found in Section 4.2 here.
