Here are the tax changes that will affect your pocketbook in 2024

While inflation has eaten away at Canadians' pocketbooks in recent years, the resulting changes to how marginal tax rates and other benefits are indexed might be a boon for filers.

Canadians preparing their taxes and finances for 2024 might find a bit of help from an unexpected friend: inflation.

Though the rising cost of living tended to cool for much of 2023, still-elevated inflation from the last few years acts as a benchmark for a number of government programs and tax filing metrics.

In other words, after eating away at Canadians’ pocketbooks for a bad couple of years, inflation could pay it forward in 2024.

Here’s what’s new for tax filing, savings contributions and other financial changes in 2024.

Canadians’ marginal tax rates are set for a sizeable inflation adjustment this year.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses the index of inflation from the previous year to determine how much tax Canadians pay on different amounts of income in the next year. The higher the limits for each bracket, the less tax Canadians will pay on the corresponding portion of their income.

Since inflation peaked at a 41-year-high in 2022 and was elevated for much of that year, it has a big impact on the 2023 tax year — the one Canadians will be filing for this coming spring.

The federal indexation factor for 2023 was set at 6.3 per cent — a substantial jump from 2.4 per cent in 2022.