Tax returns stuck in limbo for 50,000 teachers who applied for a school-supply tax credit

Elementary and junior high school teacher Kajsa Hansen said she was counting on her expected $12,467 tax refund to pay upcoming bills, such as a new battery for her motorized wheelchair.

But now the Calgary resident figures she'll have to rack up those charges on her credit card. That's because her refund is on hold due to a tax credit she claimed, which, it turns out, has yet to be approved. 

"It makes me angry and frustrated," said Hansen, who has a genetic condition that affects her mobility. 

"Why is [the credit] there as something that I can claim if I can't actually claim it?" she said. "There was no warning."

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is holding back approximately 50,000 teachers' tax returns, the agency confirmed with CBC News — all because of a tax credit they claimed for school supplies purchased for their students.

In what's known as the Eligible Educator School Supply Tax Credit, the federal government has upped the maximum teachers can claim from $150 to $250. The problem is, the increase is included in new legislation (Bill C-8) which has yet to be passed in Parliament. 

Until the bill becomes law, any teacher who applied for the credit won't be getting their tax return. 

"It's not just the tax credit, it's the whole process of any other refund that they have is now being delayed because their returns are being put aside. And that's just not right," said Sam Hammond, the president of the Canadian Teachers Federation. "Some of them need that money."

Elementary school teacher Chelsea Turcotte of Edmonton had hoped to use part of her expected $4,061 tax refund to cover a spike in her utility costs. But when she learned her return is in limbo, she had to make other plans. 

"I've had to ask my mom for a loan," Turcotte said, near tears. "It just breaks my heart that I have to go to that step but that's where it is right now."

Tax specialist Armando Minicucci said teachers could have avoided the delay by filing their taxes without claiming the credit at this time.

"You've got up to ten years to amend your tax return, so there's plenty of time there," said Minicucci, with the firm Grant Thornton in Toronto. 

But that plan only works if you know about the problem in advance. CBC News interviewed five teachers who each filed their own taxes in February or March, and said they had no idea at the time there was an issue with the school supply credit. 

"If they told us there was going to be a delay, I wouldn't have bothered filing for it," said Hansen, whose claim for the credit totalled just $68.