Room and board as rental income or not

Tax Topics
1

I’ve read over room and board posts to family member topics but this situation “may be” different.

My client cares for a live-in disabled adult through Life Share program (paid a non-taxable income from the program). The disabled’s Mom also pays my client room and board from the disabled’s ODSP (Ontario) (the room and board is not to make a profit). The mother said she is claiming the rent portion (which she has been told is 2/3 the total) and my client’s tax preparer last year entered the total room and board on a Rental Statement and didn’t deduct any expenses.

My thinking is….the room and board is not for profit so it should be non-taxable.
If you think it should be on a rental statement then should she not be able to claim Utilities, her rent etc. as deductions?

Thanks kindly

2

My gut instinct would be this shouldn’t be claimed or reported on either side. I encountered a similar situation with a CVITP/ODSP client last week…

3

That would be my gut feeling as well, but I wanted someone else to say it first.

4

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond. I appreciate your input

5

We have a similar program in Saskatchewan (not called ODSP here). If a homeowner/caregiver is providing care to disabled/challenged individuals, the program provides funding for those individuals, generally paid directly to the homeowner/caregiver because the individuals are incapable of looking after themselves financially. Most of that funding is intended to cover the cost of the disabled person’s care (housing/food/etc). Such payments are non-taxable to either party. We do not report them on any tax return.