TORONTO — Accountants in Ontario are hoping to make life a little simpler for frontline healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic by offering to prepare their taxes for free.
The initiative, organized by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, is a way to remove one area of potential stress for healthcare workers, who are under so much strain fighting the outbreak, and probably don't want to think about tax returns, said association CEO Carol Wilding.
"I don't think it's something most people look forward to at the best of times, and when you see the frontline workers and their absolute exhaustion, we hope that this initiative would just give those frontline workers a little bit of relief."
The program has drawn support from major accounting firms and will cover a wide range of workers dealing directly with COVID-19 including nurses, paramedics, cleaning staff, lab technicians and other healthcare professionals.
It will also cover the returns for spouses and dependent children, as benefits often need to be co-ordinated between family members, said Wilding.
Given new tax initiatives and programs related to the outbreak, the program will hopefully also make it easier to navigate new options, she said.
"We just want to take all of that worry away and give them the best advice that we can."
So far the program is limited to Ontario, but Wilding said she spoken with other associations in Canada in hopes of making the initiative more national.
Major accounting firms including KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, BDO, PwC Grant Thornton, MNP and others have volunteered to support the program with commitments ranging between 500 and 1,000 filings, but the association is also welcoming support from smaller firms and its 95,000 members.
PwC Canada CEO Nicolas Marcoux said the firm didn't have to think long before signing onto the program.
"These are unprecedented times... we thought that it was important that we support the community."
Many workers would probably do the filings on their own, but this hopefully frees up some time for them, said Marcoux.
"It's not about the cost, it's more about removing some stress...putting time back into their agendas because they're stretched doing what's important for society."
He said the firm would consider expanding the program to elsewhere in Canada, and he's also suggested to other PwC divisions internationally that they should consider something similar.
Healthcare workers can sign up for the program through the CPA Ontario site, and are asked to apply by May 15 so that accountants have enough time to process all of the requests.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2020.
The Canadian Press