Line 31350 – Digital news subscription expenses
Digital news subscription expenses – Personal income tax
- Federal: Line 31350
- Tax year: 2025| Prior tax years: 2024 and earlier
This credit was only available for tax years 2020 to 2024.
It is not available for 2025 and later tax years.
The digital news subscription tax credit was a non-refundable tax credit that helped offset the cost of subscribing to eligible Canadian digital news services.
It could reduce the federal tax you owed, but it did not result in a refund if you had no tax payable or if the credit was more than the tax you owed.
You can still claim this credit for qualifying subscription expenses paid in 2020 to 2024 that have not already been claimed.
See the List of qualifying digital news subscriptions to find out if your subscription qualified for this credit.
Learn more: About the digital news subscription tax credit.
On this page
Who can claim this credit
You can generally claim this credit for tax years 2020 to 2024 if:
- You subscribed to a Qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO) for a digital news subscription
- You have qualifying subscription expenses
What is a qualifying subscription expense
A qualifying subscription expense is the amount a subscriber paid in the year for a digital news subscription from a QCJO that does not hold a licence to carry on a broadcasting undertaking.
To qualify, the digital news subscription must give access to digital content that is primarily written news.
If the subscription also provided access to non-digital content or partner content
Only the cost of a comparable standalone digital subscription is eligible.
If no comparable standalone digital subscription exists, only 50% of the paid amount is eligible.
- The subscription was primarily for written news content
Only the individual who subscribed can claim the expenses.
How much you can claim
You can claim whichever is less of the following amounts:
- $500
- total amount paid for qualifying subscription expenses in the year
Splitting the credit
If you and another person shared the same subscription, you can split the claim. However, the amount of the combined claim cannot be more than the $500 maximum allowed for this credit.
Prior years
Maximum claim amounts for prior years
The $500 maximum has not changed since tax year 2020.
How to claim this credit
(tax years 2020 to 2024 only)
Claim the amount on your federal tax return
Enter the eligible amount, up to $500, on line 31350 of your federal tax return.
Supporting documents
Do not send supporting documents when you file your tax return.
Keep them in case the CRA asks to see them later.