No reason to miss out on a $20,000 gift

It has been around for almost 15 years and its generosity is beyond doubt. However, the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) is not nearly as well known and used as the RRSP or the RESP. This is not normal, says a young 23-year-old software engineer turned entrepreneur with the ambition to correct the situation.

Of the range of registered accounts, the RDSP is the most obscure.

That’s a shame. Because Ottawa pays subsidies of up to 300% of the sums contributed. And even if you don’t have the means to save a penny, the mere fact of opening an account allows the less fortunate to receive $20,000 as a gift. Yet less than one in three eligible people contribute.

Why deprive yourself of it?

Statistics Canada responded in April. Of course, to take advantage of the RDSP, you have to know that it exists. Yet almost half (46%) of eligible individuals – those who qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) – don’t know what it is. Of those familiar with the scheme, nearly half do not contribute to it due to a lack of money. Others lack information (29%) or consider it too complicated (15%).

It is precisely to simplify the lives of people with disabilities that Michel-Alexandre Riendeau launched an online platform, in 2021, which allows you to open an RDSP “in a few minutes”. His name: Terry, in honor of athlete Terry Fox. Already 600 accounts have been opened. The service is free.

“It takes some expertise. We only do RDSPs, which makes it possible to have streamlined and effective processes to serve this unfortunately forgotten population well, ”underlines the man who has surrounded himself with investors who have the cause at heart, such as the actor and screenwriter Louis Morissette, whose sister has cerebral palsy.

Do not believe that its pool of potential customers is Lilliputian. In Quebec, more than 1 million people have a disability.

Guillaume Parent is well placed to understand Michel-Alexandre Riendeau, whose arrival in the market he welcomes, since “the rink is very large”. He founded his company Finandicap in 2010, with the same aims as his competitor. “Initially, I was very naive. I thought that with all the subsidies, there would be a queue. But no ! Even today, myths plague the RDSP.

The lack of cooperation from doctors, who must sign forms, is the main reason, argues the president of Finandicap.

Véronique Bolduc, who has suffered from type 1 diabetes for 25 years, can attest to this. The endocrinologist who followed her for years refused to fill out the paperwork on the pretext that the College of Physicians prevented him from doing so and that he could be prosecuted. “I thought I was unlucky, but no, my second endocrinologist told me the exact same thing! »

The 40-year-old self-employed woman wants to obtain the DTC to access the RDSP. This plan would secure her financial situation, she argues, since it is difficult for her to take out disability insurance. She just got the documents signed.

This scenario is common.

Having the documents completed “is a nightmare”, observes Michel-Alexandre Riendeau. “It’s hell,” adds Guillaume Parent, deploring that doctors “advent tax experts” assuming that the DTC “is not worth it”.

The College of Physicians told me that it had never issued a directive concerning the DTC and had never received a complaint from the public. The Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec and the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec also swear not to have issued an opinion on this subject.

Be that as it may, of all the provinces, it is in Quebec that the rate of use of the DTC and the RDSP is the lowest. According to the organization Finautonome, “Quebec is the least good at identifying people living with a disability”. Its mission is precisely to catch up.

For their part, Terry and Finandicap are there to help parents of children with disabilities prepare for the future with the RDSP. Adults can also subscribe for their own needs.

Although traditional banks do not advertise, they also open RDSP accounts. This is the case with BMO, but not in branches. Everything is done over the phone. A “dedicated” call center makes it possible to have a better trained team on this financial product “more complex than the RESP”, justifies the director of RDSP account support at BMO, Ralph Awad.

It’s worth the cost of getting the right information. Especially since, contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to be “really damaged to be disabled”, insists Guillaume Parent.