Principal Issues: 1. How to determine the number of hours of eligible volunteer firefighting services that are classified as training or on call?
2. Eligibility for the VFTC of other emergency calls such as medical emergencies or vehicle accidents.
3. Whether time spent on medical first responder training or related training qualifies as eligible volunteer firefighting services.
Position: 1. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) expects that each fire department will examine its on-call procedures to certify the number of hours of eligible volunteer firefighting services. When certifying volunteer firefighters’ eligible hours, it is the CRA’s view that a fire department should assess each volunteer’s on-call availability for response in accordance with its own departmental expectations, operational requirements, and applicable policies and procedures.
2. Generally, when volunteers devote time in their capacity as volunteer firefighters for other related emergency calls, the time devoted to these calls qualifies as eligible volunteer firefighting services and can be included when counting the number of hours of eligible services.
3. If the training required of a volunteer firefighter according to the policies and procedures of a fire department related to the prevention or suppression of fires includes certain medical training, the time spent on this medical training will qualify as eligible volunteer firefighting services for purposes of the VFTC.
Reasons: 1, 2, & 3: See response
