Canadian Personal Finance Blog

I submitted my entire families tax returns on line and boy is it easy these days. I remember the early days, things were a little arcane and painful, but hey it worked for me, and I wasn’t complaining. In the early days, I would print out a “hard” copy of my return just in case I got audited (which is a good thing to do), but things have changed since then, so let’s run through a quick check list of things to remember when you are submitting your tax return on line:

1. Check ALL of the data that you have input, from all your slips and your personal information. I had a problem submitting my daughter’s return, and when I finally did go back over the information, I had her Social Insurance Number input wrong! Luckily, the CRA upload interface caught it, and said, “HEY STUPID!” (OK, it didn’t say that but it got the point across).
2. Make a hard copy of your return(s) for your records. In my case now, I print it in PDF format, and then back up the software and the returns on a CD so that I have a complete copy of things. Printing a copy is never a bad idea as well.
3. Make sure you have waited for all of your receipts! Inevitably, I forget and some receipt appears, one year it was a HUGE capital gain, that I then had to do a supplemental return for, so be careful folks.
4. Read the messages from the program, it might find you something you forgot about. One time, I forgot to input the cost of my safety deposit box in the Carrying Charges portion, but my software program warned me about it!

Oh, and if you are getting money back, send your return in as SOON as possible, but if you owe money, you can submit early, just mail the money you owe at a later date! –C8j