Filing your taxes yourself

[celle17]

Hi,

I'm hoping to hear from any of you who have filed you taxes yourself in the past few years? I have been here for the past 4 years on work permit's, now just waiting for my PR to be approved.

In the past I have been to HR Block to do my taxes, it's normally a simple case, just have a T4 and a T5 with a small amount of interest from my bank account and I apply as a resident because I have been here so long. But every year I always seem to deal with HR Block people who don't really know what they are doing, they get confused with the temporary sin number, or the resident status, etc, it always ends up going through successfully but I always leave feeling slightly worried they may have made a mistake, so this year I am thinking about doing it myself.

My question is, I see you can file online using a list of free software on the CRA site. Can anyone comment or recommend any of these software's? Will there be any issues with it seeing as I am not officially a canadian citizen? and are we required to also mail in our T4's to them or copies of? Is there a way for the CRA to access our T4's?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[J.M.]

I would also be interested to know as my wife has been here in the U.S. with me for the past year and I don't want her to get in trouble for not filing her taxes.

 

[keesio]

Hi,

I'm hoping to hear from any of you who have filed you taxes yourself in the past few years? I have been here for the past 4 years on work permit's, now just waiting for my PR to be approved.

In the past I have been to HR Block to do my taxes, it's normally a simple case, just have a T4 and a T5 with a small amount of interest from my bank account and I apply as a resident because I have been here so long. But every year I always seem to deal with HR Block people who don't really know what they are doing, they get confused with the temporary sin number, or the resident status, etc, it always ends up going through successfully but I always leave feeling slightly worried they may have made a mistake, so this year I am thinking about doing it myself.

My question is, I see you can file online using a list of free software on the CRA site. Can anyone comment or recommend any of these software's? Will there be any issues with it seeing as I am not officially a canadian citizen? and are we required to also mail in our T4's to them or copies of? Is there a way for the CRA to access our T4's?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Using tax software is a snap if your tax situation is pretty basic. I used Turbo Tax for $20 and it did the job. I know others who have use the free software and they said it is fine. It doesn't have all the tutorials that TurboTax comes with but otherwise it is basically the same. You can use these if you are a temporary worker no problem (I did when i was on my work visa). When using the electronic filing, you don't need to mail out anything.

 

[keesio]

I would also be interested to know as my wife has been here in the U.S. with me for the past year and I don't want her to get in trouble for not filing her taxes.

If both of you are in the US, I assume both of you will file US taxes. If you file Canadian taxes too (not required is you have NO residential ties to Canada but sometimes recommended anyway), you'll need to see how they can impact each other. It can be a little tricky. An accountant who understands the impact of both may be a safer bet

 

[J.M.]

If both of you are in the US, I assume both of you will file US taxes. If you file Canadian taxes too (not required is you have NO residential ties to Canada but sometimes recommended anyway), you'll need to see how they can impact each other. It can be a little tricky. An accountant who understands the impact of both may be a safer bet

Well, she did kind of work a couple months of 2013 before coming to stay with me, and we are returning, so I would rather be safe than sorry...

 

[Amadan123]

Hello celle17,

I hope you are well.

I find Studiotax and Simpletax are good ones. They're free, of course, and they are relatively user-friendly.

Will there be any issues? Taxation in Canada is based on residency, not citizenship, so you should be fine. As long as you have an ITN (for non-residents), temporary SIN, or an actual SIN, you should be good to go.

If you use these softwares, you will be Netfiling your return. So at the time of filing, you will not be submitting your slips/receipts. However, you should keep them handy, as the CRA often asks taxpayers for details/supporting documentations for items claimed on the returns.

The CRA has a copy of your T4 on their end, because employers are required to submit it to the CRA as well.

I hope that helps.

Madan Chartered Accountant team
madanca.com

 

[celle17]

Thanks for all the info everyone!

Thanks Keesio, I might have a look at Turbo Tax, it would be good if it was something with some online tutorials as I think I may have some questions along the way.

and Thanks Amadan123 I will also have a look for StudioTax and SimpleTax. I didn't know employers were required to submit the T4 to the CRA too, that's good info to know I was thinking I would need to mail it.

Mine should be a simple case, I have a sin number and just a T4 and T5. It's just finding out all the questions I can skip over haha, I went and got the free tax form application from the post office so I could go through that first to try and become more familiar with everyone before I do use the software.

I should be able to figure it out, and if I get stuck I'll come back here and ask questions haha.

Thanks again!

 

[keesio]

Thanks Keesio, I might have a look at Turbo Tax, it would be good if it was something with some online tutorials as I think I may have some questions along the way.

Yeah it was integrated nicely. As you are filling in your info, if you get to a part where you are confused, you can play a little tutorial video on that topic. Note that this was awhile ago. Since then I just have an accountant handle my taxes. But I imagine that things have not changed much since those tutorials were on of the selling points of TurboTax (in addition to be able to contact a tax professional).

 

[shamrock21]

Turbotax + Netfile

 

[celle17]

Hi again,

So I got the paper forms package from the post office and read through everything and the guide, got a good understanding of it all, just thought it's faster to process with the software so I got Turbo Tax today.

I'm having a problem the the turbo tax software calculating a CPP overpayment automatically when from the information I have in the guide, this should not be calculated. It's a little more money for me in my refund, but I would rather it be correct.

In the guide for Line 308 - CPP or QPP contributions through employment it states
" Do not enter more than $2,356.20 if you worked only outside Quebec" (I only worked in BC, and my CPP total is under this amount)
"Otherwise use complete form RC381, Inter-provincial calculation for CPP or QPP contributions and overpayments for 2013, to calculate the maximum amount you can enter on line 308"

It also says you may calculate an overpayment even if you contributed $2,356.20 or less to the CPP and then lists the situations, eg turned 18 or 70 years of age, total amounts in box 14 of your t4 is more than than box 26.

None of these conditions apply to me, so as far as I see I shouldn't be filling out the CPP overpayment form and trying to claim extra money. But using TurboTax it automatically fills out the overpayment form for me and doesn't give me any choice in deleting it or modifying. I also tried downloading StudioTax and it did the same thing, filled out the overpayment form and I have no choice about this.

I just want to do a simple return and don't want to try to claim extra money, according to the official CRA General Income and Tax Benefit Guide, and anything I read from the cra online help, I should not be trying to claim an overpayment with the amount I have entered.

Anyone else have issues with this CPP overpayment when using software to file or filing online? Any way around it? Or is it actually correct and is there some online info from the CRA that says I should be able to claim a cpp overpayment? All I can think to do it just do the paper return and mail it in, but I really wanted to try the netfiling.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks!

 

[arnaud]

Seriously, don't waste $20 on TurboTax when your tax return is basic. Software like StudioTax are free and do the job as well as paid software. I used StudioTax this year for basic tax return and I would highly recommend it

 

[mooer]

I believe if your SIN starts with a 9, you cannot use netfile.

HTH
Amanda

 

[wizard88]

Try easCtax 2013 also free.

 

[Amadan123]

Maybe you ought to look into H&R Block for the preparation of your return?

I understand that you may want to learn to do the returns on your own, but perhaps you can learn backwards from referencing the completed return.

Madan Chartered Accountant
www.madanca.com

 

[Rosie1957]

In the guide for Line 308 - CPP or QPP contributions through employment it states
"Do not enter more than $2,356.20 if you worked only outside Quebec" (I only worked in BC, and my CPP total is under this amount)
"Otherwise use complete form RC381, Inter-provincial calculation for CPP or QPP contributions and overpayments for 2013, to calculate the maximum amount you can enter on line 308"

It also says you may calculate an overpayment even if you contributed $2,356.20 or less to the CPP and then lists the situations, eg turned 18 or 70 years of age, total amounts in box 14 of your t4 is more than than box 26.

If you were over 18 and under 70 all year and didn't work in Quebec, then your correct CPP amount will be the *lesser* of:
- the CPP maximum, which is $2,356.20 for 2013; and
- 4.95% of (your CPP pensionable income *less* $3,500)

Any CPP withheld over this amount may be claimed back as an overpayment.

For example, say that your CPP pensionable income is $30,000. You had $1,320 withheld for CPP.

4.95% of ($30,000 - $3,500) = $1,311.75

In this case, you can claim an overpayment of $8.25.