Filing on Time (aka, adulting)
Taxes are due April 30th each year. If you owe, and file on time, your amount due is due April 30th. If you owe and file late, you will be charged a 5% penalty and be charged interest each month. Avoiding these extra fees is only one great reason to file on time. Another reason is having all the information needed for filing. In a world of logging in, no post mail, and making accounts to find slips, the process of finding documents is harder as time goes by. Maybe you don’t even remember what you’re looking for, maybe you aren’t employed by the same place anymore and are locked out of getting documents, maybe you were on EI or WSIB and can’t get those slips because you don’t have access. Sometimes, if you have changed your name, your slips may not be available due to the name change. All of these problems can hold up completing the filing. Keep on top of things. Make a list, make a drawer, make a folder, beware of what you’re looking for. Even if you have access to CRA My Account, there may be something unavailable or missing. If you don’t even know what you’re looking for or expecting to find, you’ll be lost. Missing slips and unreported information can cause time delays, and hassles with CRA.
Tidbits outside Tax Time
I like to teach. I try to present information in manageable pieces. Today, I am teaching about Notice of Assessment and Instalments.
Do you know what a Notice of Assessment is? How do you get yours? The NOA is a tool. Why? There's income information, RRSP information, carry forward amounts, explanations of differences, and it is a vital tool for any FINANCING you may do. Get it by postmail or in My Account, but take some time to look at yours. Email me if you find out something you didn’t know before!
Instalments are prepayments of income tax. They are CRA’s suggestion, relative to your last 2 years of taxes. If you owe more than $3000 2 years in a row, you will be asked to start prepaying your income taxes. There are 4 quarterly payments per year. Notices for the amount due come in February and August. If you know your tax due will change, you can choose to pay less than is asked. If you do not pay them, but were asked to, and owe the assumed amount or more, you will be charged late fees and interest. How do I avoid them? You have to have more tax deducted at source, or reduce your income.
One more thing. If you have CRA My Account, great. Use it. Don’t ignore emails from CRA, telling you you have new mail. Many frustrated clients forget to check their mail, until they are surprised with money due.
Tax season is here!
Hi! It’s time to gather your documents/emails/receipts and book an appointment.
A few things to remember:
We are not accepting new clients this year
Register for CRA My Account. This is helpful in so many ways. You can find missing documents, make changes to banking, marital status and addresses, look for TFSA room and RRSP room.
Authorize Lynette to represent you with CRA
Ask your pharmacy for a printout of all your prescriptions, chiropractor or physiotherapist too. Get a claim summary from your insurance provider. Document any medical travel over 40 kms one way. If you travel over 80km one way, you can claim meals, parking and hotels.
RRSP’s contributed up to Mar 2/26 must be reported on 2025’s return.
Report any BIG changes when booking; things like moving, selling or buying a house, banking, marital status, new children, death of someone.
You MUST have an appointment to be seen. Our office runs on appointments and first in/first out for dropped off files. It is imperative to book an appointment.
There is a price increase this year.
There are not a lot of tax changes this year. A few are: The Carbon Tax Credit has been eliminated. The lowest tax rate has decreased from 15% to14%. The basic personal amount (aka tax free income) is now $16129. The Digital News Subscription has been eliminated.
Email/Text/Call/Message any questions, but please book online if possible.
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2026. Tax season will be here soon. We will be filing 2025’s income taxes and they are due by April 30th. Any amounts due, for personal or small businesses taxes are due April 30th. Make sure you register for CRA My Account to find slips, get mail, change personal information like address or banking, and allow me access to investigate if needed. If you’re not sure what to bring, look at last year’s taxes, think of any changes this year and add to your list. Remember medical expenses, donations, child care, tuition, income, deductions, investments, buying/selling a house. Businesses, remember income, expenses, capital items, travel log. CONTACT THE OFFICE OR BOOK AN APPOINTMENT ONLINE. ONLY CLIENTS WITH APPOINTMENTS WILL BE SEEN. ***Efile opens late February***
New Rules for Authorization
As of July 2025, CRA has changed the way I can access your account for information. I have a service called Represent a Client, which I use to access your account, but the authorization has to come from you. I access your account for a few reasons; to find missing slips, to review notices or letters and to change your past returns. To make this process easy, please register for CRA MY ACCOUNT before booking an appointment with me. If you have My Account you can see tax slips, you can change your banking, address and marital status, you can get a notice of assessment and see any electronic mail from CRA. You can authorize me too. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Without authorization your income tax preparation can be delayed.
Register at
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/cra-login-services.html
Medical Expenses
Whether a claim is useable depends on income first. Medical expenses over 3% of your income, can reduce federal tax owing. Whatever you pay out of pocket, above any coverage you get from insurance, you can claim. Check the CRA site for which items are claimable. Some common ones are prescriptions, chiropractor, physiotherapist, braces, massage, premiums for health insurance and the cost of traveling for medical appointments. One claim that gets overlooked is travel for medical appointments. Over 40km one way - you can claim a per kilometer rate. Over 80km one way - you can claim a per km rate, meals, parking and hotel. To prove these trips you need a trip log, receipts for parking and hotels and a letter from your local doctor. If you’re not sure if it’s claimable, ask me.
Trick or Treat?
You have heard of them, but has it happened to you? A scam. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. If you’re really not sure, call me. I can help determine if it’s true or false. Some current scams are sent by text or by email and the information looks suspiciously familiar, but with a deeper look, you can notice things about the message that reveal its origin. Hopefully you are registered for CRA My Account, where you can determine if there’s any money due or owed to you. I encourage you to register for My Account. It takes about 30 minutes. Again, you can always contact me about anything you aren’t sure of.
Charitable Donations
It all begins with an idea.
Remember only registered charities are eligible for the tax credit. A tax credit reduces any federal tax owing, so you must have taxable income for this to be useful.
On the first $200 donated your credit is 15%, on the next dollar your credit is 29%. (If you gave $2800 your federal credit would be $784).
How do you get your receipts? Email - find them and print them, mail - wait for them, in person - pick it up.
Start your list now of who you gave to, to be ready at tax time.