JonboyE

Yes, three months is not uncommon for the first return. Once you are in the system you can net-file next year and get your refund in 10-14 days.

JonboyE

F4
In the search dialog box type 'split pension"
Select T1032
Right click
Select "optimize split pension"
Return.

It is really expensive to do.

JimandBettina

Hi,

I will be moving to Canada in the first few days of Jan 13. When do I have to file my first return - Apr 13 or Apr 14?

BTJ

By Apr '14.

snowcandy

JonboyE

It takes only a few seconds to calculate the amount to split a pension if you have the right software. If that was the excuse for increasing their fee it was most likely a load of old b****cks.

snowcandy

I have to say the lady we saw there, who was the senior person in the office did not really give the impression that she knew her stuff. Very difficult to gauge what was a reasonable price when everyone's case is so unique.

She also told us we can receive some amount of child benefit after 12 months on a TWP. We queried this as the website says 18 months but she was adament and said we should get backdated money automatically once taxes filed....I am not so sure.

iaink

H&R Block, enough said

JonboyE

I think in the olden days firms would charge extra for each schedule to the tax return. I suppose that made sense as each schedule took extra time to complete. Nowadays the software auto-populates most of the required schedules.

Self-employed income, rental income, medical and other types of receipts add to the time and therefore costs. Something like splitting pension income does not.

JonboyE

Unless the CRA are telling porkies:

Child tax Benefit:

you or your spouse or common-law partner must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a protected person, or a temporary resident who has lived in Canada for the previous 18 months, and who has a valid permit in the 19th month.

Universal Child Care benefit:

You or your spouse or common-law partner must be:

Canadian citizen;
"permanent resident" (as defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act);
"protected person" (as defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act); or
"temporary resident" (as defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) who has lived in Canada throughout the previous 18 months, and who has a valid permit in the 19th month (other than one that states "does not confer status"). If this is your situation, you should not apply before the 19th month.

GST Credit: you need to be resident in Canada for tax purposes so this may be what she is thinking about, but this is only for families with low incomes so it is very unlikely you will qualify.

exenglishman

Just my experiences here:

used H & R block for the first time last year for my first Canadian Tax refund. I used Turbo Tax initially to see how I could get but felt more comfortable doing it in person as it was the first return.

They managed to get me significantly more than Turbo Tax and the whole process took about 30 minutes. This was with a '9' Sin number. I had my refund in the form of a cheque 8 days later.

Auld Yin

This suggests to me that your attempt with TurboTax wasn't done properly or that H&R did something wrong.

conjonway

Yeah I'd agree.

I actually took the H&R course. I definitely was not prepared to be a tax preparer unless there was only a few slips and medical receipts. Several of my (in my opinion - less educated) classmates were actually given positions.

I now work for a more professional tax preparer, and was shocked at how under-educated I would have been to prepare tax returns by myself.

A friend (single student, 24) went into a Walmart branch of H&R and they told her not to bother filing because the refund would cost her more than their fee. We did her return last year, and got her $600, plus her other credits she received through the year.

Aviator

This was my experience the one and only time I used them. They individual doing my return was the manager and had no idea of accounting terms. Ended up costing me another $1000 in tax, plus interest.

Third6

This might be a silly question but it's my first time fling a tax return so bare with me. I used Turbo Tax to fill out the forms and have claimed for my monthly metropasses do I have to mail the passes in with the return as supporting documents or no? Same with my T4, do I have to mail a copy of that with the forms as well?