The tax credits I am thinking of are the BC sales tax credit and the GST credit. You are not going to get rich on these credits - the maximum is about $800 if you have a family, but it is better than a kick in the teeth. If you have children you may also be eligible for the Canadian Child Tax Benefit and the Universal Child Care Benefit which could be substantially more.

I had better clarify, these credits are calculated on household income rather than individual income. If you are single, or a single parent, with a very low income you will qualify. If you are a homemaker with little personal income, but OH is earning a decent salary, you won't.


You can file an amended return if you need to change some of the numbers reported. There is no point otherwise. If you believe that your return has been improperly assessed you can appeal.

However, for premium relief you should apply directly to MSP. They will need details from your tax return to process your benefit claim. Once again, they consider joint income if you are in a conjugal relationship.

used quicktax on line submitted by post as it was our first time. hubby trucker and got $4000 back in less than 5 weeks straight in to bank on Victoria Day.
i now have a home theatre system, ipod nano, another computer etc etc uuummmm love refunds

Is this your first tax return in Canada, or just the first one you have submitted on-line? The reason I ask is that the general consensus on this forum, and therefore presumably the tax office, is that the first return you file after moving here has to be a paper record. We went through a local accountancy firm, and they gave us much the same advice as andrew & linda's post above, ie, it may be up to some scrutiny.

I have a grand total of $69 due back to me - so just a little more than it cost to get the accountants to work it all out But hubby's has been worked out at over $3k - I'm not convinced it's right to be honest - and there were certain pertinent questions the accountants did not ask us about world-wide income in 2007. So we sit back, wait and see, and try not to mentally go shopping just yet ...

Ann we got our check on friday just gone, we was told that we were due just under 3k and thats what we got

It is great to get a tax refund, but we are getting our own money back, that was loaned the government interest free.

it was our first in canada, we did it on line BUT couldnt send it online as it was our first, we just printed it off and sent it in the post.

Got ours a couple of weeks back, first time file; used an accountant recommended by a fellow ex-pat, well worth the money!

And yes, you can get some back if you haven't been earning, I've been full time in a college since I got here and still got a little bit (plus there was some transferable allowance shenannegans with the wife which all seemed to work out for the good).

Got ours yesterday, took 6 weeks. Got $626 back on a total income last year of $700.

It was these non income based tax refunds, and we didn't apply for the GST credit.

$200 was the $100 each that Ontario gives each adult as a sales tax refund. The other $426 was the partial property tax refund that we are presumed to pay as a portion of our rent and is also an Ontario rebate.

I hate to be a party pooper, but the onus is on you to tell the accountants, not for them to ask.

That's the definition of intaxication: the euphoria we feel when we get a tax refund, that lasts until we realize it was our own money in the first place.

It's quite surprising the number of people that prefer it that way.

They see it as a way of saving.

Mrs_P and I filed jointly I owed money and she was getting more back. We naively thought they would take what I owed from her refund, Noooo she got the full refund and I got a bill.:curse:

Funny how it works out that way. Bet she took you out for dinner eh!

Our tax return came within about two weeks, it was our third one and we did it as early as possible (as soon as we both had T4's), so we beat the mad rush.

As a matter of fact she did while we were in Hawaii.

We had to send two sets of returns, one each using the SIN given to us when we were overseas landlords (renting out our canadian house before we landed here) and another one each using our TWP SINs. More fun next year as we will have new PR SINs!

Of course the cheques sent with our overseas landlord assessments were cashed immediately, but we have still not seen any of the refund due from the assessment as TWs. :curse:

Exactly , to take six weeks to get our own money back, without interest !! taking the mickey really !