Alan2005

I use on-line software. I'm not that organized, but even I can put all my tax things in one place as they arrive so I'm not hunting around forever to find them.

iaink

I guess I was thinking specifically of all those "Reno Reciepts" for the home improvement tax credit thing a few years ago, that was a bit of a nightmare, but with kids sports and arts credits, childcare deductions etc etc, it can be a chore. Being organised through the year would definitely help...

Steve_

Are we talking a cheque vs. a direct deposit, or the same method of payment? I have to say I think it varies, on my corporate return they've always been super quick with refunds until this year, not sure why not this year, I think it has more to do with them holding onto the money as long as they possibly can then any efficiency saving.

Efiling assists fraud. You're never going to get audited if you're using a fake identity for example, it's criminal. What they were doing in Florida was filing fake returns using Turbotax using identities from ancestory.com. You can essentially automate the fraudulent activity using a computer, so I personally think the "cost saving" argument is bogus.

You'd be surprised how many people have said that to me in the past about oh so many things. You underestimate my ability to complain.

For example, phone up the CRA for help now and they will give you their employee identification number, up until about a year ago they didn't routinely do it. That was because I raised a major stink about it because I kept getting three different answers to the same question so I filed a complaint about it. Apparently it was already policy but they weren't enforcing it.

Steve_

My personal view is that one thing in life that everyone faces where you can definitely make a change for the better in your personal finances is to have a solid understanding of the tax system works.

This is especially the case with immigrants who are new to the country, because you will be unfamiliar with some of the deductions you can claim, e.g. for medical expenses and the RRSP deduction.

I actually sat down with the guides and the forms and worked through them before I moved to Canada to figure out what my tax burden would be. I find it quite surprising people would move somewhere without a clear idea of what their take home pay would be, returns on investments etc.

Former Lancastrian

Add into that a job, place to live, cost of living, area to settle down etc

BristolUK

Sure. That is what I meant, though, about the questions. If I'm being prompted about medical expenses or asked if I paid tax on my UK income then that tells me that medical expenses must have some relevance and that the tax I may have paid on UK income is also an issue to investigate.

If I have no medical expenses and no UK income, then I don't want to have researched how that works.