At the beginning of every year, the Canada Revenue Agency mails out tax packages to everyone who filed a return the year before.
This year I got mine in December. Ouch. Is this a hint? Is our Government in desperate need for my tax dollars? Is this a preemptive move to save money by mailing all the packages out before the post office increases the mailing rates? Who knows? Maybe somebody was working overtime over Christmas and decided to just get them out.
Yesterday I went to Best Buy and got my tax software package. Now don't get me wrong. I know how to do my return on paper, in fact I've done my own tax returns - on paper - for over 20 years now. And believe me, February is a busy month, waiting for the slips to arrive and filing out the return, calculating, and should a slip come in late or a mistake in addition require, re-calculating my return. That's why I've decided to bite the bullet and use the software.
I now have 4 returns to do. One for every member of the family. You may ask, as a bookkeeper, isn't part of your job doing taxes? Well, a very good accountant friend of mine told me that 95% of his headaches and 5% of his business came from doing personal taxes. I did the math. I don't need the headaches. My business emphatically does not include doing tax returns.
However, doing the tax return, even if it physically takes very little actual time, is an art. A lot will depend on how you handle your money. And even more will depend on your knowledge of what tax efficiencies you can use to keep your money in your pocket and out of the coffers of the Receiver General.
I hope to be able to show you how a greater knowledge of personal finance can help you fill out your tax return to your advantage. And to make the deal even sweeter ... it's all legal!
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