Filing Income Tax - 2017 (tips?)

[swak]

This is the first year i'm actually pretty concerned about filing taxes...

Mainly, never noticed throughout the year, but my part-time job never deducted taxes all year and when i took my pension out from my gov't job, they had to pay me part in cash for whatever reason... Of which, I put most of it to RRSP, and have put a ton into RRSP in personal savings as well.

Any tax tips form the accountants or tax filing guru's out there?
Been doing some research, and all i'm seeing is the usual... Charitable donations, RRSP, etc.

[ExtraSlow]

One thing a lot of people don't think of but can be significant in some cases is medical expenses. If you have ever several people with ongoing prescribing that cost is deductible.

[rx7boi]

In addition to that, don't forget to claim any work health benefit premiums paid by you.

[blownz]

That needs to be over 3% of your income or about $2200 whichever is less and not many people will pay more than that (young healthy people anyway).

[mr2mike]

Tax Tip: Don't check the box with giving elections Canada any info. The less they have, the better.
Sadly, they've removed the option to file paper copies.

No, this isn't ZenOps.

[Darkane]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In addition to that, don't forget to claim any work health benefit premiums paid by you.

What do you mean by this? My employer pays on my behalf but it’s a taxable benefit.

Or are you saying health/flex spending accounts??

[rx7boi]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What do you mean by this? My employer pays on my behalf but it’s a taxable benefit.

Or are you saying health/flex spending accounts??

@Darkane Nope, not the health/flex accounts. I have to pay for a premium for my health benefits (dental, extended, short/long term dis) that come off as paycheck deductions. Blue Cross told me that I can claim these premiums in my tax return but by all means check with an accountant lol.

My employer also pays a premium, which you cannot claim.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...-premiums.html

Employee-paid premiums to a private health services plan are considered qualifying medical expenses and can be claimed by the employee on his or her income tax and benefit return.

As ExtraSlow said, medical expenses are deductible and employee-paid premiums fall under this umbrella.

[ExtraSlow]

If you spend significant time at hospitals or other medical facilities that charge for parking that parking is a medical expense too, I think. I claim it anyway.

[lasimmon]

Anyone ever have issues with pay stubs not matching up with a T4 for a company you were layed off from thats no longer in Canada? lol.

I think my taxes will be interesting this year.

[swak]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In addition to that, don't forget to claim any work health benefit premiums paid by you.

Does this need to be part of that 3% ?? Or can this be claimed regardless ?

That is a good grand or so!

[rx7boi]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Does this need to be part of that 3% ?? Or can this be claimed regardless ?

That is a good grand or so!

Sorry, I'm not completely sure. I'm not familiar with what swak meant by the 3%.

I just learned about it this year from Blue Cross so I'll be trying that on my upcoming taxes. I did not get the impression that the amount needed to be 3% of my annual income before it became eligible for claiming.

I would check with an accountant just to be sure.

[Tik-Tok]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sorry, I'm not completely sure. I'm not familiar with what swak meant by the 3%.

I just learned about it this year from Blue Cross so I'll be trying that on my upcoming taxes. I would check with an accountant just to be sure.

Not an accountant, but just went through this myself and you are quite right. Any portion of health benefits that you personally pay are tax deductible for your taxes. Any that your company pays is a taxable benefit that you cannot claim.

[msommers]

Do you have a link/list handy of what exactly CRA constitutes "health benefits"??

[sabad66]

good info on medical expenses here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...ax-return.html

one tip I've found useful is you can claim medical under a spouse if they make less, and you might be able to meet the 3% limit easier

[Maxx Mazda]

What about filing together for a common law couple? We have no kids, no dependents, no joint investments, etc. We both indicate common-law on our returns, but is there any real advantage to filing a return together? Far as I can tell, there isn't?

[ExtraSlow]

What do you mean A return? It's still two returns, you just shift some deductions to the lower income individual.

Edit: run it through UFile or TurboTax as if you were married, and see if it makes any difference. That software will allocate deductions etc to the advantageous individual.

[swak]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sorry, I'm not completely sure. I'm not familiar with what swak meant by the 3%.

I meant the 3% of income re: medical expenses for the year.

Any accountants on here that know more about this?

[ExtraSlow]

Here's an explanation for it.
http://www.taxplanningguide.ca/tax-p...ical-expenses/

[eblend]

I was in a similar situation as the OP a few years back. Quit my government job which paid out all my pension, was roughly $120k, $98k they made me transfer to a LIRA, and the remainder had to be taken as cash. In the same year I closed my corporation and cashed out all my assets and paid myself a rather large dividend. The way things lined up I basically had 5 month of full time employment, cash from pension, and a large dividend, and yes, it did hurt a lot. i put in nearly 45k into my RRSP that year to come out with 0 tax owing. I could have stretched out my dividend payout over time, but i just wanted to move on and get it over with, so just took it all at once and closed the corporation.

Keep an eye on your RRSP, you can't just put whatever you want in there, your notice of assessment will show the room you have in there. If you never used it before it may have a large portion available for contribution, but for those who do, or have made a bulk contribution in a short period of time, it cold be somewhat small. I think it grows at 18% of your gross income every year. I did $15k in RRSP this year, and i'm officially maxed out on my RRSP despite not using it for most of my life (i'm 34).

Regarding the medical expenses, they would have to be 3% of your income to even qualify, so if you made 100k (net) for example, the medical expenses would have to be 3k minimum before they make any difference. For most healthy young people, they won't clear that threshold so there is no point of entering them. This also includes "your" potion of the expense, so if your insurance paid you out for any portion of the expense, that would further reduce you chances of clearing the threshold. Also, because 3% of 100k is different than 3% of 50k, it may be more beneficial to claim medical expenses under a spouse, as it allows for a greater portion of the expense to be claimed, although at a lower tax rate. If you use something like TurboTax, it will tell you what to do during review. I have been using TurboTax for the last 10 year or so, never let me down, so I just keep using it, super simple, wizard driven setup, can't really screw it up. This year for example my wife did orthodontics, was like 8k, insurance only paid 2k, so that's 6k we can claim for medical. The program told me to claim it under her name, even though I make twice as much as her, the calculation comes out ahead for the family if applied to her. Another thing to notice, if you specify which 12 month period you want to use. For example, if your had a large medical expense in September of 2016, and then again a bunch until September 2017, and nothing or little after that, you can claim that together on your 2017 taxes and specify that as a 12 month period you would like to claim.

I'm no accountant, but I did do all my taxes, my parents taxes and friends taxes for the last 10 years or so, and did all my own corporate taxes when I had them, so if you have any further questions i can try to answer.

[mr2mike]

I know someone who makes less than $20K a year right now and their botox treatment for migraines costs $800 every 3 months. Can claim this.
If you're buying gym equipment, sorry Justin isn't going to pay for that. He doesn't want shirtless selfie competition.