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Income tax – tips and resources By: Shane Persaud

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Income tax – tips and resources By: Shane Persaud

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This is my wall, it has some videos and websites with some incite on income taxes in canada to help anyone interested on the topic.

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Income tax saving tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMvoZwOuhMs

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Real Estate 101: The Home Buying & Selling Show

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Tax Saving Tips, Tax Filing Tips, Tax Write Offs, & How To Get The Most Out Of Income Taxes

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http://real-101.com Watch more episodes http://www.jeffgregory.ca Financial Planning With Jeff When preparing to do your income taxes every year, it's a good idea to understand the tax incentives you can use to your advantage. Tax saving tips can help you keep more money from the tax man legally, especially if the law allows you to submit certain tax write offs.

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How to save taxes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToX9cExZQoY
This video will give you information on Family tax cut, Universal Child care Benefits, Child care expense deductions and Children fitness tax credit.These are four ways for canadian families to pay less taxes.

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How To Save Tax For Canadians - Income Tax Tips You Should Know

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVHHl0FSNKg

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Canadian Personal Tax Returns - Common filing errors and deductions

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Canadian Personal Tax Returns - Common filing errors and deductions (Tutorial 2 of 3) NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH & SUMMER 2016 PROMOTION - ONLY $69 CDN (ALL TAXES INCLUDED) AT CANADIAN TAX ACADEMY. Take the fully updated Canadian Personal Tax Course for only $69 CDN (including GST/HST) Just click on this link: http://canadian-tax-academy.teachable.com/courses/preparing-canadian-income-tax-returns?product_id=95823&coupon_code=69_YOUTUBE_PITC COMPLETELY UPDATED FOR 2015 T1 TAX RETURNS (THE 2016 TAX PREPARATION SEASON).

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Education

What is the Canada employment amount?
The deductions that students overlook most often are moving expenses and childcare expenses as well. There are also federal non-refundable tax credits that reduce your federal tax. The ones that apply to most students are the Canada employment amount, the public transit amount, interest paid on student loans and the tuition, education and textbook amounts.
How do I claim the public transit amount?
Everyone who was an employee during the year can claim this amount.
Under what circumstances can I claim the interest paid on my student loan?
You can claim the cost of public transit passes for yourself, your spouse or common-law partner or your children under 19. If you bought a U-pass as part of your university tuition, your university will give you a separate receipt for the public transit pass.
Is tuition part of the education tuition tax credit?
You are the only one who can claim the interest that you or a relative paid on that loan in the current tax year and/or the previous five years. The loan must be from the Canada Student Loans or the Canada Student Financial Assistance programs, or similar provincial or territorial programs for post-secondary education.
What if I don't need the total tuition, education and textbook amounts?
You can claim tuition fees over $100 for an education tax credit. For the education amount, you can claim a credit for every month you were enrolled full-time or part-time (conditions apply). In both cases, you must have taken classes at an approved post-secondary institution in Canada or in another country. Finally, you can claim a credit for textbooks for each month you qualify for the full-time or the part-time education amount.

First, you have to claim the amounts on your own tax return, but you may not need the whole amount to bring your tax payable to zero. In that case, you can transfer the unused portion of that family tax to one family member - as well as to your spouse or common-law partner - or carry the amounts forward indefinitely.
How do I get the GST/HST credit?
It is preferable to transfer only an amount that your family member/spouse can use to reduce their taxes and to carry forward the rest for use against your future (higher) income. Even if you have no income to declare, you have to file a return if you want, for example, to carry forward or transfer the unused portion of your tuition, education and textbook amounts or to apply for the GST/HST credit.
I have income from scholarships, grants, student loans or tips. What do I do?
Are you 19 or over? Then you are eligible to receive the payments four times a year. Just file a tax return and apply for the credit. In addition, you may be able to get provincial or territorial tax credits for low-income Canadians.
I heard I can withdraw money tax-free from my RRSPs for my education. Is that true?
If you are eligible for the education amount, income from scholarships, fellowships and bursaries is not taxable and you don't even have to indicate it on your return. If you are not eligible for the education amount, report only the part that is over $500. Student loans are completely non-taxable. Research grants are taxable but you can deduct related expenses. Income earned as a teaching assistant is fully taxable. Don't forget to declare your tips if you work in the service industry.

Yes, under the Lifelong Learning Plan, you can do so for yourself, as well as your spouse or common-law partner. You will have to repay the amount over 10 years but it can help minimize your student loans.

Use our new Free Canadian Tax Software to help ensure you don't miss any of the deductions or credits you deserve. It's Easy, fast and 100% accurate, guaranteed. For more info on TurboTax Free, click here.

With more than 20 years' experience helping Canadians file their taxes confidently and get all the money they deserve, TurboTax products, including TurboTax Free, are now available at www.turbotax.ca.

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Student Tax Deductions in Canada | TurboTax Canada Tips

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Are there student tax deductions that I may have missed? The deductions that students overlook most often are moving expenses and childcare expenses as well. There are also federal non-refundable tax credits that reduce your federal tax. The ones that apply to most students are the Canada employment amount, the public transit amount, interest paid [...]

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There are many enterprises out there trying to separate you from your tax refund - from splurges such as airlines tickets for a celebratory vacation or for good purposes, like putting it all in a college savings account. Deciding just how to spend that money is an annual moral debate.Save it or spend it? Do a little of both? Change your behavior next year so you get the money all along instead of in one chunk?

[np_storybar title="25 tips to save yourself tax dollars" link=" http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/04/25-tips-to-save-yourself-tax-dollars/"%5DEverybody likes paying less tax, but we still don't take advantage of every tax benefit, loophole and deduction that we can. Here's how to do it
[/np_storybar]

Some research shows that spending a little bit on an indulgence can help make sure you save some of it as well.
WHY GET A REFUND?
People get tax refunds, typically, because they had too much as taken out of their paycheques as taxes throughout the calendar year, and with deductions and credits, the math adjusts in their favor. This can be easily fixed by changing the number of exemptions on a tax form, but most people never make any changes.

The types who do - and get no refund or a very little refund - are the "financial" types, says Valrie Chambers, a professor of accounting at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. These are typically research-oriented people who make calculated money decisions and know that they will be responsible throughout the year to stay on budget.

But most taxpayers are more responsible with a significant chunk of money than they are with small amounts at a time.

"We all know that saving $50 a month is the same as $600, but behaviorally, that's not true," said Chambers.

Knowing that small amounts will just slip out of their budgets unnoticed, more than half of those getting a refund are using it as a forced savings mechanism, says Kurt Carlson, director of Georgetown University's Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research.

In a recent survey, his team found that 54% of the 671 American respondents see their refund as money they are owed and count on, so much so that they file early and typically spend those refunds well before the deadline. On the other hand, the remaining 46% viewed their refund as an unexpected windfall.

The other bit of psychology that keeps people from changing their exemptions is fear of owing taxes at the end of the year.

"People dislike parting with their money more than twice as much as they like getting a refund," says Ted London, a California-based specialist in taxation with information technology consultancy CGI Group Inc.

Consumers can turn a negative into positive by making sure they do not owe taxes, instead looking forward to receiving some cash in the spring, says London.
INDULGENCE VS SAVINGS
For those who say they are putting their tax refund into savings, that can actually mean several different things.

One example could be paying down credit card debt, which is something Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist and professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, finds irrational.

"Credit cards drive me the craziest," she says. Anyone can typically just adjust their paycheque so they will not get in debt throughout the year and have to bail themselves out at tax time, she says.

But Yarrow adds that if you are not continually overspending, getting a refund and putting it toward some lofty purpose each year is not a bad plan.

"With interest rates as low as they are, you'd have made $3 in interest on the money if you had saved it," Yarrow adds.

Among those people who intend to put refund money toward some sort of savings goal, most do not do it exclusively, experts noted.

The Georgetown Institute study shows that people tend to break their refund up into different buckets. About a quarter of respondents planned to take a chunk of their refund and spend it on an indulgence, even when the rest of it was going toward practical purposes.

The smaller the refund, the bigger the percentage who were going to splurge with it, according to the study.

"This suggests that those who get the least back are most likely to spend a significant portion of it on an indulgence," Georgetown's Carlson says.

Those most at risk for using up all the money on indulgent spending are those who plan on putting all of it into a long-term goal like a retirement fund, Yarrow has found.

© Thomson Reuters 2014.

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Tax refund psychology says splurge in order to save

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There are many enterprises out there trying to separate you from your tax refund - from splurges such as airlines tickets for a celebratory vacation or for good purposes, like putting it all in a college savings account. Deciding just how to spend that money is an annual moral debate.Save it or spend it?

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What is a tax credit?

Several of the topics that follow refer to a tax credit. Although there's a substantial difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction, it's easy to get the two confused. A tax deduction reduces your taxable income, with the actual amount of tax saved depending on your personal marginal rate of tax.

A tax credit, on the other hand, is a deduction from tax owing. Provided the credit can be used, each taxpayer receives the same tax relief with a tax credit regardless of his or her particular tax bracket.

The provinces are free to either follow the federal tax credit system or introduce tax credits that are unique to the particular province. In many cases, the amount of the provincial credit will differ from its federal counterpart.

The tax credit sections that follow generally just comment on the federal tax credit. For 2015, federal personal tax credits are calculated as 15% of specified "personal amounts" and are allowed as a deduction in calculating your federal tax liability. Keep in mind that the provincial tax credits may or may not parallel the treatment provided at the federal level.

Basic personal credit

For 2016, everyone is entitled to claim a basic personal amount of $11,474.

The spouse or common-law partner credit

You may claim the spouse or common-law partner amount if, at any time in the year, you were married or had a common-law partner (see topic 100), and you were not living separately because of a breakdown of the relationship. For 2016, the spouse or common-law partner amount is also equal to $11,474. This amount is reduced on a dollar- for-dollar basis by the dependant's net income.

The eligible dependant credit

If you were unmarried or separated from your spouse or common-law partner at any time in the year, you may be entitled to claim a personal tax credit known as the eligible dependant credit. To qualify, you must have maintained a home in which you and your qualifying dependant lived. As well, your dependant must be related to you and dependent on you for support. The dependant must be your parent, grandparent or child and must be either under 18 years of age at any time during 2016 or mentally or physically infirm. Two or more supporting relatives cannot split this tax credit. This credit is calculated the same way as the spouse or common-law partner credit. Therefore, the maximum claim for 2016 is $11,474.

Elimination of the credit for children under age 18

For 2014 and prior years, a credit could generally be claimed for each child under the age of 18 at the end of the taxation year.

Starting in 2015, this credit has been replaced with the enhanced Universal Child Care Benefit ( see topic 98)

The infirm dependant credit

You may claim the infirm dependant tax credit for a relative who is 18 years of age or older before the end of the year, provided the individual is dependent on you because of mental or physical infirmity. In addition, the individual must be dependent on you for support at any time in the year. Unlike the credits above, it is not necessary that the dependant live in the same residence as you, nor does the disability have to be severe enough that the dependant qualifies for the disability tax credit (see topic 80).

For 2016, the infirm dependant amount is $6,788. This amount is reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the dependant's income in excess of $6,807.

The caregiver credit

Because of the above income threshold, most taxpayers who provide care to an elderly relative living with them cannot claim the eligible dependant credit because payments under the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement programs are well in excess of the threshold. As a result, there's another tax credit available if you reside with and provide in-home care for a parent or grandparent who is 65 years of age or older. The age restriction is removed if the relative is dependent on you by reason of mental or physical infirmity.

The maximum caregiver amount for 2016 is $4,667. However, in this case, the eligible credit amount does not start to be reduced until the dependant's net income reaches $15,940. No credit will be available once the dependant's net income exceeds $20,607. Also, the caregiver credit won't be available if any person claims an eligible dependant or infirm dependant tax credit with respect to the dependant.

Family caregiver credit

To provide support to caregivers of dependants with a mental or physical infirmity, a family caregiver credit was introduced in 2012.

For 2016, if eligible, an additional $2,121 can be claimed for an infirm dependant under any of the following existing dependency-related credits: spousal, child, eligible dependant, caregiver or infirm dependant over 18. The amount for the infirm dependant credit (noted above) is already increased by the $2,121 enhancement since, by definition, the family caregiver amount would apply.

The age credit

Canadian taxpayers 65 or older are entitled to claim an age amount of $7,125 for 2016. It's reduced at a rate of 15% where a taxpayer's income exceeds a prescribed threshold, currently $35,927, and it's fully eliminated once income exceeds $83,427.

Family tax cut

The family tax cut is a new non-refundable tax credit available for 2014 and later years if you have an eligible spouse or common-law partner and at least one child under 18 who ordinarily lives with you. Either spouse or common-law partner can claim this credit, but not both. There are other criteria that must be met to be eligible. For example, you cannot claim the family tax cut if you or your spouse or common-law partner elected to split eligible pension income for the year ( see topic 71).

The credit (up to a maximum of $2,000 per year) is based on the net reduction of federal tax that would be realized if up to $50,000 of the taxpayer's taxable income was transferred to a lower-income earning eligible spouse or common-law partner. For example, for 2015 you earn $140,000 and your spouse earns $10,000. You have two children under 18. If you split up to $50,000 of income (i.e. your notional income is $90,000 and your spouse's notional income is $60,000), the maximum family tax cut of $2,000 is claimed, even though your notional combined federal taxes would be an estimated $5,000 less. $2,000 is the maximum amount that can be claimed.

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Several of the topics that follow refer to a tax credit. Although there's a substantial difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction, it's easy to get the two confused. A tax deduction reduces your taxable income, with the actual amount of tax saved depending on your personal marginal rate of tax.

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Income Tax Distribution by Province

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Taxes in comparison to other costs

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Income Tax Yearly Graph