Most taxpayers sit down to do their annual tax return, or wait to hear from their tax return preparer, with some degree of trepidation. In most cases taxpayers don’t know, until their return is completed, what the “bottom line” will be, and it’s usually a case of fearing the worst while hoping for the best.
March 2020 - Akler Browning LLP
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The Canadian tax system provides individual taxpayers with a tax credit for out-of-pocket medical and para-medical expenses incurred during the year. Given that such expenses must be incurred at some time by virtually every Canadian, that credit is among the most frequently claimed on the annual return. Unfortunately, however, the rules governing such claims are detailed, somewhat complex and frequently confusing.
Between now and June 15, more than 26 million income tax returns for the 2019 tax year will be filed by individual Canadian taxpayers. The vast majority of those returns will be filed by electronic means, through the website of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). A minority will be filed in hard copy, using the paper return, and an even smaller number will be filed using a touch-tone telephone.
The one constant in income tax is change and consequently, while Canadian taxpayers must prepare and file the same form – the T1 Income Tax and Benefit Return – every spring, that return form is never the same from one year to the next.