Hunched over a calculator, eyes squinting, at the lines of numbers, head pounding, swirling with digits; oh yes, it’s tax season.  

But tax season, which started a few days ago on February 21, 2022, doesn’t have to be a pain in the...toe. According to Zeeshan Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency, in order to alleviate the moans and groans of filing taxes, the not-so-secret is to file as early as possible. 

“One of the biggest things that we see people make as a common mistake is that they leave it to the last minute, and I'm guilty of this myself,” he said. “So making sure that you do file as early as possible so that you don't have to think about it during the rest of the year; making sure that when you file, all your income is reported on the tax return.” 

Ahmed underlined that a good habit to get into is to make a list of all the incomes that you've received, this way when you do file taxes, you can have a checklist, checking things off and making sure you have reported everything there is to report.  

However, for many Canadians filing taxes on one’s own is overwhelming and simply too time-consuming. According to Ahmed, the Canada Revenue Agency’s website provides you with information on who to seek out and which software to seek out. 

“It [the website] gives you a list of everyone that we're partnered with, who we've approved for them to be able to file your taxes,” Ahmed said. “That could be software, you can always choose an accountant, but you don't need to. So as long as you have your online care accounts, that's very helpful as well.”  

Ahmed also clarified how benefits, whether they are child benefits or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) factor into income tax filing. 

“When we get benefits and credits out to people, the main thing we look at is total family income; most of the benefits are actually dependent on the family unit and the family income,” he said. “You want to make sure again, you file on time so that we get all the benefits to you in time.” 

He said that any benefits one receives are indeed dependent on income, hence if one’s income did rise, it would be taken into consideration. 

“For those who received the emergency benefits, and you were given that interest relief till next year, that ends on April the 30th,’ he said. “You want to make sure that any balances you owe are paid to us for the previous year by them. 

And of course, there are listless questions of those would-be CRA calls that everyone seems to be getting several times a day. Even CRA employees like Ahmed aren’t immune to his phone going off at work. 

“We need to be diligent and make sure we all protect our information, once thing you should know is that we do make contact under certain situations. We do make phone calls,” he said. “The best method to keep yourself safe is to have the CRA online account and set it up for electronic notifications. If we need to reach you, you can do that online.” 

Ahmed said the safest thing one can do is to simply hang up if one suspects a scam caller.

"We won't punish you for hanging up. If you're still unsure and if you're freaking out, you can give us a call."

This year’s tax deadline is April 30th, however, because this date is a Saturday, your return will be considered filed on time if the CRA receives it or it is postmarked on or before May 2, 2022. 

 

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