March 2024 Prudent Money Coach Tax and Money Tips

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Hello everyone! 2024 Tax Season has officially begun. Have you received all your tax slips? Do you have all your tax documents? I have lots of tax and money tips for you this month. 

1. First and foremost, there are 2 new filings this year that confuse even tax specialists and tax accountants. They are:
- Underused Housing Tax (UHT)
- New Trust Reporting Requirements
Please be advised that I do not provide any filing of the above. Take time to read CRA pages above and get your own professional advice to determine if you need to file UHT and/or Trust reporting. Let me know if you would like referrals to other professionals who do provide the above services.

2a. Did you know that if your employer has sent your T4 to CRA (Canada Revenue Agency), you can then view your T4 on My Account on CRA website. Here is the login page: CRA My Account 
Your tax representative should be able to view your T4 as well. So don't panic if you can't find your T4 slips. :)

2b. The same applies for other slips such as T3, T4A, T4RSP, T5, T5008, and others. If they were sent to CRA, they would be available online. Note that some slips such as T3 may be issued later (for example end of March). Check with your financial institution. So don't file your taxes too early; wait until you have all your tax slips.

2c. Did you misplace your medical receipts? Did you know that you could ask for duplicate receipts from your medical service providers? You could also request a summary of purchase from pharmacies. If you are covered by extended health care such as Canada Life, Sun Life and others, you may be able to login and generate a summary of claims. You can even dictate the period of time for the report, for example March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023.
So don't give up if you can't find your receipts. There may be other ways to find them. :)

2d. If you have multiple medical coverages, for example husband and wife both have extended medical coverage, make sure you have tried to claim money back from both insurance companies before claiming it on your tax return. Also, some extended health insurance has a Health Spending Account (HSA). So, if you have any leftover amount that is not paid by your or your spouse's insurance, you can claim the amount from your HSA. If you still have any unpaid amount, then claim it on your tax return. It is better to get full reimbursement back than to claim tax credit. :)

3. Did you know that you could report your RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) contribution but not deduct it in the same year? You could save it for future deductions, especially if your salary will be higher, or use it to pay back HBP (Home Buyers Plan). Don't let your software automatically claim the RRSP deduction when you have no taxable income. You would be wasting it.
PS: Don't worry, if you accidentally deduct RRSP when you could have saved it for the future, you can still file an adjustment and correct it. :)

4. CRA has a podcast! Search "Taxology" on your favourite platform (Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, etc.). It contains basic information that is good for those who are learning Canadian taxes. 

5. And my final tip: I recently created 2 spreadsheets - one that tracks personal expenses, the other one tracks business expenses. Let me know if you would like a copy. I can send it to you in Excel format, or you can share your Google folder and I will upload them there.

That's all for March. We're gearing up for a busy season. If you're thinking of hiring someone to do your tax return, do the booking now. Many places will be super busy in April.

Have a great month!

PS:  If you would like me to prepare your tax returns by April 30, 2024, I need to have all documents by April 2, 2024.