 donoreoPremium
join:2002-05-30
North York, ON | reply to mr weather
Re: CRA no longer mailing out returns? We need DKS to come in and tell us what it was like to file on birch bark and clay tablets before that!  |
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Gami00
join:2010-03-11
Mississauga, ON | said by donoreo:We need DKS to come in and tell us what it was like to file on birch bark and clay tablets before that!
wouldn't taxes have been much easier then..
pay with "meat" and or "fish".
there are no returns to process. |
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peterboroAvatars are for posersPremium
join:2006-11-03
Peterborough, ON | reply to mr weather
said by mr weather: Yes, I'm one of the dinosaurs who still sends in a paper return but this policy change was news to me. I send in a paper return for myself and netfile for the rest of the gang (about 8) and before that I tele-filed and before that it was paper and when this whole convoluted computerized mess we call progress crashes I'll be back to paper if there is a government. |
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 DKSDamn Kidney StonesPremium,ExMod 2002
join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON
kudos:2 | reply to mr weather
If you use a tax preparer, they are required to use e-file. If they don't, CRA fines them $25.
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 neochu
join:2008-12-12
Windsor, ON | reply to mr weather
you also don't have to purchase software at all. There are several single return options available online for e-filing for simple returns.
My understanding is that small businesses, self-employed people, first time filers, and complicated situations cant use basic e-filing software anyways.
You would have to go to a preparer or do the paper return for those. |
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 eksterHi there.
join:2010-07-16
Lachine, QC
kudos:1
 ·FreePhoneLine
 ·TekSavvy DSL
2 edits | No need to paper file or go to anyone for any of those situations, except first time filer and a couple of very rare situations like non-residents, bankruptcies, etc., if you know what you're doing.
Any simple software like ufile/turbotax/etc. can do everything that needs to be done. |
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| reply to neochu
said by neochu:My understanding is that small businesses, self-employed people, first time filers, and complicated situations cant use basic e-filing software anyways. Correct. And you get really fucked over if you have a complicated situation and they've arbitrarily decided to move you to the electronic services without telling you, because you can't create an electronic account to complete some of these tasks so you have to call them and tell them to undo their fuckup. |
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neochu
join:2008-12-12
Windsor, ON | I think at some point though, and with with a large enough buisness/unique situation you would have an accountant on retainer already.
Electronic services though just means a "My Account" on the CRA website. The complexity is wither or not your communication/filing preference is by paper or electronically.
The default now is electronic which is causing the confusion.
(I have efiled since I have been required to make one. Luckily I don't have an aforementioned situation and have not had too many issues with it.) |
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| Yea, the unfortunate part is that small business owners or entrepreneurs are clueless when it comes to this sort of thing and don't have the money to regularly hit up an accountant when they're getting their business off the ground.
The CRA should be consistently communicating with them via letter mail unless they specifically ask to have something as significant as returns switched to something else. |
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shepd
join:2004-01-17
Kitchener, ON
kudos:1 | reply to mr weather
I might be a sysadmin, but I still do my taxes by hand. Mostly because it costs the government more that way, so it's a form of protest. :P Also, because the government spends a few minutes to look through it and every time they end up just rewriting it again (each time the amount they send to me is EXACTLY what I totalled, anyways--seems they just want the numbers in different boxes). Lastly, because I'm just that effin' cheap.
Sent in my request for the usual 4 of them. 2 each for me and the wife. 1 as a draft, 1 to send in, each. |
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 GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to mr weather
Quebec is still requiring the netfile code, so CRA getting rid of their netfile code doesn't change much. Slightly less hassle, I guess.
I switched from doing it on paper to doing it via quicktax the year before last... loved it. It took me a fraction of the time to do my taxes, saving me many hours.
Word of advice, the "desktop" version of quicktax (now turbotax) is identical to the web version. In fact, the desktop version of quicktax is just a web browser embedded in an application, so there is really no difference between the two. Save yourself the money and just use the web version. At $18 to save me many hours of work, totally worth it.
For me, the current problem is that I have not, as far as I know, received my T4 or RL-1 slips yet, so I'm kind of missing the two most critical documents.
EDIT: Of course, I wonder why I have to do taxes to begin with, because the government already gets copies of all the slips I use to fill out my taxes, and occasionally corrects my submission if I made a mistake. So if they have all the info why don't they just calculate it themselves and tell me how much I owe or am owed by them at the end of every year?
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 corsterPremium
join:2002-02-23
Gatineau, QC
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by Guspaz:For me, the current problem is that I have not, as far as I know, received my T4 or RL-1 slips yet, so I'm kind of missing the two most critical documents.
Ugh... forgot I have to wait for two slips this year... gotta love Quebec... |
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| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:Quebec is still requiring the netfile code, so CRA getting rid of their netfile code doesn't change much. Slightly less hassle, I guess.
I switched from doing it on paper to doing it via quicktax the year before last... loved it. It took me a fraction of the time to do my taxes, saving me many hours.
Word of advice, the "desktop" version of quicktax (now turbotax) is identical to the web version. In fact, the desktop version of quicktax is just a web browser embedded in an application, so there is really no difference between the two. Save yourself the money and just use the web version. At $18 to save me many hours of work, totally worth it.
For me, the current problem is that I have not, as far as I know, received my T4 or RL-1 slips yet, so I'm kind of missing the two most critical documents.
Seriously, StudioTax. They started supporting the Quebec returns a couple of years ago. $0 still beats $18. surprised to hear that TurboTax has turned into some kind of glorified web app. |
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GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to mr weather
Well, doing it on paper sucked mainly because in Quebec you have to fill out two complete sets of income tax papers (federal and provincial), each as complicated as the other. So that sucked. But when you do it electronically, the software copies all the duplicate information between them. Doing your taxes ends up coming down to typing a few numbers in and hitting submit. I think it took me 15 minutes to do my taxes last year, whereas the worst time I did it by paper, when I filed 3 years at once, for six sets of taxes, it took me altogether maybe 10+ hours, plus the time to go to the post office and mail them.
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Developer: Tomato/MLPPP, Linux/MLPPP, etc »fixppp.org |
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| reply to corster
said by corster:said by Guspaz:For me, the current problem is that I have not, as far as I know, received my T4 or RL-1 slips yet, so I'm kind of missing the two most critical documents.
Ugh... forgot I have to wait for two slips this year... gotta love Quebec... I think the MRQ is just a disguised subsidy for the forest industry. |
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| reply to lugnut
said by lugnut :BTW, how much advance notice did you expect to receive about this year's changes? Taxes aren't due til April 30th. Chances are you'll still probably receive a letter sometime this month informing you of the changes if you weren't already clued in by the article.
The article was the first I had heard about CRA doing away with mailing out paper returns.
And as far as getting notice, for the last couple of years both my wife and I got our T1 packages in the first week of January. This year we're almost at the end of the month and nothing has shown up yet. Hence my inquiry.
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| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:EDIT: Of course, I wonder why I have to do taxes to begin with, because the government already gets copies of all the slips I use to fill out my taxes, and occasionally corrects my submission if I made a mistake. So if they have all the info why don't they just calculate it themselves and tell me how much I owe or am owed by them at the end of every year?
Because they don't know if you made any charitable donations, if you had revenues outside your province, if you purchased medication, etc. |
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GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | said by IamGimli:Because they don't know if you made any charitable donations, if you had revenues outside your province, if you purchased medication, etc. Then how about they only make me do taxes if those kinds of things are the case? Because they generally (for me) are not.
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Developer: Tomato/MLPPP, Linux/MLPPP, etc »fixppp.org |
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eksterHi there.
join:2010-07-16
Lachine, QC
kudos:1 | They can't exactly know what's applied to your situation or not. And if they assume something that a person doesn't like, they'll start getting lawsuit happy. So it's your responsibility to declare everything you have to declare. |
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| reply to mr weather
Yesterday received mail from CRA and they don't issue the security codes for e-file. |
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