How to get a bigger tax return?

[Brooke_]

Can anyone tell me ways I can increase my return? Because I just did my taxes for 2012 and 2013 and I didn't get the return I was hoping for.
Or does anyone know how I can figure out the % I should be paying on my income? Why is it so difficult to know what the end of the year will be like? Help! Any advice is welcome

[super807]

Not getting a big refund means that your employer is taking off the correct amount on your pay cheques. That's good news, as it means that you have the money in your pocket each payday, you don't have to wait to get it back at the end of the year.

Firguring out how much income tax you will pay each year is pretty simple if you know how much you will earn. This link will bring you to the CRA website, which gives the tax rates for 2014.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html The first table is the federal tax rate. Below that you will find the rates for each province. Wow, AB has the same tax rate, regarless of income level.

The way to increase your refund amount is to make contributions to items that create tax credits.

Contributions to RRSPs are a big one for many people, but your rate of return on that depends on your income tax rate. Those in a higher tax bracket get a bigger % back than those in a lower income bracket as RRSP contributions reduce your taxable income. But in this case, while you get a refund, you are tying up your contribution for the long term, as you will only access the funds post-retirement.

Other items that can increase your refund amount are charitable donations, monthly transit passes, medical expenses (but the mininimum to be able to claim is pretty high), and a variety of items related to expenses for children or eduction. In Ontario, renters also get credits, depending on income. I don't know if that applies in AB.

[Ciel]

Tax rates that apply to the number on your line 260 of your personal income tax return:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
Federal rates for 2014:

15% on the first $43,953 of taxable income, +
22% on the next $43,954 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over $43,953 up to $87,907), +
26% on the next $48,363 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over $87,907 up to $136,270), +
29% of taxable income over $136,270.

I see that Alberta does a flat 10% tax on taxable income to calculate provincial income taxes.
CPP and EI rates are found in this link:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/llrts/menu-eng.html

Tax return link-see page 3.
5000-r-13e.pdf
5000-r-13e.pdfhttp://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/5000-r/5000-r-13e.pdf
Non-refundable tax credits are OK if you have taxes to reduce or else they fail to make a refund happen. If you have eligible deductions from total income that lowers what your net income will be, that is the best way to make some progress. Union dues, RRSP deductions, carrying charges (cannot claim safety deposit boxes for investments as of 2014 tax year) and moving expenses are in that list.

Did you have changes in income from any employer? If you are working for more than one employer, ensure the one you have the most hours with has you CPP exempt on your first $3500 of earnings but the second and other employers should be treating you as not-CPP exempt (but you'll have more source deductions as result). The idea is that you don't want to be stuck underpaying income taxes/source deductions for the year but you also are only registered as CPP-exempt with one employer, otherwise you won't be getting enough CPP and EI deducted from your other jobs. Make sure payroll only has one tax jurisdiction checked off on your record-you don't want to find out that you accidently skipped paying income taxes because two jurisdictions got checked and your pays did not take income tax off. Heck of a tax surprise if that happens...been there with a PT job, got temp job at night for week to take the bill away. If you are working casual jobs with cash for pay but not source deductions, you don't have source deductions>if you apply to self-declare CPP contributions, you have to continue to do this after making the declaration for all casual jobs. If your work considers you a contractor (think marketing companies hiring people to promote at grocery stores, festivals or big box stores), you can claims some expenses against income earned (i.e. travel, liability insurance providing you have documentation to support the expenses) on page 2 of your income tax return (lines 162 to 170 are for different self-employed situations).

Did you get less of a non-refundable tax credit (i.e. you had tuition and education tax credits one year but last year you either did not have any or they were less than $100)? Did you change your personal exemption status with the payroll department to indicate a spouse/common-law spouse, child OR have any court-ordered payments deducted at source? Did you double-check that you claimed all tax credits that you are eligible for? Transit is one if you use weekly or monthly passes.

Beside rental claims or property taxes, were there energy credits that applied to your situation? Sales tax credits? Provincial tax reduction credits?


Maybe you had a lot of expenses in the last tax year and hoped to have a refund to help to deal with this year's expenses. Look back to see what prompted unexpected expenses and see if any of them might qualify for tax credits?