Embarrasing but... If you made no income, do you still do taxes?

[mulock]

You can either file your income tax forms, or skip it and risk being audited sometime down the road. Which would you rather: 2 hours of time wasted on 2009 income tax forms, or 2-weeks or longer with auditors?

[eramosat]

Lots of good ideas in here. It reminds me of my days in university, and the big realization that, even if you didn't earn enough money to pay tax on...or even no money!...you could file and the government would instead give you some money! I cannot remember how many friends I convinced of this fact, I filled out many, many returns for others, all who made very little money, and didn't understand that they could get something out of simply filing a tax return. And it was all based on 2 very basic, refundable (refundable vs. non-refundable is the key) tax credits:

1) GST - also known as HST/GST now, and has already been discussed at length
2) Property Tax Credit - this is also a refundable tax credit, meaning that even if you have no taxable income, you will get money back for this one. For sure it exists in Ontario, and it's likely that all provinces have it. It's based on the amount of either property tax or rent that you pay, and your taxable income. And it is a big refund...up to $1000...and almost everyone either pays rent or property tax, right? Residence at school counts too. So it is absolutely worth looking into. Even if you have income, as long as you earn less than about $26,000, AND you must be at least 19, this credit is going to help with your tax bill.

Here's a link to the Ontario version.

http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/credit/ptc/index.html

If it doesn't make sense, or you can't figure it out...bug someone you know who can help you, it is worth the trouble!