anyone know about tax returns?

[Zonny]

Here's a question. Someone told me that you can claim the child's portion of a gym membership as part of the fitness tax credit. Everything I'm reading online strongly suggests that's not so, anybody know differently?

[DianneS]

The receipts for the child's 'sports/fitness) tax credit must clearly indicate the child's name and what s/he registered and paid for. Credit is for fees paid for children only and cannot be used by an adult.

[iizv]

Here's a question. Someone told me that you can claim the child's portion of a gym membership as part of the fitness tax credit. Everything I'm reading online strongly suggests that's not so, anybody know differently?

The gym membership would not be considered eligible for the children's fitness credit. It has to be a prescribed program. Straight from the CRA website:

To qualify for this amount, a program must:
■ be ongoing (last at least eight consecutive weeks or, in
the case of children's camps, five consecutive days);
■ be supervised;
■ be suitable for children; and
require significant physical activity (generally, most of
the activities must include a significant amount of
physical activity contributing to cardiorespiratory
endurance plus muscular strength, muscular endurance,
flexibility, and/or balance).

[iizv]

Thats pretty much what I figured once I stopped to think about it. I don't think enough taxes came off me last year (less than $1700 and I made just under $19000)

Sigh, I guess I should have dropped the money and gone into a place and claimed my eyecare bills. I only did the online free version so save a bit of $$. I appreciate that I did get a refund and don't owe, its just the first time I had seen one total and been given another and I've been filing for over ten years (4 of them by myself)

Chalk this one up to annoyance and learning curve I guess.

Since you have the lesser income in your family, un-reimbursed medical expenses that can be claimed should be more than 3% of your net income (line 236) or $2,152 (federally), whichever is the lesser of the two. With your income of $19,000, you would only reduce your federal taxes payable if the expenses are over $570, and for every dollar over $570, you would get a federal tax credit of 15 cents.

[Passoutpanda]

On cra website it says I will get my refund on 6th march but on telerefund it says I will get my refund by the 20th or march . What does this mean?

[tjthemanto]

On cra website it says I will get my refund on march but on telerefund it says I will get my refund by the 20th or march . What does this mean?

6th

[Passoutpanda]

Lol I hope freaking 6th brahhh

[Passoutpanda]

Need monies

[jonesy]

Yeah ..provincial taxes also add up..and OP is from Nova Scotia , which has the highest provincial taxes .

The HR & payroll usually don't cut the taxes properly ..they generally don't look at the tax situation of each individual employee ..but paint all the people who are making the exact same amount with the same brush & cut the same tax , CPP , & EI for all of them.

So if my co wroker who is sitting next to me & makes the same GROSS salary as me ..will have the exact same NET pay as me..my employer will cut the same taxes for us , without getting into our individual circumstances ..its easy for them to do that.

Later on both of us have to file tax returns & depending on our tax situation we will get different refunds back for the same salary .

???? Are they doing the payroll with a pencil and a calculator? That's not quite how it works in 2014. Most payroll systems are quite detailed and they use prescribed rates directly from Canada Revenue Agency. Each employee is looked at specifically based on salary and the information provided to the employer by the employee. If you are entitled to a tax break, then claim it on your TD1 forms Federally and Provincially. No payroll department can know about your situation outside of the company, or your outside RRSP contributions, or other investments, income, etc. These are the things that make your tax refund or tax bill fluctuate. Having said that, there are payroll departments that aren't doing things properly, however generally speaking, the system does the calculations. And if your gross pay is exactly the same as your co-worker, then your CPP and EI should be the same since these are based on your taxable income up to a maximum. If you have a second job, then you could get a CPP or EI refund if you paid more than the annual maximum. This isn't because "it is easy for them to do that", it is because it is the correct calculation. There's no painting with a brush here, lol.
But I digress....
I haven't filed my taxes yet but I expect to break even since I do my own payroll. I refuse to lend money, interest free, to the government until I am allowed to politely ask for it back in April.

[Passoutpanda]

Let's fly brothers .... Fly high into the skyyyyy..... Brother shangians

[Ciel]

I know in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a TD1 form was part of the paperwork on day one of a new retail job. But I have an impression that unless a new employee makes the form request from the outset of work, whoever is doing payroll is just using the standard setup in the accounting program for each person. Basically onus is on new hire to pipe up about the form-not all managers have a clue about such things-because new hire might have other part-time jobs and does not want CPP exemption applied to the first $3K or so of earnings because that's already happening at job site one. Usually head office of a chain or franchise does the payroll offsite and your location's manager could be a very difficult person who does not bother with details in getting things right, just done as needed for store's immediate needs. I have heard stories from friends who did retail work.

[crafter]

Thats pretty much what I figured once I stopped to think about it. I don't think enough taxes came off me last year (less than $1700 and I made just under $19000)

Sigh, I guess I should have dropped the money and gone into a place and claimed my eyecare bills. I only did the online free version so save a bit of $$. I appreciate that I did get a refund and don't owe, its just the first time I had seen one total and been given another and I've been filing for over ten years (4 of them by myself)

Chalk this one up to annoyance and learning curve I guess.

Once you receive your assessment you can always submit an ammendment to claim your health care costs. It's easier than you think, once I did one I kicked myself for not doing it other years. Good luck!

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1-adj/README.html

Here's an older article about it

http://business.financialpost.com/20...t-of-the-time/

[Passoutpanda]

Tom is the 6th are we going to start getting are refunds or what?

[jonesy]

I know in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a TD1 form was part of the paperwork on day one of a new retail job. But I have an impression that unless a new employee makes the form request from the outset of work, whoever is doing payroll is just using the standard setup in the accounting program for each person. Basically onus is on new hire to pipe up about the form-not all managers have a clue about such things-because new hire might have other part-time jobs and does not want CPP exemption applied to the first $3K or so of earnings because that's already happening at job site one. Usually head office of a chain or franchise does the payroll offsite and your location's manager could be a very difficult person who does not bother with details in getting things right, just done as needed for store's immediate needs. I have heard stories from friends who did retail work.

TD1 forms are still used today and should be filled out by all new employees. Employees with claims other than the basic personal exemption need to fill them out every year before the first pay in January. This is the responsibility of the employee after the inital forms are filled out upon hire.
This is only to do with income tax, though, and not CPP. The annual exemption for CPP is applied no matter what. You can, however ask not to have the basic personal tax exemption amount at a secondary employer by indicating that on the TD1.

[wolfwoman]

all I know about tax returns is that it sucks filing every freaking year!!!