2015 tax returns (2016 tax-filing season)

[wimbly11]

I didn't work while on mat leave. There was hardly any tax taken out of my EI which is why I owe so much now Apparently I could have asked them to take out more, but I didn't realize at the time how brutal tax time would be!

@wimbly11: Did you get paid or work while on mat leave? I was only paid through EI and that pretty much took me to the poverty line and I didn't pay any tax. EI deducts a certain amount for tax before you see any of the money so that took care of that. The higher earning spouse claims the child as the dependent, which if I remember was only a few hundred dollars. I had no daycare bills, no child activity credits, etc. either.

I finally got to the bottom of why DH's tax return took so long. For some reason, I wrote down a 2 as 4 so the income amount should have been $20 more. Because CRA seems to drop off the decimals for the federal portion and retain them for the provincial portion, there was a difference of $0.95 after all their rounding. If I had only written $40 instead of $20 by accident, I could have saved myself almost a dollar that got lost in the correction.

Well, it's been paid online. At least that part was easy.

[sweet sparrow]

I didn't work while on mat leave. There was hardly any tax taken out of my EI which is why I owe so much now Apparently I could have asked them to take out more, but I didn't realize at the time how brutal tax time would be!

Mine was automatic. I never asked them to increase or decrease the taxes. Do you have a special case like self-employment? On the website, it says it's supposed to be automatic.

http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/ei/...page#h2.4-h3.6

[wimbly11]

No no self employment. People had told me that EI takes out a bare minimum of taxes and you would be required to pay back quite a bit come tax time if you didn't ask them to increase. Stupid me didn't listen.

http://www.babycenter.ca/thread/1167...e-was-finished

[mulock]

Did my taxes last night with StudioTax.....it only took 20 minutes. Submitted by Netfile and should be getting a refund of a mere $67.....better than paying in though.

[Frugalbigmama]

Finally had mine done this week! Doubt I will look online for it to be assessed. Will just be a surprise when I see the refund in my account .

[sweet sparrow]

No no self employment. People had told me that EI takes out a bare minimum of taxes and you would be required to pay back quite a bit come tax time if you didn't ask them to increase. Stupid me didn't listen.

http://www.babycenter.ca/thread/1167...e-was-finished

Sorry, I had no idea. My friend who made a high income at an engineering firm paid no tax and she was my main source of info. I have a much lower income and didn't pay any tax either.

I don't know if it makes any difference but I took my mat leave in the middle of the year, so for two years worth of taxes, I had six months or so of my employer pulling off taxes. I think I still had a large refund.

Did my taxes last night with StudioTax.....it only took 20 minutes. Submitted by Netfile and should be getting a refund of a mere $67.....better than paying in though.

Congratulations! A tax refund of slightly over $2 is my ideal. The lower your refund, the less money the government borrowed from you interest free.

[Frugalbigmama]

Sorry, I had no idea. My friend who made a high income at an engineering firm paid no tax and she was my main source of info. I have a much lower income and didn't pay any tax either.

I don't know if it makes any difference but I took my mat leave in the middle of the year, so for two years worth of taxes, I had six months or so of my employer pulling off taxes. I think I still had a large refund.



Congratulations! A tax refund of slightly over $2 is my ideal. The lower your refund, the less money the government borrowed from you interest free.

Do you make RRSP contributions? That may be why? I always had on mat leave and never had to pay either.

[wimbly11]

I had no RRSP. Weird, everyone else I know had to pay in quite a bit as well...

[Frugalbigmama]

I had no RRSP. Weird, everyone else I know had to pay in quite a bit as well...

Well that sucks! Hopefully you can figure it out ahead of time for this year so you aren't paying next year.

[sweet sparrow]

Do you make RRSP contributions? That may be why? I always had on mat leave and never had to pay either.

I think that must be it. That seems to be the only difference.

[Ciel]

@wimbly11 ,
In Gail's book, Money Rules (I'm learning about budgeting and finances), she wrote of someone who worked half the year prior to taking maternity leave for the other half year. There was a tax consequence due to EI not taking off enough tax to the tune that the person had to budget $249 per month for that tax bill gap. Gail mentioned a website she used to figure out the taxes owing-she wrote that you have to know how much income taxes at sources were taken off by your employer during the months you were working prior to your leave so you can then figure out the tax bill for the mat leave months. https://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax

You'll need the gross income earned before the mat leave.
The gross income you'll receive from EI in that same year.
Add the two numbers together for total gross income.
Add up all the taxes that have been deducted from all your income.
Deduct the amount (of taxes) that's already being withheld from the amount you'll owe.
Set aside the difference in an "I must pay my taxes account."

If your mat leave runs over two calendar years, you'll have to do this calculation twice.