With tax season coming up for Canada people will be going through forms once again to figure out their financial situation.
With the tasks sometimes being very complicated, authorities try to give people the best help that they can.
Canada Revenue Agency Spokesperson Lisa Kao gives some tips on how to prepare for the tax season.
"When it comes to planning taxes, definitely remember to claim all of the deductions and credits that you could be entitled to. When it comes to filing income taxes there's a section on the Canada.ca website that actually helps you with this, because sometimes people forget what they could be claiming."
"Something specific to Saskatchewan is actually they have a special credit for some families with children that are involved with various activities. This is something they can claim on the actual provincial credit of the tax return. But besides most federal credits that they're looking at, there are going to be some potential credits on the provincial side."
There are some changes to taxes coming in 2025 which Kao says won't be a problem for this tax season.
"2025 does have some things coming up which I won't get too much into because there are things such as the home renovation tax credit and as well as the return of the renovation credit for 2025 thing discussed and then also the graduate retention problem itself is talking about increasing the limits to a 24,000-lifetime limit from the previous 20,000. But this is all in the 2025 tax year at this point. So it's more of a topic we would be discussing next year."
There are a number of personal situations that may affect a person's taxes that would see an update, says Kao.
"Definitely any type of major life event or change. It could be impacting your tax situation, maybe you change common law with someone who may become separated, their spouse passed away, and these life events and changes can be impacting your taxes. Sometimes if you're not sure what to do, I would actually start with just going to our website and then take a look around."
"But at times, even that could be overwhelming, having to look through the website yourself, so at that point, you could just give us a call. Our 1-800 number, has extended hours of operation to 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. So our agents are available to give you that assistance and if maybe even doing that is an effort for yourself. We have chat features on our website and as well as volunteer clinics that you could reach out to for that help."
Kao says most people should make sure they can get their taxes in by April 30th to avoid any problems popping up.
"The big date to be aware of is that for most Canadians their income taxes are due on Wednesday, April 30th of this year and so you don't wanna miss that due date because you could be incurring late final penalties and interest charges if you have a balance outstanding. If you are expecting a refund, we always say why wait to get your refund, might as well file sooner rather than later."
"So our filing season has just opened up this week and we are accepting tax returns. Honestly, even past the due date, but the due date that you're aiming for is April the 30th because you were trying not to incur any penalties and in addition to that you don't want there to be any delays in anything that your taxes are impacting, such as the GST credit for your child benefits."