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Call CRA on your Personal Tax Matters

With the change in phone systems, the phone number remains the same 800-959-8281 but you no longer have the option to press the * key to “speak to an agent” within a few minutes.

Now these are the options:

CRA Personal Line Options Changed when calling 800-959-8281

Locked out of account press 1
Remittance Voucher or other forms 2
RRSP HBP TFSA 3
Tax return, balance 4 other inquiries 5
Other, address, direct deposit, trust 5
The # key returns to main menu.

 

You need your SIN number, and need to key it in to give CRA a “heads up” to who they will be speaking with, and the mechanical voice will let you know the waiting period for you to be in the queue.  It seems to take longer now, but if the service is better, that is the trade off.  Time will fix just about everything.

Jack

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Another Government Bulletin – Are you a Canibis grower?

It’s getting more complicated, if you didn’t already know.  This is the bulletin that details the monthly reporting requirement that CRA insists on.

You must report certain activities of your growing operation if you are in the legitmate business, on a monthly basis, no later than the end of the month following the reporting period.

 

Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest… hmmmm…

Bulleting 105 Mary Wanna

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Government Changed their Phone System

It looks like we can no longer dial the business number 1-800-959-5525 and then press the * key to contact them directly.

Try this:

Calling CRA Business 800-959-5525

After dialing, there are different options to press.
Some that may be of benefit to us are:
– Payroll 3
– GST 4 then press 0 enter 9 digits HST then 1
– Self employed or Corporation 5
– Other 6

First two have to do with registrations or difficulty accessing accounts on line.

 

Jack

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All Deductions, Credits and Expenses

This is the CRA website which lets you put in the line number from  your personal tax return that you would like to research.

For example, line 305 is for other deductions for an eligible dependant.  Do you qualify for it, based on the best information you have, and the little information CRA gives to you, before they come up with a reason to disallow it?

 

Jack

 

All Deductions link – press it

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Bursaries and Scholarships may be Exempt Income Sources

Line 130 – Scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, study grants, and artist’s project grants (awards)

A number of people don’t realize that when they are a full time student, that Scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, grants are exempt from tax, and are reported through a T4A document issued by the payer.
When you file your income tax, you should report the amount received as income, and as income that is exempt.
In order to determine if you would qualify for the exempt status, the easiest way is to access a computer, put canada.ca Link to Canada Government Website in the URL field of the search engine you are using (Chrome, Firefox, etc), and where the search bar appears in the CRA website, put in the word “Line 130”.
From there, just scroll down until you see the detail on Scholarships, etc, and hit the enter key. Within that document, there is the criteria listed and highlighted as a “qualifying student”. Put your cursor over that word, and hit the “enter” key.
You should have enough reading material to determine if you qualify for the exemption, and it will save you time in requesting an adjustment sometime later.

Jack

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Post assessment reviews

Post assessment reviews
It’s nearly time that CRA will automatically send letters for special situations that require documentation in support of some of the claims used in your most recent tax return.
This review is automatically generated based on criteria predetermined by CRA and periodically amended to include or exclude items previously determined to be relative to the initial review.
Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding the process and if we have been contacted beforehand on your behalf, we will respond and contact you if any information is believed to be contained in your annual tax document file that is in your possession.
Regards
Jack
The Holllingsworth and Associates Team.

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Free Tax Preparation for Some Canadians

CRA can provide information to you that may enable you to have your tax return prepared at no cost.

There are some restrictions, the main one being your total income, but it sure doesn’t hurt to check it out on your own.  I hope you can get a savings, and if not, we are here to help.  We do charge a fee for services, and do our best to keep our costs in control so you don’t pay for inefficiencies.

Here is CRA’s Link CRA Free Service

See you soon.

Regards,

Jack