Personal Individual
Income Tax Preparation

The deadline for filing T1 Personal Income Tax returns is April 30, unless it falls on a weekend, in which case the deadline is midnight the following Monday.
The deadline for filing T2 Corporate and Business Tax returns is within six months of the corporation’s year-end.
The deadline for a small business that is not incorporated is June 15, unless it falls on a weekend, in which case the deadline is midnight the following Monday, and would be submitted on your T1 tax form. See about businesses HERE.

Child care expenses are amounts you paid to have someone look after your dependents so that you AND your partner can:

• Earn income from employment;
• Carry on a business either alone or as an active partner;
• Attend school under the conditions identified under Educational program; or
• Carry on research or similar work, for which you or the other person received a grant.

YOU BOTH HAVE TO HAVE EARNED INCOME and the child must have lived with you or the other person when the expense was incurred for the expense to qualify. Usually, you can only deduct payments for services provided in Canada by a Canadian resident.

NOTE: Childcare expenses are generally only deductible from the income of the ‘Lower-Income’ spouse or partner, but there are exceptions to the rule.

There is the ability to deduct interest charges as an expense to lowere your income tax payable when preparing your tax return. For example, you may deduct interest expenses on monies borrowed to earn interest, such as dividend or royalty income, interest earning bonds, and dividend-paying shares/stock under certain conditions. In most cases, if you are required to have a home office, your mortgage interest becomes deductible.

If you moved for your post-secondary studies and you are a full-time student, you may be able to claim moving expenses. However, you can only deduct these expenses from the part of your scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, certain prizes, and research grants that is required to be included in your income.

If you moved to work, including summer employment, or to run a business, you can also claim moving expenses. However you can only deduct these expenses from the income you earned at the new work location. To qualify, your new home must be at least 40 kilometres closer to your new school or work location. If the income at he new location is not enough to fully deduct your move, the residual moving expenses are carried forward to the next year.

If, at any time in the tax year, you (either alone or with another person) maintained a dwelling where you and one or more of your dependants lived, you may be able to claim your dependent’s full Disability Credit, and most times, an extra Family Caregiver amount, for EACH dependent.

Each dependant must have been 18 years of age or older and dependent on you due to an impairment in physical or mental functions. If the dependant is your or your spouse’s or common-law partner’s parent or grandparent, he or she had to have been born in 1949 or earlier.

If your employer requires you to go here and there for work related purposes, have him/her give you a completed form (T2200) stating such; this could potentially allow you to claim your vehicle, food, parking, lodging, supplies for work, your cell phone, etc.

You can claim $3,000 for the volunteer firefighters’ amount (VFA) or the search and rescue volunteers’ amount (SRVA), but not both, if you meet the following conditions:

• you were a volunteer firefighter or a search and rescue volunteer during the year; and
• you completed at least 200 hours of eligible volunteer firefighting services or eligible search and rescue volunteer services in the year.

Preparation and tax planning are in our DNA! Taxman serves both individuals and companies with tax planning to save.

Will you have multiple income streams in retirement? For example, many people who are approaching retirement age or are senior citizens have accumulated savings through their own RRSP or from their employer. RRSPs are great for accumulating retirement funds and provide a tax deduction for the funds when you deposit. However, eventually you do have to pay taxes when you withdraw funds from the RRSP account (10% for the first $5000). The law requires that you convert your RRSPs into a RRIF by the age of 71. Your access to the funds may differ depending on whether they are locked-in. If you had RRSPs through an employer they are usually “locked in”. Even though these pension plans are set up so that you cannot withdraw all of the money at once, most provinces allow you to withdraw a percentage of the whole amount on a one-time basis for different reasons. Nova Scotia offers provisions for financial hardship, shortened life expectancy, or if the value of the pension plan is low. There are also exceptions for excess funds or if you cease to be a resident. The funds must be in a LIF (Life Income Fund) or LIRA (Locked-in Retirement Account). See the following Government of Nova Scotia page for more detail on locked in funds and come see Taxman!

Currently, the laws mandated by the Federal Government in Ottawa require that we also withdraw a minimum percentage of the funds from a Registered Retirement Income Fund that increases as we grow older. The annual (and taxable) withdrawals start at 5.28% at age 71 (for RRIFs set up after 1992), increase to 6.82% at age 80, 11.92% at 90 and 20% at age 95 plus. These RRIF withdrawals are fully taxable income like salaried income or interest income. What tax implications do you face?

CERB, CWLB and other programs were initiated due to the the outbreak of Covid 19. These benefits were intended to supplement someone’s income during periods where they could not work or were limited because business activity had slowed so much and some places were not even able to provide rheir service.

If you were working sporadically and earned over $38,000  (excluding the CRB benefits your received) then you have to reimburse $0.50 from the benefit for each dollar that you earned above $38,000 up to the total CRB amount you received during the year.

Yes we can help determine your eligibility and with your application. The DTC will require that you have a physician (see new guidelines for doctors) attest that you have a long-term disability that restricts or makes it impossible to perform routine daily tasks in a reasonable amount of time. It could be based on one impairment or a combination of several, depending on the severity. See here for eligibility.