How to find lost money (and more) in your CRA My Account

Did you know that CRA might owe you some cash, right now?

Not only that, but they may have been holding it for years, while you have been none the wiser? It’s true.

It’s not often in life that we find some lost money. Even rarer is finding out that Canada Revenue Agency owes us cash that we didn’t know about. But, for many Canadians, that is precisely the situation. You see, the average person moves from one residential address to another, at least a few times during their lifetime. Often, despite their best efforts, their new address may not be accurately (or immediately) updated with all of their personal and business accounts. In such cases, it is easy for mail to never reach the intended recipient. Other times, mail can simply go missing, whether it is lost, or perhaps even stolen.

Now, if that mail was a payment sent by CRA, the government agency will keep a record of the uncashed cheque. You just may not know about it. Earlier this year, CRA soft-launched a feature to allow taxpayers to easily find out if they are entitled to any such payments. The key is to log in to CRA My Account and navigate to the right spot.

Here’s how to do it:

Head over to CRA’s My Account for Individuals:

1. Log in with your username and password (or, if you don’t yet have a CRA My Account login, register to create one).

2. Under “Related Services”, look for the menu item labelled “Uncashed cheques”. Click it and cross your fingers.

3. Voila! If CRA is holding any uncashed cheques for you, they will appear in a table, showing the amount, along with instructions for how to get it sent to you.

4. Bonus tip: To make sure you don’t miss out on any future such payments, sign up for direct deposit. That way, CRA will just go ahead and deposit the amounts directly into your bank account.

So, did your author find any long-lost treasure in his CRA My Account? Indeed, I did! I had an uncashed cheque for about $50 from 1998! Likely due to moving my residence that year. Okay, not enough to retire on, but still a nice surprise and worth the two minutes it took to check!

What else is in CRA My Account?

Other than playing the lost cheque lottery, CRA My Account is a useful site for all Canadian taxpayers. I urge you to become familiar with its features. Most importantly, it will tell you the status of your account, including balances and any payments due or owed. Also, you can quickly find your RRSP deduction limit and TFSA contribution room. If you are keen on preparing your own tax return, you’ll also find most (if not all) of your tax information slips, for each tax year.

By the way, if you find the information in CRA My Account a little bit daunting at tax time, let us be your tax preparation partner. We’ll organize all of the important data from CRA on your behalf, and use it to prepare and file your tax return. For a fixed price and with no upfront fee.

Filing taxes for the first time?

Here are the Do’s and Don’ts

As a child, you likely received plenty of unsolicited advice from adults on the subject of finding the right life partner. Don’t rush, find somebody that accepts you, as you are, and that isn’t afraid of commitment. All great advice. But you probably didn’t hear much about the longest-term adult relationship that you will inevitably have - your relationship with Canada Revenue Agency, aka CRA.

While your first year filing a tax return is surely the end of your youth, it’s not all bad - indeed, it may mean that you’ve landed your first paying job. In any case, you have embarked upon a relationship that will require annual attention (at least) and CRA is a partner that you definitely want to keep happy. Just like the pursuit of bliss in any relationship, there are some definite do’s and don’ts.

Do learn the basics of a tax return

I’m not saying you should enroll in accounting courses. But, a basic understanding of a personal tax return will help you decipher any advice you receive from family, friends and tax professionals, as everybody has their own opinion about how to handle your taxes. It will also help you make sense of the letters and memos that CRA will be sending you throughout the year. The Internet is your friend, here, with its endless resources. I suggest becoming familiar with the different types of income, deductions and credits, and some of the more common elements such as RRSP and TFSA contribution limits.

Do start keeping records

When I started paying taxes, I started keeping a neat file folder for each tax year, in a cabinet, so that I could organize all of the paper slips I received in the mail, as well as other important information to keep on hand, like donation and expense receipts. Nowadays, of course, the process is much more digital. Many slips, investment reports and expense summaries are available in electronic form and can be stored on your computer, or even in the cloud. Wherever you decide to store your records, I suggest keeping separate folders for each tax year. At some point in your relationship with CRA, you will undoubtedly be asked about something from a previous tax year. It will save you a lot of time and frustration if you have tidy records.

Don’t put off filing

There are a million more fun things to do than taxes. A billion, maybe. The temptation is to procrastinate and do everything at the last minute, or even after the tax deadline if you are certain that you don’t have an amount owing. The first problem with this is that rushing at the end may mean that you forget something important. Forgetting a source of income can lead to painful penalties. Likewise, failing to include a deduction or credit means you will pay more tax (or get a smaller refund). It’s better to start early and take your time, so you can be sure you’ve covered everything. If you have an accountant preparing your return, also remember that they will be doing taxes for many people and their workload towards the deadline will be immense. You are surely going to get better attention if you engage with them in February, rather than March or April.

Don’t ignore CRA’s letters

Yes, your new lifelong partner is also a pen-pal. You will soon be able to instantly recognize their letters and memos as they arrive in their light-brown envelopes, or emails with bilingual subject lines. Open them right away and read them, thoroughly. These communications may be simple reminders, such as when your tax instalments are due for the following year. But, sometimes, they concern an anomaly in your file or a question that CRA has about your records. Remember, almost every transaction you will have with CRA is tied to a due date. Many little brown envelopes sit on kitchen tables for months, while taxpayers incur financial penalties for situations that could have been easily avoided with prompt attention.

To end on a positive note, filing your first tax return doesn’t mean doom and gloom for the rest of your days.

On the contrary, it is quite possible to have a lifelong relationship with CRA that is as stress-free as the best friendships. But, like a good friend or partner, CRA does need your focused attention, from time to time. Nobody likes to be taken for granted, or forgotten about!

If you need a little bit of help getting started, consider working with us. At Blackspark, we provide tax preparation remotely and for a fixed price. Our goal is to make sure your taxes are taken care of, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Thinking about doing your own taxes?

Here are the pros and cons to consider

Ah, tax season. Before we’ve even had a chance to settle down from the holidays, we start getting pesky reminders about doing our taxes, again. If you are like many Canadians, you may wonder, each year, if you should prepare your own tax return. Is it really that hard? Is it worth the time and effort?

Of course, it is difficult to provide a definitive answer, as each taxpayer has a unique situation. Generally speaking, the more complex your financial situation, the more challenging it will be to prepare your own return. For example, if you have rental properties, relocated and changed employers, or many investment accounts, then your return is going to take more time and attention than if you simply have a single employer and RRSP contribution. On the other hand, if you do have a simple return, there are free software tools available that will get you started. You can even file your return by hand, on paper. Yes, a small percentage of Canadians still do that!

If you don’t have the confidence to prepare your own return, or the free apps are not sophisticated enough for your financial situation, you will need to decide how to get help. This may still be in the form of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) software, like TurboTax with additional paid features that are not available in free editions. Or, it might mean finding a tax preparation company like H&R Block, or even a traditional tax services firm, staffed by chartered accountants.

What are the pros and cons?

With paid versions of DIY software, you should have the tools necessary to account for a broad variety of tax situations. As long as you don’t have any really unique elements to your tax situation like foreign income, filing requirements in multiple jurisdictions, or assets that trigger special reporting requirements, chances are there is a paid version that will let you get the job done. Of course, the downsides are 1) you still have to understand the fundamentals of preparing a tax return, 2) you have to take full responsibility, yourself, for the proper preparation and filing of your return, and 3) you have to pay for the software. That last point can be frustrating at times, as you may be lured to a vendor’s website by a very low advertised price (or even the promise of free), only to find yourself being upsold to required features once you have already started preparing your return.

If you elect to find a tax preparation company or tax firm to help, you will have the benefit of a trained individual preparing your return on your behalf, as well as the company standing behind the accuracy of your return, provided that you have given them accurate information. This can save you a lot of effort and, at the same time, give you peace of mind. On the negative side, you will still be responsible for collecting all of the required documents (slips, expense statements, etc.) and figuring out how to get them to your tax firm. If the firm does not have a smooth digital process in place, you may even have to drop the documents off at their physical office. Also, you will undoubtedly be billed hourly, based on the complexity of your return, and you may not even know the cost until your return is filed and tax season is over. Nobody likes an invoice from their accountant to start the summer!

Here at Blackspark, our goal is to give you the best of both worlds. We think that everybody should be able to have a professional accountant prepare their tax return and at a fixed price. We built great technology to help you provide your tax information to us quickly and remotely. Then we prepare your return with licensed chartered accountants. If that sounds like a fit for you, consider working with us.