How to fill your taxes in Canada?

I’ve been surprised how many canadians were outsourcing their taxes by a professional. If you don’t have a complex financial situation you will be surprised how easy it is.

Please don’t paid for it and learn how taxes work so you will be in control of your financial life.

Do it by yourself and use an assistant software like SimpleTax.

Work

Your employer will provide you a tax document called a T4. If you have multiple employers the same year you will then have multiple T4s.

In Québec we have an additional tax document called an R1.

T4

Using SimpleTax, this is a straightforward task. Just follow what SimpleTax asks for and report the corresponding boxes from your T4 to SimpleTax.

R1

If you live in Québec, you will get asked to report the data about your R1. Take your R1 provided by your employer and repeat the task as you did with your T4.

Stock market

If you invest in the market you will need to let the government knows how much you invested/made during the fiscal year.

T5008

This form is usually generated by your broker at the end of the fiscal year.

  • Adjust Cost Base (ACB): This value is could be generated on your T5008. Otherwise, make sure you register somewhere how much you bought/sold, when and at which exchange rate (USD/CAD).

The Canadian government wants this value in CAD, so make sure you convert using the annual exchange rate before submitting it.

How to report your T5008?

T5

This form is provided by your bank during the tax season for your RRSP and your savings accounts.

Real estate

If you have a renting property, you can claim money to the government if you did major renovations. I will add more information about this next year.

Tools