UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

That’s how I feel about doing my own taxes.

Now you might think… Chris… you must love doing taxes, don’t you like money? Don’t you write about taxes and stuff all the time?

Sure. But they’re not MY taxes, and somehow that makes all the difference.

Like so many of you, it usually takes the emergence of something else that I really don’t want to do before I finally haul out the receipts and fill out the spreadsheet that my accountant needs.

Usually the motivation for taxes is more ‘stick’ than ‘carrot’ so this week I wanted to highlight a few good things that come from doing your taxes.

3 Really Good Things You Could Get by FIling Your Taxes:

1. If you’re a parent you gain access to the Canada Child Benefit. If your child is under 6 that could mean more than $6,000 of tax-free money… but you don’t get it if you don’t file your taxes. If you haven’t filed for a few years you could even get some of that sweet cash for past years too, You can learn more here. 

2. You get RRSP room. If you don’t know what an RRSP is or how it works you can read more about it here. For those of you who understand the general concept remember that the way you earn contribution room is based on your income… and they know what your income is from your tax returns.

3. If you didn’t make much this year and you’re thinking… why do I need to do this anyway… the answer is the GST/HST credit. Low income earners will get access to this benefit (and possibly other benefits as well) You can learn more here.

I Know it’s Not Fun… But Avoidance is Expensive

It’s a stupid system. It doesn’t need to be this complicated.

But for now, it is. And for now… you’ve got to do it.

And I promise you from the bottom of my experience, it’s generally not going to be better to wait. It gets more expensive and more stressful.

And if it helps, keep in mind the good things that can come from getting through all that filing and number entering. I’ve only mentioned a few, there are more programs, credits and perks that come from getting it done. 

Power through and make yourself a tasty snack! You got this. 

 

Emily Nixon

Emily Nixon

Rags to Reasonable Community Outreach Coordinator

Emily Nixon is an actor/writer/director/filmmaking Swiss Army Knife. She is also a big money nerd and Community Outreach Coordinator for Rags to Reasonable.

She came to this work after becoming completely fed up with living paycheque-to-paycheque and being too afraid to look in her chequing account. She is passionate about empowering other artists and variable income earners to keep doing what they love and feel confident about their finances.

Email Emily at emily@ragstoreasonable.com

Want to start getting control of your money? How can I help?

EMAIL ME