Gregory, Harriman & Associates LLP Blog

Now that personal tax season is here you will need to start gathering up all your tax slips to report your income and deductions for 2021.  With a lot of institutions and businesses going paperless you will need to determine what tax slips may be coming by e-mail or that you need to sign into your account to download versus arriving in the mail.

• There are two deadlines set by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the mailing of tax slips each year, the last day of February and the last day of March.

• The majority of slips from the Government of Canada and Chartered Banks should arrive shortly after the end of February. These are typically T4A -Statement of Pension, T4A (OAS) – Statement of Old Age Security, T4A(P) -Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits, T4E - Statement of Employment Insurance, T4RIF - Statement of income from a registered retirement income fund, T4RSP - Statement of RRSP income, T5 tax slip - Statement of Investment Income.

• Tax slips that have the March deadline are for investments. If you have investments accounts, you should expect to receive them in late March or early April. These slips include T3 - Statement of Trust Income Allocation and Designations, T5013 - Statement of partnership income, and T5008 - Statement of securities transactions which are normally the last to arrive.

• Employment income slips such as T4 - Statement of Remuneration Paid, will either be mailed to you by your employer by the end February or more typically supplied to you at your place of work.

• Slips and receipts often overlooked are ones that require you to log into your personal account and retrieve for printing. These can include tuition receipts (T2202 in Canada & TL1A outside of Canada), professional/union dues, student loan interest, donation receipts and private medical premiums.

• If you are claiming detailed home office expenses you will require a completed and signed T2200 or the simplified T2200S form from your employer, stating that you were required to work from home and incur certain costs in 2021 which were not reimbursed.

• Investments accounts are another area that requires some review as although you may have received your tax slips you may have other transactions that require reporting. Included with your final investment package you should look for a Statement of Gain/Loss report and investment fees for the current year.

• If you received individual COVID-19 benefits, such as the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) or Employment Insurance (EI), you will be issued either a T4E (for EI) or T4A (all other benefits) from Services Canada. There have been reported issues with some taxpayers receiving incorrect T4A slips for these benefits, so be careful to review your T4A slip and contact the CRA if it does not appear to be correct.

• Medical expenses can be claimed if the total medical expenses incurred for yourself, your spouse, and dependents exceeds the lesser of 3% of your net income, or $2,421.  If you visit the same pharmacy to fill your prescriptions, you can have your Pharmacist create an annual summary of prescriptions to use for your medical credits on your personal tax return. This can save significant time in the preparation of your tax return.        

• Check out GH&A’S 2021 T1 Client Checklist for a detailed list of the important information that may be required for your return.

 

For questions on what information may be required for your 2021 personal tax return, please contact Gregory Harriman & Associates LLP by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 1-403-934-3176.