Some of you may have seen the television commercials alluding to the tax time filing pain. We often struggle to organize our paperwork and file our taxes in time before the deadline. Even if you aren’t filing your own taxes, there is the stress of finding all your source documents. It’s enough to give you a headache or pain in the ***.

Gloria Munro of Munro & Company, CGA, has these great tax checklists to get you prepared for your personal and business tax filings. Submitting your return on time will save you money on the late filing penalties, even if you pay interest on the unpaid tax amounts. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) states the deadline to file your taxes is April 30 or June 15th, if you’re self-employed. After that, if you owe the government, they will charge you a 5 percent late penalty on the total owed and 1 percent interest per month for a maximum of 12 months.

Your business tax receipts may already be in a disorganized pile for this year’s tax filings. But you will be in top form for next year by following these tips. You’ve got one year to rid yourself of more tax pain.

Top Tips

1. Keep your tax documents in one location (section of your filing cabinet or separate file box)
2. Create Company File Folders for:
   1. those you use often or receive monthly statements from
   2. expenses that may not have the same supplier (auto repairs & maintenance, office supplies)
   3. tax accounts and government-issued documents (HST, WorksafeBC, etc.)
3. File receipts in the year transaction took place and only after you enter them into your accounting system.

Read more about good filing practices and how to avoid tax pain from Munro & Company, CGA. For hands-on help with filing and paperwork management, contact the Out of Chaos team.

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