Doing my own taxes next year

[Magpie]

I've only ever done my taxes myself once, when I was 16 and my dad insisted that I do them by hand to learn how to do them. Since then he just popped them into his copy of the software, so that he could transfer credits more easily. Since my FIL has always done them for his entire family, he offered to do for me and DH, and we accepted. Unfortunately, because his employment is somewhat more varied, doing taxes for him is a much bigger chore than for my dad. So he never does them until late.

And by "late", I mean it. As of yesterday at 18:00 they had not been submitted. He assures us that, since we don't owe, there is no penalty for him filing today instead of yesterday, but I'm not entirely comfortable with it. I suspect that I can get the software for free, since almost none of our income is taxable. And that means that I can easily file in March, rather than waiting until the last minute. I'm used to refunds arriving in about a week, however I hear that if you wait until the last minute they take longer.

</rant>

[lordlundar]

He assures us that, since we don't owe, there is no penalty for him filing today instead of yesterday, but I'm not entirely comfortable with it.

There might be an acceptable margin of error, but in general he is wrong. It's a federal offense to not file by the due date. It could very well mean a visit by the IRS in the form of an audit.

[Magpie]

It could very well mean a visit by the IRS in the form of an audit.

Nah, I don't think CCRA contracts out to them . *points at location*

[lordlundar]

Nah, I don't think CCRA contracts out to them . *points at location*

Ah, whoops. My mistake. Still, the only real difference is Revenue Canada is more polite about the financial anal reaming they give you.

[Magpie]

I know that my husband's brother-in-law didn't file for several years (only filed when he got married, because my sister-in-law couldn't apply for OSAP unless they were both up-to-date on taxes). He hasn't gotten in any trouble yet.

[Evil Queen]

Ya know, there's free tax software online.

I dunno about canookistan, but in the states I use Turbo Tax by Intuit. It's free to do and file your federal taxes and the "state" ones cost. Regardless, it's the fastest way to do your taxes.

[Magpie]

I'm technically super-low income (since our RA pay has been changed to scholarships, and those are non-taxable). So I'm pretty certain that we wouldn't have to pay, because the government is going to look and say "oh, wow, these people made only $6000 in 2010, no way should they have to pay for this".

I do still have to go get the software. (I believe that I have to buy it, and then will get the money back on my return).

[taxguykarl]

There might be an acceptable margin of error, but in general he is wrong. It's a federal offense to not file by the due date. It could very well mean a visit by the IRS in the form of an audit.

It's been a while (about 2 years) since I prepped a Canadian return. FWIW, if CCRA owes you they are likely to be forgiving about the deadline. If you owe them OTOH