My name is Mark Goodfield. Welcome to The Blunt Bean Counter ™, a blog that shares my thoughts on income taxes, finance and the psychology of money. I am a Chartered Professional Accountant. This blog is meant for everyone, but in particular for high net worth individuals and owners of private corporations. My posts are blunt, opinionated and even have a twist of humour/sarcasm. You've been warned. Please note the blog posts are time sensitive and subject to changes in legislation or law.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Tax Tips Tweet Summary & Child Disability Claims

This week I started tweeting daily income tax tips under the hashtag #blunttaxtip. The tweets were organizational in nature, to get you prepared to file your tax return. I have had an avalanche of requests to post these tips on my blog. Okay, two, but who is counting. 

In response to these requests, I will post a summary of my weekly tax tips each Friday until my tips have been exhausted or I become exhausted, whichever comes first. I am not sure how well tax tweets with a 140 character limitation translate, but I assume you will get the gist of the tips.

Tips for Week of January 22-25


Make a checklist of all the tax slips you expect to receive this year. Will help you avoid this penalty: http://bit.ly/W7PuCl #blunttaxtip

Medical expenses must evidence payment. Tip- Have pharmacy, dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor, etc. provide a yearly summary receipt. #blunttaxtip

Ensure for each donation made online, you receive or request an official tax receipt. The online receipts are not official receipts. #blunttaxtip [Note: To clarify, when you donate online, you receive a payment confirmation receipt (this confirmation receipt is not an official receipt) and often, a notice that the official receipt will be sent separately or must be downloaded. Many clients provide me the payment confirmation receipts and do not download the official receipt or request such].

If you incur expenses to earn employment income, request a signed Form T2200 from your employer. #blunttaxtip

Disability Tax Credit & Child Disability Benefit Claims


Over the past two weeks, the Big Cajun Man has been posting on his Canadian Personal Finance Blog about how to claim the disability tax credit and complete the disability tax credit certificate for a child and how to claim the child disability benefit. He also discussed how he received a refund for prior years by "back" claiming his son’s tuition expenses as a medical tax credit. If you have a disabled child or know someone who does, please direct them to his blog. 

For those who want a concise, but slightly dated overview of some of the expenses related to learning disabilities which are eligible for the medical expense tax credit, please see this article.

The blogs posted on The Blunt Bean Counter provide information of a general nature. These posts should not be considered specific advice; as each reader's personal financial situation is unique and fact specific. Please contact a professional advisor prior to implementing or acting upon any of the information contained in one of the blogs.

4 comments:

  1. Just to expand on e-receipts for charitable donations: It's also worth a quick check of your email sorted by Sender to make sure you've found all of the acknowledgements and collected all the official receipts. Every year I catch a few that we forgot to file properly. That's a few hundred $ not getting claimed! (Luckily I found out you can claim missed ones the next year.)

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    1. Bet, thanks, Yes, the CRA does not make a fuss when you put a prior years donation with the current years.

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  2. Looking forward to the tax tip tweets :)

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