Read the CRA’s mailing: everything will be clear

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2016 (3665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Before I get into a few vital tax tips for you, I have to single out the CRA — yes, the Canada Revenue Agency — for some serious kudos.

The good folks at the CRA have just launched publicly the results of a years-long project to communicate with us more clearly. And it works!

Expect your next correspondence from the CRA to be distinguished by two things. One will be an insert called Everything Just Got Clearer.

The other distinguishing characteristic will be the accompanying communiqué on your tax situation will, indeed, be much clearer:

❚ Cleaner font and layout;

❚ More white space;

❚ Easier to read;

❚ A clear statement of what you have to do — pay, provide more info or look for a cheque in the mail.

I saw one of the first of these new mailings this week while helping some elderly clients organize their tax information. A new CRA notice of reassessment arrived in their mailbox while I was there. The notice was shockingly easy to understand.

My excitement took me to the CRA website, under “notices and letters,” to confirm my hope this year’s regular notices of assessment will share this new format.

Yes, they will!

This new clarity should make our tax lives much easier.

Let’s give full credit to the people behind this, and the hundreds of CRA workers who must have been involved and truly worked together to succeed with such a huge initiative.

It is now April 8, and in the past week you should have finally received the last of your recalcitrant T3s, T5013s and a few other items that are issued by investment vehicles that are trusts or limited partnerships. These entities are allowed 90 days after year end to send out their slips, which is why they arrive long after your T4s and T5s.

In our last column, we suggested you compare your slips to your 2014 tax mailings to see if you have everything. We also suggested you register at www.cra-arc.gc.ca so you can get all of your CRA info online.

It is a bit of a process to register, as the CRA is naturally very careful about security. After you provide your identification info, including the amount on line 120 of your 2014 return, you will have to wait a week until they mail you a security code.

This access is valuable, though, as it includes a listing of all of the tax slips that have been sent to the CRA by your issuers, so you can see if anything is missing, and get the information you need to complete your return.

However, last weekend I discovered the T5013 info I needed was not there. At deadline time for this column, I was not able to confirm if this was just a delay, or if these slips are not part of the program. That would be a serious oversight.

Another trick is some issuers group their T5 or T3 information, while the CRA may expect this to be reported separately.

For example, if you have three mutual funds with one fund company, you might receive a T5 or T3 with the boxes filled in showing the totals for the three funds. The amounts attributable to each individual fund will be shown separately in another space.

From my reassessment last year, it appears the CRA tries to match up the individual amounts, and the amalgamated totals do not correspond with their information. Hopefully, they will be clearer this year on their matching program, as well.

Now, please don’t leave that return till the last minute. I vow to have mine filed this weekend!

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Kudos as well to the financial services and accounting communities in Winnipeg for another very successful Winn$tock, the annual Financial Services Battle of the Bands for charity. In 12 years, we have raised more than $1 million for local worthy causes. Special congratulations to Yvonne Burman of Great West Life, the force of nature that has made this happen the last five years as chairwoman.

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Be sure to read Joel Schlesinger’s Money Matters column in the Free Press Saturday. Take a closer look at some of the innovative financial literacy initiatives taking place around Manitoba for Talk With Your Kids About Money Day, taking place April 20.

David Christianson is a financial planner and adviser with Christianson Wealth Advisors and a vice-president with National Bank Financial Wealth Management