5 tips to help keep the CRA off your back this tax-filing season

financialpost.com:

The Canada Revenue Agency has already received more than 2.5 million 2023 personal tax returns as of March 4. Of those, over 95 per cent were electronically filed, with only five per cent of Canadians mailing in their returns.

Approximately 80 per cent of the returns processed to date showed either no tax owing or a refund due, with the average expected refund coming in at $2,279.

When all is said and done, based on last year’s tax return processing statistics, the CRA is expected to receive more than 30 million personal tax returns for 2023, meaning that over 90 per cent of us have yet to file.

That’s not surprising since most Canadians (present company excluded, of course) don’t enjoy the process of filing their taxes. Indeed, 62 per cent experience at least a little anxiety or stress in anticipation of filing their taxes, according to a new survey by TurboTax Canada, with 18 per cent preferring to go to the dentist instead of doing their taxes. That anxiety level rises to 85 per cent for younger Canadians (aged 18 to 27), who may not have had much practice with this annual spring rite.

But fear not, intrepid tax filers, as I’ll be periodically sharing some helpful tax tips to guide you through the filing season leading up to the April 30 general deadline, some of which come directly from readers and clients. Let’s get started.

If you made a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) contribution in 2023 or in the first 60 days of 2024 (Jan. 1 to Feb. 29), you must report that contribution in your 2023 tax return even if you don’t want to deduct all of it against your 2023 income. This is done on Schedule 7 of the return, where you enter your contributions in Part A of the form, and then you choose the amount you wish