Get ready for 2025 tax season

financialpost.com:

Want to get a head start on a year of tax savings? Now is the time to start preparing. So, whether you are sipping eggnog by the open fire, or spinning your dreidel as you devour latkes, take advantage of some downtime this holiday season to get yourself ready for 2025. Here are three easy things you can do to save on your taxes next year.

If you’re an employee who gets a substantial tax refund each year, now is the perfect time to revisit your annual tax strategy. As I’ve said numerous times, a tax refund is essentially an interest-free loan to the government, for up to sixteen months. It typically arises when the amount of tax owing on your return is less than the amount of tax withheld during the year.

For employees, the amount of tax withheld is calculated by your employer by taking into account various credits to which you are entitled, but without taking into account a slew of other deductions and credits you may ultimately claim when you file your return.

The first way to reduce your taxes withheld by your employer is to revisit Form TD1, Personal Tax Credits Return, along with its provincial (or territorial) equivalent, which you would have filled out when you first started working. This form lists the various credits to which you are entitled, such as the basic personal amount, the disability amount and the spouse or common-law partner amount, among others. If your personal situation has changed since you joined your employer, making you eligible for additional credits, consider updating your TD1 forms for 2025, and submitting them to your company’s payroll department so your tax deductions at source can be reduced for 2025.

But, for most employees, it is other tax deductions and credits we claim when we file