PERSONAL TAX FILING SERVICES

1. Submitting Your Tax Information

• We don’t require or offer appointments for personal tax returns – our unique intake form is designed to take the guess work out of preparing your return so that we don’t tie up your valuable time by keeping you in our office.

• You can submit your personal tax information to us anytime during regular business hours, or electronically through our secure client portal. (Call or email our office so that we can set up an account for you.)

2. Complex Tax Situations

• If your personal income situation is complex (involves a business, investments or other non-basic situation) we will discuss if an appointment is required.

• It is helpful and sometimes essential that we know about changes to your personal situation – whether it’s the birth of a child, a change in marital status, a new employment or a side-business, more information is better. Write us a note that we can include in your file so that we make sure this information is noted and reviewed during the tax return preparation process.

3. Turnaround Time and Deadlines

• Typically our turn-around time for completing a tax return is 3 – 4 days, however this is also often dictated by the volume of files we have received.

• If you need your return completed by a certain date, please advise us at drop off, or as soon as possible. We will always attempt to meet this deadline to the best of our efforts, but rush rates may apply in some situations.

4. Completion and Pickup Options

• At the completion of the preparation of your tax return we will contact you by phone to let you know that your return is completed.

• For your convenience, you can either opt to come into the office to pick up your return, or we can provide a pdf copy of your return via our secure client portal once the final invoice has been paid. Just let us know your preference! We are not able to provide personal tax returns via email.

5. Payment and Filing

• We ask for payment of the balance of the final invoice before we disclose the details of your return.

• We will advise you of your balance owing or refund amount, as well as payment options.

• We electronically file all personal tax returns with the exception of those that are 5+ years overdue, or in special circumstances where CRA requires that we paper file the return. These situations are beyond our control, and we are required to submit tax returns according to CRA’s filing requirements.

6. Review and Signing

• We cannot file your tax return until you have signed the T183 (Information Return for Electronic Filing of an Individual’s Income Tax and Benefit Return).

• We advise that you not sign a tax return that you are not satisfied with or if you still have questions about the information on your tax return. It is much more difficult and costly to make changes to a return that is already filed as opposed to one that has not been filed.

• Once our invoice is paid, we release the tax return to you so that you can review it in our office or at home, at your convenience.

7. Questions and Support

• We are always happy to answer any questions you might have or review information if you think something isn’t right. If it’s a quick question, we are usually able to answer right away; however, we may request that you come back at another time if it’s a question that requires a conversation with one of our accountants.

• While we can’t necessarily change the outcome of your tax return, your absolute satisfaction with our service is our goal, and we will always do our best to ensure that you understand the outcome of your return.

• We are always happy to answer any questions you might have, or review information if you think something isn’t right. If it’s a quick question, we are usually able to answer right away, however we may request that you come back at another time if it’s a question that requires a conversation with one of our accountants.

8. Helpful Resources

• See our Forms page to download our Personal Tax Checklist, which can help you to ensure that you are submitting all information possible so that we can optimize your return.

• You can also find our Personal Intake Form & T1013 (CRA Authorization form) available for download. We require both of these forms to be completed before we prepare your return so that we can ensure that we are using complete & correct information.

• Is your return more than basic? Have questions about what can be claimed? We have put together some additional checklists for clients who need them:

  • Moving Expense Checklist

  • Rental Property Checklist

  • Small or Home-Based Business Checklist

9. Self Employed or Contract Workers

• If you are self-employed or a contract worker with a T2200 from your employer, use our Business & Employment Expense summary to provide your expense information for tax return preparation purposes.