How much did your Accountant charge this year to prepare your Tax Return?
- Thread starter farquhar
- Start date
As someone who works for CRA, most accountants are a scam. So many of them purport to know how the agency operates & the majority of them are dead wrong. And yes, if they're preparing a T2, they charge even more outrageously, with the rationale that it's a corporation, so they can afford it, even though said corporation might just be a 1 man operation who incorporated to limit their personal liability. Had a guy like that tell me he was quoted $1500-2000 per T2 return, which is ridiculous.
That being said, if I had a complex return, with alot of T5008s and/or rental income, I'd likely find the most trustworthy accountant I could as opposed to doing it myself.
As for the strike, there's no way it's going to be a general strike; most likely, it will be a rotating strike, with people like call centre staff & T1 processing staff bearing the brunt of the picketing. They're scheduled for bargaining next week, & I'd be surprised if they didn't make some progress. The Treasury Board to date has failed to offer anything or address the union's proposals, even to say no. With Trudeau's approval numbers sliding, he'd be stupid if he didn't instruct Treasury Board to deal with this now. I just wish it was closer to an election, that's usually more incentive for them to offer us a contract.
I have used Turbo Tax for years. Saves me a lot of accountant fees. All forms are available. It is time consuming to enter data. Never had any issues regarding an audit etc.
Accountants probably use a premium version of turbo tax or equivalent software.
Like people don’t have enough on their plate, they have to deal with bullshit because of a strike.
As for taxes, I do my personal. My accountant does the business and I think I paid $330 last year and $375 this year.
Accountants will be replaced by AI one day. Even today the T50008,T3 and T5 should easily be automatically entered.
That's a big miss. You accountant should have run a comparative summary, probably would have caught it.
Back in the day brokers did not provide realized gains & losses reports (unless you were with a high end private client group). These days it doesn't matter how big the portfolio is its easy to report.
So in reality the only additional work is on the rental property and its sale. If it was complicated (calculating ACB and perhaps any principal residence exemption) that could warrant the $550 charge.
So not true. Human accountants, lawyers, doctors etc. will always be needed. AI will definitely be leveraged to assist but it won't replace.
I don't think the Accountant would have caught the Error with the Comparative Summary.
The T5 in question was from a Principal-at-Risk (PAR) Note issued by National Bank that had an original Term of 7 years, but was called early; in other words, it represented a one-time investment. The only time a T5 was generated was when the Note was called. The Income Tax Act treats returns on these Notes as gains on income, not gains on capital.
Now, the problem becomes if I miss a slip in any of the next 3 tax years, and the return is flagged in the Matching Program, the CRA is going to assess the "Repeated Failure to Report Income" penalty and fine me 20% of whatever the missed income is.
Rental Property wasn't complicated at all; I simply gave the Accountant the Proceeds of Disposition, the Cost Base, the Total Fees for Realtor and Lawyer and he plugged the numbers into Schedule 3.
The only complication with the Rental Property is that the Tenant left at the end of February and the sale closed at the start of September; Accountant says it is ok to claim expenses for the period between the start of March and the end of August without Rental Income, as we were actively trying to sell it. If CRA says that is offsides, the Accountant says he could capitalize those costs instead.
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"Now, the problem becomes if I miss a slip in any of the next 3 tax years, and the return is flagged in the Matching Program, the CRA is going to assess the "Repeated Failure to Report Income" penalty and fine me 20% of whatever the missed income is."
When was this rule introduced? Just curious, never happened to me.
When was this rule introduced? Just curious, never happened to me.
Always been there:
False reporting or repeated failure to report income - Personal income tax - Canada.ca
The set penalty is 10% for the Feds and 10% for Ontario....or 20%.
It used to be the penalty would apply for any amount of income missed....but the Government changed it to a floor of $500, as people complained it was too punitive.
Well, again I messed up. I submitted my tax return online already, but missed a whole bunch of T5 and T5008 from one account.
Wait until the CRA sends you the Notice of Assessment and then file an Adjustment for the missing slips.
I tried to see if I could add a t5008 to my 2001 return as a test, but it only allows for adding t3 and t5. There's also no place to amend the schedule 3 information where I would normally enter the t5008 information.
Does the CRA automatically know that they are missing? Do they reference what it provided to them to my return? Luckily, I had no capital gains.
I see I can amend line 13200, the total capital gain/loss. But it doesn't even show line 13199, the proceeds of disposition. If I changed only 13200, and not 13199, it wouldn't make sense.
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Given your large investment portfolio, if you have more than CAD$100,000 (cost)invested in foreign property (i.e. stocks, real estate etc.) you should be filing a T-1135. It's an information return, but failing to file it can bring you a penalty of up to $2,500. Most brokers provide the report needed for the accountant to prepare this form.
You're right. One lazy or incompetent accountant can royally screw you over. They may even be able save you tons of money and pay for themselves if they can find all the deductions, loopholes, benefits, etc. Better to pay $1200 and sleep easy knowing everything is take care of by a competent professional, rather than a second tier accountant who cut corners and spent 10 minutes filling in some boxes.
My Accountant does complete a T-1135; forgot to mention that in my original post.
