How much did your Accountant charge this year to prepare your Tax Return?

[farquhar]

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.

The CRA doesn't automatically know what they are missing; generally, the Notice of Assessment is pushed out based on what you sent in and then from October 2023 - April 2024 the CRA will match what you submitted vs. the T-slips they received. That's how the CRA knew I missed a T5 slip from 2021.

T1 Adjustment Request (canada.ca)

This is the paper version of the Adjustment Request, which you would mail to your Tax Centre along with any supporting documentation.

You reference the Line you need to change; and the original amount of the line; the amount you are adding or subtracting; and the new amount.

So, the Lines you need to change (potentially) would be the following:

• Line 12000 (Amount of Dividends Eligible and Other than Eligible)
• Line 12100 (Interest and Other Investment Income)
• Line 13000 (Other Income)
• Line 19900 (Taxable Capital Gains or Net Capital Loss in 2022)

You have to provide supporting documentation as well. I would say if you can't figure out how to do it Online; do it on Paper; and include a new Schedule 3 for the T5008. This would probably be the way to go about it since you say you have a Net Capital Loss.

 

[stinkynuts]

The CRA doesn't automatically know what they are missing; generally, the Notice of Assessment is pushed out based on what you sent in and then from October 2023 - April 2024 the CRA will match what you submitted vs. the T-slips they received. That's how the CRA knew I missed a T5 slip from 2021.

T1 Adjustment Request (canada.ca)

This is the paper version of the Adjustment Request, which you would mail to your Tax Centre along with any supporting documentation.

You reference the Line you need to change; and the original amount of the line; the amount you are adding or subtracting; and the new amount.

So, the Lines you need to change (potentially) would be the following:

• Line 12000 (Amount of Dividends Eligible and Other than Eligible)
• Line 12100 (Interest and Other Investment Income)
• Line 13000 (Other Income)
• Line 19900 (Taxable Capital Gains or Net Capital Loss in 2022)

You have to provide supporting documentation as well. I would say if you can't figure out how to do it Online; do it on Paper; and include a new Schedule 3 for the T5008. This would probably be the way to go about it since you say you have a Net Capital Loss.

Great, thanks for the information. I think I can sort it out now.

UPDATE:

Wow, I just found out that you can refile using ReFile which you can choose from the software you used to file your taxes. It connects to the CRA and makes the changes. So easy!

 

[Darts]

Our company hires one of the Big 8 (or is it 4 now?) accounting firms to do the tax return of the key executives. The hourly rate is around $500 per hour.

 

[curvluvr]

I typically pay my accountant between $1600 to $1800 for my return and my SO's.
I have a regular T4 income and a small amount of self-employed income, SO is self-employed, several rental properties.

I think having a good accountant at your side is invaluable... especially in case CRA comes knocking and asking questions.
Is he/she worth every penny? Maybe, maybe not. But I trust him, and I'd still rather have him on my team, so I pay it every April and move on.

 

[danmand]

Our company hires one of the Big 8 (or is it 4 now?) accounting firms to do the tax return of the key executives. The hourly rate is around $500 per hour.

When I moved to Canada (long time ago), I put in my contract 1. that the company would pay for tax filings and 2. 4 weeks vacation

 

[GreenArrow69]

Our company hires one of the Big 8 (or is it 4 now?) accounting firms to do the tax return of the key executives. The hourly rate is around $500 per hour.

Yes, the big 4 charge higher rates and in the case of key executives, if they are US citizens, they have to file US tax returns as well as Canadian tax returns. The US tax returns are much more complicated than the Canadian ones and thus you're paying for the expertise.

 

[K Douglas]

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.

Yes you're correct that wouldn't have gotten caught by looking at comparatives so can't fault the accountant there at all.
In the future I'd recommend not filing until near the April 30 deadline so that it gives time for all the slips to be registered in the CRA system. Did National Bank not mail or email the T5 to you directly?
I doubt CRA looks at the period from March to August before the sale but you and your accountant can easily defend that by saying you were actively seeking a tenant and when you couldn't find a suitable person you decided to sell the property.

Bottom line I'd conclude that your accountant charged you on the higher end of the scale. Likely because he/she thinks they can get away with it due to your profile. To charge $550 a mid level accounting firm would need to incur about 3.0-3.5 hours of billable time.

 

[farquhar]

Did National Bank not mail or email the T5 to you directly?

National Bank sent me the T5 in the mail. I had it. In previous years, I would drop all my T-slips off at my Accountants office; nowadays, my Accountant is pushing all his clients to submit everything through his Portal.

I didn't take the step last year to scan all my T-slips and upload to my Accountants Portal, as I thought (erroneously) that he would be able to get everything from the CRA.

My Broker made a mistake with a T5008, where the Cost Base for a Security was listed as $0 when it should have been $50,000 (with a Proceeds of Disposition of $50,000).

My Accountant doesn't know any better, so he prepared the Return based on that figure, resulting in a Balance Owing of $13,000 more than it was supposed to be. He assumed the T5008 was correct, despite having conflicting information in the form of a Realized Gain/Loss Report generated by the Broker, which I uploaded to his Portal.

I had to get the Broker and Accountant on the same page, and the Broker to amend the T5008; I was so focused on that, that I overlooked the obvious error of the missing T5 slip.

It was a learning experience; never again will I let that happen.

Maybe I should simply just spend less than $50 on the software and start doing this all myself; clearly I cannot put all my faith in my Broker and Accountant and hope for the best.

 

[Ponderling]

I'm the luddite here. Not self employed.

I enter data as it happens throughout the year into an old no subscription version of Quicken.
Then it is easy to run reports, like how much on medical bills though the year.
Enter the dividends the investments pay, payroll, and the asset buy and sell info monthly.

With this data gathering and input you can get a handle on what the numbers are going to be in advance of the t-3s, t-4's and t-5's.

Then I download the paper forms, print and fill them in and mail them away.
All for the out of pocket cost of an overweight for regular postage envelope.

 

[farquhar]

I'm the luddite here. Not self employed.

I enter data as it happens throughout the year into an old no subscription version of Quicken.
Then it is easy to run reports, like how much on medical bills though the year.
Enter the dividends the investments pay, payroll, and the asset buy and sell info monthly.

With this data gathering and input you can get a handle on what the numbers are going to be in advance of the t-3s, t-4's and t-5's.

Then I download the paper forms, print and fill them in and mail them away.
All for the out of pocket cost of an overweight for regular postage envelope.

Perhaps the old ways are better; as the new ways of doing things certainly tripped me up last year.

 

[K Douglas]

National Bank sent me the T5 in the mail. I had it. In previous years, I would drop all my T-slips off at my Accountants office; nowadays, my Accountant is pushing all his clients to submit everything through his Portal.

I didn't take the step last year to scan all my T-slips and upload to my Accountants Portal, as I thought (erroneously) that he would be able to get everything from the CRA.

My Broker made a mistake with a T5008, where the Cost Base for a Security was listed as $0 when it should have been $50,000 (with a Proceeds of Disposition of $50,000).

My Accountant doesn't know any better, so he prepared the Return based on that figure, resulting in a Balance Owing of $13,000 more than it was supposed to be. He assumed the T5008 was correct, despite having conflicting information in the form of a Realized Gain/Loss Report generated by the Broker, which I uploaded to his Portal.

I had to get the Broker and Accountant on the same page, and the Broker to amend the T5008; I was so focused on that, that I overlooked the obvious error of the missing T5 slip.

It was a learning experience; never again will I let that happen.

Maybe I should simply just spend less than $50 on the software and start doing this all myself; clearly I cannot put all my faith in my Broker and Accountant and hope for the best.

Quite often ACB's are reported incorrectly on a realized gains/losses report. But for your accountant to enter proceeds as $50,000 and $0.00 as ACB is utterly foolish. At the very least he should have asked you about that.

 

[danmand]

Quite often ACB's are reported incorrectly on a realized gains/losses report. But for your accountant to enter proceeds as $50,000 and $0.00 as ACB is utterly foolish. At the very least he should have asked you about that.

I keep track of acb and gain/loss in my investment account myself. I have found that the report I get from my broker is completely useless, i.e. is way off for many of the equities. I am not sure if it would be in my favour to use the brokers report; but I want to use the correct numbers.

Maybe it is because I trade quite a bit.

 

[jeff2]

I keep track of acb and gain/loss in my investment account myself. I have found that the report I get from my broker is completely useless, i.e. is way off for many of the equities. I am not sure if it would be in my favour to use the brokers report; but I want to use the correct numbers.

Maybe it is because I trade quite a bit.

Yes, the report from the broker is often inaccurate. Then there is the T1135.
If a relative gifts you say $ 5000 worth of a US stock(I only have the date of transfer price to use as a cost base) and it is now over $ 100,000.00 the broker may send you a T1135 notice.
Even if your cost was way below $ 100,000, my tax people insist we declare it. And, of course they charge more for this.

 

[Darts]

Yes, the report from the broker is often inaccurate. Then there is the T1135.
If a relative gifts you say $ 5000 worth of a US stock(I only have the date of transfer price to use as a cost base) and it is now over $ 100,000.00 the broker may send you a T1135 notice.
Even if your cost was way below $ 100,000, my tax people insist we declare it. And, of course they charge more for this.

There are problems with the T1135.

1) The $100,000 threshold is way too low. It should be raised to something more rational like $1-2mm.

2) Also, it captures U.S. stocks held with your Canadian broker and the income is already reported on the T5 you get from your broker and the CRA gets a copy of the T5 directly from the broker. Just more useless paperwork.

 

[danmand]

There are problems with the T1135.

1) The $100,000 threshold is way too low. It should be raised to something more rational like $1-2mm.

2) Also, it captures U.S. stocks held with your Canadian broker and the income is already reported on the T5 you get from your broker and the CRA gets a copy of the T5 directly from the broker. Just more useless paperwork.

Yes, it makes no sense to have to report US equities held in accounts with Canadian brokers.

But make sure you do it. I had one Canadian stock that went through a reorg and ended up being a US stock.

 

[ExpCharlee]

Mine charges a 3h session

 

[FeelsSoGood]

I'm retired but operated a corporation for many years. I only used an accountant for the first couple of years then figured it out myself. The government's introduction of GIFI codes made life easier actually (at least for me). But I digress...

The last year I had my taxes done by an accountant (all my books were in order) he charged me $3500. When I went to get the forms to mail in (online not available then) I asked for an explanation but got 10 minutes about his great seat at the Jays game, 5 minutes pitching government of Israel bonds, and 1 second of "I gotta take this. You know how to get out, right?"

 

[IM469]

Mine is a little complicated, self employed, US & CDN pension income plus the work related deductions - I pay $250 for the personal, business and HST returns.

Possibly if I'm not self employed or I retire - I'll try the computer program but not before then m - it simply isn't worth the risk. (BTW: I won't tell anyone her name for fear it screws up my (working) relationship with her..)

 

[K Douglas]

There are problems with the T1135.

1) The $100,000 threshold is way too low. It should be raised to something more rational like $1-2mm.

2) Also, it captures U.S. stocks held with your Canadian broker and the income is already reported on the T5 you get from your broker and the CRA gets a copy of the T5 directly from the broker. Just more useless paperwork.

I agree. That threshold hasn't changed in years. I'd say $500K minimum.
It should be noted that if you hold US securities in a Canadian based institution that does not qualify as foreign holdings and the T1135 does not need to be filed.

 

[K Douglas]

I'm retired but operated a corporation for many years. I only used an accountant for the first couple of years then figured it out myself. The government's introduction of GIFI codes made life easier actually (at least for me). But I digress...

The last year I had my taxes done by an accountant (all my books were in order) he charged me $3500. When I went to get the forms to mail in (online not available then) I asked for an explanation but got 10 minutes about his great seat at the Jays game, 5 minutes pitching government of Israel bonds, and 1 second of "I gotta take this. You know how to get out, right?"

$3500 seems egregious for a basic corporate tax return and notice to reader. When I was in public practice back in 1999-2005 we would only charge anywhere from $1500-$2500 for that. Depending upon how well the bookkeeping was prepared.