can they take my Passport if I owe taxes

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I'm a student , i earned $5000 (worked summer only) - i make way below the provincial and federal income tax threshhold. i'm just wondering, if i dont file tax returns, will i go to jail?

No you won't go to jail but you won't get to claim your tuition and education credits . If there was income tax deducted from your paycheck or a CPP overpayment you won't get that, or any other credit due to you including GST if your 19 or older.

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I worked in canada this summer and the company sent me a t4 to use as a w2 but i have never been a bona fide resident to be able to qualify for the forms i have been told to use. i went to h and r block and they don't know how to do it either. any suggestions?

Of _course_ H&R Block is clueless. They usually are. Read this carefully to determine your ACTUAL residency status for CRA: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/menu-eng.html Generally, if you do not have residential ties for more than 183 days in the year, you file a Non-Resident return: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/formspubs/t1gnrl/nnrsdnts-eng.html If the gross employment income on the T4 does not exceed CAN$10,000, then it is exempt in Canada under the Canada-US Tax treaty. See Article XV: http://www.fin.gc.ca/treaties-conventions/USA_-eng.asp If the income is exempt from tax under the Canada-US Tax Treaty, then you declare it on line 101 and then deduct the income on line 256 of the return. You should then get a refund of the taxes withheld on the T4. Note that the income is taxable in the US in any case. Use the average currency conversion rate for 2009 given by the Bank of Canada.

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I need to file some old canadian tax returns. i have all my t-4's and am plugging in some financial info into quicken. i don't want to waste my accountant's time (and my money!) until my financial info is in reasonable god shape. plugging the info is taking some time as my bank only archives the past 13 months. is anyone aware of tax software for past canadian tax returns? any help is greatly appreciated. regards, stressed in ontario

I have been using Genutax for several years now and am quite happy with it. The best part (for me) is that I paid a one time fee of about $35 and they send me free updates every year. It's very easy to use. You answer some questions and enter your information on pages that look just like your information slips. The software allows you to prepare returns going back as far as 2003 but, for something that far back, you'd have to send in a paper return anyway. I believe you can still Netfile returns going back as far as 2007 (up to a limit of 20 returns per year ). If you just want to try it, they do offer a 30 day free trial, which is exactly the same but they disabled the print and Netfile functions. http://www.genutax.ca/Default.aspx

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I incorporated my business in canada earlier this year, but never had the time to do anything with it. i haven't made any money for it or started advertising or anything. a friend of mine said that i don't have to file a return for my corporation until i make my first dollar off of it and only after i file tax as a corporation for the first time will i have to do it each year. is this true?

You must file every year regardless of whether your corporation was inactive or active. At the same time you should have been filing payroll remittances and GST remittances indicating that the corporation was inactive.

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I moved to toronto in august 2010. my family (spouse and kids) are still living in california. they are not canadian citizen or permanent resident. they have not visited toronto yet. they don't have sin either. when i file my canadian tax return, do i have to include my spouse's us income? i don't intent to claim my spouse as dependent, but may claim my kids as dependents. can i leave their sin blank on tax return?

You don't claim either your spouse or kids as dependents. It doesn't work that way here. Your spouse doesn't need to file a tax return here. There is a place on your tax return where it asks for your spouse's net income. Put their net income there, calculating it as if they were filing a tax return. Start with their total income, and deduct anything that they would be allowed to deduct in Canada. Include IRA amounts since they're essentially the same as RRSP contributions. You can't use one of the children for the eligible dependent amount because you are married.

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I am a snowbird currently visiting the us. i had my wallet stolen so i currently have no id. i have applied for my canadian passport but due to the backlog, i don't know if i will receive it in time to cross back into canada in order to file my taxes on time. i only have one of my t4's, so i can still file my taxes with missing t4's?

You can still file with missing T4's. If there is an error, you would then need to file a T1 adjustment once you have the correct figures. The information would be on your pay stubs. Filing on time with an estimate is better than filing late and paying a penalty.

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I don't really know how the canadian taxing system works yet i really want to know what happens if i don't file my income.i'm just over 19 and was going to college in the last 8 month. i had borrowed the canadian federal student loan for school. but while in school i was working part-time for 3 months. in total, i earned just a little more than $900. i never told my parents that i've worked and i'm not planning to do that either. would the $900 affect the amount i could borrow from the government the coming shcool year(ie. what if i don't report it in loan application form)? what happens if i don't file it? lastly, can i file it and do it legally without my parents ever knowing it? thanks very much for any replys!

You should still file a tax return. With only $900 in income for the year, you won't have to pay anything, but you may get refundable tax credits. Also, you need to file to get the GST credit. Of course, if you use your parents' mailing address, they might wonder why you're getting mail from the government (I don't understand why you don't want them to know you filed a return). If you don't file, you could still get mail from the government - they may send you a notice that they received an information slip from your employer and ask you to file. Also, $900 is not enough to affect your application for a student loan.

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Through lots of misinformation from cra - i paid my tax using online banking. but since it was after 8:30 - by 32 mins - it does not process until may 1. so - cra says it is late. however - my actual paper file return got mailed in a convenience post office 5 minutes before they closed at 10:30 pm. they told me it would be stamped as of april 30. will i get fined the 5% charge. no matter who i speak to - no one wants to help me with this. the bank won't budge, cra won't budge - i'm tired of calling. the ironic thing is i am being punished because i was honest and declared cash income - so it caused me to have to pay. according to canadian government - if you are honest - you pay - and the people who don't - are subsidized by you. quizzard. quite a bit of hostility there. thank you for the lecture. that is what everyone who comes onto yahoo answers seeks. i’m sure you now feel empowered as a man to “shout” words in capitals to women you don’t know and list a series of assumptions. my sympathies.

Speaking as one who for years was responsible for submitting bill payments made by customers at the bank to the respective companies, you must allow at least 2 business days minimum for your payment to be received by them . Even when doing your banking online or through telephone banking, the information and funds must be transferred between parties. You simply cannot pay a bill on the exact due date and expect it to be considered paid on time. As the previous poster stated, you are not being penalized because you were honest, you are being penalized for being late. If you wanted to wait until the very last second to pay your taxes, you should've attached a cheque to your return when you sealed it in the envelope. Consider it a lesson learned for next year, and if you insist on paying your taxes online, or on telephone banking, or at the bank, do it by the 27th of April at the latest.

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Hello, i filed a paper return because this was my 1st year filing. they said it took a few month to process. i know lots of friends who filed first time in canada this year and all of they received it. but i am still waiting. i checked that my file arrived at the tax centre on april 22th through canada post. however, every time i call i was told they don't know because my data is not in system. they suggested to send my application again. i asked them whether they lost my file or not. they said that they can't give me exact answers before they get information on they system because all the first time tax return goes to ottawa. is there any way to check whether my file was sent to ottawa or just lost? do you think i should file it agian? they said, if i file again my previous application will be dropped and my new filing will start. and they suggested that it will take at least 2 months. whenever i call them, they said just wait 2 or 3 weeks.

Well if they can't definitively tell you that they've at least received it, it may very well be lost. If they could see that it was filed, but not yet assessed, I'd think they would say 'yes we have it, but sorry we don't know how long it will take to get assessed' instead of 'sorry we don't see it in the system at all', which is what it sounds like you are getting from them. If you choose to re-file your return, clearly mark on it that this is a duplicate filing and that you originally filed on X date but have yet to receive your initial notice of assessment . In the future, once you finally get your notice of assessment (NOA), I strongly suggest you sign up for "MyAccount" (link below). You will then be able to see the status of your future tax return filings ("not received", "received", "assessed").

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Lazy doesn't really describe me. but i know i don't owe a balance...can i still file my tax returns for canada?

Of course you can. File it now and if you are owed a refund, they'll send it just like everyone else's. You can still file 10 years later if you're willing to let them hold the money for you . If you do owe tax, though, you will be fined and pay interest on the amount.