The CRA is well aware of the most common mistakes that individuals make on their tax returns and these are the areas that they will scrutinize the most. If you are aware of them then you can avoid having to deal with CRA problems regarding your mistakes and avoid having your tax return scrutinized.
One of the most common mistakes is made when it comes to moving expenses. Often people will include additional costs to their moving expenses like home staging or house hunting, and expect these to be used as an expense against their income tax. These will be rejected by the CRA and another common problem is not attaching the receipt, or the receipts you do send are not valid. It could be that the date on the receipt is wrong or you may have forgot to send the receipts altogether so there is no proof for the claimed payments. The receipt that you send has to indicate that it has been paid for.
Another common area where mistakes occur is when it comes to student loans. Again the interest that is claimed is not eligible. This may be interest on a personal loan or the line of credit that students have obtained or are foreign student loans. Another problem is that the interest has been claimed more than once even though it has been allowed initially. The receipts that were sent are not official receipts or the taxpayers name is not showing on the documents that were received from the financial institution. These are additional common errors. Staying in tune with potential student mistakes that can be made includes tuition and education as well as textbooks amounts. The problem that occurs here is the taxpayer forgets to send the receipts or they have not indicated the name of the course which should be appearing on the receipt. Some students will claim part time months as full time or reverse. Another big problem is that the educational institution where the expenses are being claimed for is not being recognized by the CRA.
Moving on to another mistake is in regards to medical expense. There are some medical expenses that are not recognized as such by the CRA and therefore cannot be claimed. An example of this is vitamins and natural supplements or over-the-counter drugs. It is really important when making any type of medical claim that you check the list to see what is approved.
Then finally public transit can be another source problem when it is not claimed for properly. Taxpayers neglect to send in a copy of the transit pass or the one they sent in was not complete such as the unique identifier may be missing. Or the signature is not legible.
When making claims for any type of expenses when it comes to your taxes is highly important that you know what the criteria is for making these claims and it that you follow them. Speaking to your accountant about these beforehand will help you to make sure that your tax return is done error free.
