Every year Canadians are usually faced with some changes that are being made concerning their tax filings. A lot of people tend to neglect these which can lead them to some unintended tax consequences.
Starting With The Newer Services
Although the CRA has many services in place a lot of taxpayers find them confusing and complex to figure out so they can use them. This year there has been some new services added that include:
Charlie The Chatbox
Just want a lot of people don’t want to hear. Not only have their experienced the wasting of time while waiting to get through on a tax line now they are going to be answered by a robot. Charlie has been designed to answer basic questions. But guess what, Charlie still isn’t up to par with the CRA and is still learning. You are the ones that are actually going to be making Charlie smarter, as he will learn from the questions that you are going to ask him. The big question is will Charlie learn in time to be able to answer your query?
When Will Your Taxes Be Processed?
For those who are expecting a return they really would like to know when they can expect their taxes to be processed. CRA is introducing a new tool that will allow you to enter some information so you can get a targeted completion date.
Setting Up Your Pin
If you want to access your CRA account online you will need a pin number to do this. To make this easier you can now set your pin when you call into the tax benefits line. This can be a real timesaver.
Paying Taxes Owed
If you owe taxes you want to get them paid as quickly as possible so the penalties don’t keep mounting up. Now you can do this from your My Account that you can set up with the XRA. There will be a proceed to pay option.
Paper Filings
For those who completed last year’s filings via paper filing, they will receive a tax filing package for the current tax year.
Wait Times
There is no indication that there will be many improvements in the wait times to talk to a CRA representative. But what the department is now saying is that those waiting on the telephone to talk to a rep. will be made aware of the estimated wait time, as well as this information will be made available on the new contact web page. This way individuals can decide when will be the best time to call.
Contact Information Page
There is nothing worse than contacting the CRA only to find out you have contacted the wrong department. To help offset this the CRA has constructed a page that has links to many different departments within the CRA that an individual may need to contact. These links are provided in categories such as contacts for personal taxes or contacts for business taxes. Clicking on any one of these links will take the user to another page that will give them specific directions for the query they are making.
Make Tax Filing Easier
There is a lot of new things to learn when it comes to getting the best from your tax filing. Not to mention all the other things that have to be known. All of this information can be stressful and overwhelming. Filing your taxes can be an easy process if you decide to rely on the tax preparation and filing that I as an accountant am able to offer. All it takes is a no-obligation telephone call or email to me to discuss how I may be able to help.
