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In this podcast episode, the host, Esther, welcomes back Camille Smith to discuss tax preparation. Camille emphasizes the importance of ongoing communication with tax professionals throughout the year to ensure they are aware of any life events that may impact taxes. She recommends using the CRA online account to access important tax documents and correspond with the government. Camille also provides tips for business owners, such as keeping track of work-from-home expenses and using accounting software like QuickBooks or ADP. She stresses the importance of staying organized and not waiting until the last minute to gather receipts and complete tax preparation. My name is Esther. I'm the host of the Canadian Businesswoman Podcast. Welcome to the show, and we're welcoming back Camille Smith. She is with us in Episode 2. I recommend you go back to that to get a good general knowledge about your personal and business finance. Today Camille is back to give us a little bit more information about getting prepared for taxes. How are you today, Camille? Hello, hello. Happy New Year. All is well, all is well. How is the new year happening for you or going for you? So far, so good. Like everybody else, just trying to – I feel like tax season holds us hostage the first quarter. Like that's the only thing on my mind is just like – so how can we – if there's a way to lessen the stress, please help us, Camille. Well, if you made it to 2024, congratulations. You know, because there's some people that have not made it, so condolences for them. But when it comes to the tax season for 2024, that means as soon as December 31st hit, you had to make sure that you – like the companies would have to, you know, know how much money has been given to employees, CPP, EI, and taxes. So once you get that slip, like at the end of the year, that pay slip, you had an understanding of how to plan for your taxes accordingly. If you did some tax planning before December 31st, pat yourself on the back. You know, you did a great job. So you've been helpful. You're going to be providing us with a checklist. But can you kind of just walk us through it on what we should be doing to prepare and what we should expect? So with the checklist, I'm a visual learner, right? And sometimes there's other folks that are visual learners. And even though this happens every year, I tend to find that, you know, there's some things that are missed or not recognized. But the most important thing is, like, not only talking to your tax preparer or tax specialist or financial advisor planner just this time of the year, to talk to them throughout the year so they're able to know life-changing things that happened to you so they're able to take notes, right? So, like, instance, I had clients that purchased a new home, had a new baby, family passed away. These are the type of things that you would want to tell that person so they're able to strategize throughout the year not only but also have that in the back of their mind that, oh, so when you tell me that you just bought a house, I know that you're a first-home buyer and you'll be able to get a credit for that. Or when you have a child, you're going to be thinking about the childcare benefits that you're going to be able to have. So those are great things is having those discussions and not being scared to talk to the person that takes care of your taxes, right? And I actually have a checklist, which the one thing that a lot of people are wary about is, like, their SIN number. Why do I know my SIN number? I get it. I understand. I understand. Sometimes it's actually better to do it on the phone or in person and have that information added. And then once you're able to get that information and also date of birth, it's very important to know the date of birth, you'll be able to get access to, like, the CRA online. And I think for individuals that are, I'm not hating on the baby bloomers or the silent generation, which I just found out, however, it's actually more easier if you actually have your CRA online account so you're able to get access to T-slips that slips your mind. I've had incidents where someone forgets to give me their T4A or their T5s, and then afterwards I'm like, oh, I wish I had noted this on the checklist because that is one of the things that are on the checklist, to be able to see which T-slips that you have. But, you know, everyone's human, and sometimes you forget. But it's actually really easier when you have the CRA online account. And other things that are important is the most important thing about CRA online is that sometimes they email you stuff or mail you things in your account, only that's the time when you should be applying or reapplying, replying to them and making sure that you haven't missed something. I've had people, like, get audits or folks just saying, hey, so we noticed that you had a rental at this amount. Is this the actual amount? And you have at least 30 days to double-check those. So you really want to double-check these because they can reassess you and you're not knowing. But you always want to correspond with the email address that you actually use regularly so you're able to double-check when that happens. Those are really important. Yeah, I agree. My account, there are a lot of dysfunctional things about the government, but that is the most helpful and efficient thing that I've ever used associated with the government. It's so easy to see quickly, like, what you're going to be getting in a refund, what you owe if you aren't getting a refund, what you can contribute to the RRSP. And that could be connected to your business account, right, if I'm not mistaken. How does that kind of overlap with the business side of things? So with the business side, you're able to see the HST and the payroll and the corporate taxes that you have owing. So you kind of have to have both. So it is annoying. Like, you'd be like, oh, my gosh, I have to look at my personal and then I have to look at my business. But I would say it's ideal to look every quarter, at least, because especially if you owe, so say you owe more than $3,000, there's an opportunity for you not to have to pay the $3,000 all at once. So say, you know, if money's tight, you have an opportunity to have installments. And actually, shameless plug, if you have installments, or a shameless gem, if you have installments, you're more likely to lower your taxable owing in the next year when you do the installments. Because not only do you pay in March, June, September, and December is the times when you pay, right? So it always estimates how much you're going to be paying in the next year, and that will be able to offset your taxable – or your tax owing as well. Because especially if it's more time, more likely for a self-employed individual, and a contractor because they're not paying taxes throughout the year, and seniors, because seniors get their OAS, pension, and they're not taking enough taxes off. And that's one of the things that I find that happens with a lot of seniors, I always mention, I'm like, hey, I know this sounds eek, but did you take enough taxes off of your CPT, OAS? If not, you can give them a call and ask for them to do that for you, just so you can offset the amount of taxes that you're paying back. Is there anything that business owners need to know when you're the one creating the T-4s and you have employees and you have to create the slips, or anything else specific to entrepreneurs and what they might need to also keep in mind? That's a great question. So there are work-from-home expenses that you want to be mindful. There is the slip, the T-22-00, that you'd have to give notification or authorization that the employee can write off their work expenses. There's also whether you have allowance, with a car allowance, you'd have to add that information, union dues, and also group medical. So, like, as a business owner, and, of course, taxes, CPT, EI, those are the things, that information that you want to make sure that's up to par and updated. And I think the best way to keep that sorted is either using QuickBooks as an option, or, and I have a connection if anyone wants, ADP. ADP is actually one of the best that I know. If you've been in any working experience, you would notice ADP, especially when you're trying to get your pay slips. You definitely have a way for that. Like, they will automatically send it to the government without the business owner, like, worrying. Sometimes it's better to stay in your lane and know what's your strong suit, and if keeping track of your payroll and taxes and other deductions for business expenses, it's easier to see ADP. But for, like, self-employed, it's really easy to have a business expense template that I have. I normally give my self-employed individuals business expense templates so they're able to sort it out and have it accordingly. And there's two different outlays. There's one showing each month. So not only are they seeing how their expenses are throughout the year, but you also have a section where it's HST because you can also claim. So anyone that has an HST number, whatever income that you receive with HST, you can also offset with the expenses that you're using that has HST or GST, I should say, too. So that's a good thing to always take into consideration. That's why it's very ideal when you have an HST. I know I was cussing people last time that the HST income is not your money, but you also want to offset with the expenses that occur in your business so you'll be able to not only lower the taxable income, but also offset the HST taxes that you have to deal with. That's good advice. I mean, there's just so many things. This is why you don't want to wait until now. Like you said, you don't want to wait until the beginning of the year to start talking about this. You need to talk about it all year round because there's just so much information to keep track of. Exactly, especially for self-employed individuals. Bringing the bag of receipts at the beginning of the year to say like, okay, this is for 2023. It's going to be a lot of time and a lot of money because you decided to wait the last minute when you could have done it throughout the month or throughout the year in 2023 and be able to be more organized because nothing's worse than having a rubbed out receipt and wondering, is that a three or is that an eight? Like you don't want to have that scenario. So it's always great. I know there's other accounting software that folks use, Waves. It is free, but if you want to use more of it or gain more access, you have to pay. So at the end of the day, QuickBooks, Waves is essential, or there's even old school folks that use Excel sheets still, and I'm not knocking it. As long as you're able to, if you're expertise in Excel and able to do that by all means, then you'll be able to give that sheet to your accountant, tax preparer, tax specialist, so they're able to calculate that information into your taxes. Thank you for all the advice. Is there anything else that you want people to know going into dealing with the government? So for the personal individuals, you ideally have until April 30th, right? But let's be proactive and not wait until April 30th because it gets really hectic, right? Especially, yeah, April 30th is when the first quarter is just finished and the accountants are taking care of the first quarter of the year. So, please, don't wait until the end of April to get your taxes done. Have it all prepared. If you want, you can e-mail me. You can send me – we can have a meeting, a consultation, and I'll be able to send you a checklist of the things that you need to prepare for the tax season. And for the business owners, don't wait until April 30th either. Even though there's some business owners that their fiscal year are different stages, so let's say your fiscal year finishes December 31st, you have until at least June 15th to take care of everything, but you want to be mindful of the taxes that you owe because then there's penalties, right? But if there's individuals that, you know, like March is their fiscal year date, then they have until six months from now. So, you have wiggle room, but you want to prepare everything so you're not being frantic at the end of the day. And, again, I also have a business template that we can work together and sort out things, so it's a smooth sailing for both of us, and we have a conversation, so I'm able to key point on things that matter to you. So, the best thing I want is to get as much taxable, tax deductible information or things off so your taxable income overall is as low as you want. I'm not saying it's amazing to get a $3,000 tax refund because that's money that the government was holding on that you could have had last year, right? But it's always great to at least let's wiggle room to zero, at least, so we're balanced and not owing them too much. And so if anyone wants, you know, can follow me at fitnessIQ, and also you can e-mail me as well. Make sure to put all your details in the show notes, and I encourage everybody to, again, go back to Episode 2 and get even more advice from Camille. Thank you for being with us today, and have a great day. No problem. Thank you. You too, Esther.