It can get very confusing when you start digging through your paperwork to find everything you need to do your personal income tax. There are many types of tax slips that you may receive, but I will just go over some of the most common ones to get you started:
T4 – You will get a T4 from any employer that you worked for throughout the year. The T4 is for employees, and it outlines how much you already paid for income tax as well as it includes information on Employment Insurance deductions, Canada Pension Plan deductions, and more.
T5 – You will receive a T5 for each investment or savings account that you have that you can earn interest on. You will also receive a T5 if you receive dividend income. For example, if you have an interest bearing account at a financial institution, the financial institution will issue you a T5 that indicates your total interest earned on that account for the year. If you have multiple investment or savings accounts, you will receive a T5 for each one, even if all of the accounts are held at the same financial institution.
T3 – You will receive a T3 if you have non-registered investments that result in you receiving income from capital gains. Accounts with mutual funds is one example of an investment that can have capital gains.
T4A – You will receive a T4A if you receive income outside of employment income, such as patronage dividends received as a result of having a Co-op membership.
T2202A – You will receive a T2202A if you paid tuition at a university or college. This slip will indicate whether you were a part time or full time student and for how many months you took courses. It also indicates total tuition paid for the year.
RRSP Contribution Receipts – You will receive an RRSP contribution receipt if you made any contributions to your RRSP from March to December of the tax year or within the first 60 days of the following year. These receipts should be entered on your tax return for this year even if you are not planning on claiming all of them for the current year.
Any tax slips you receive are going to be important. Don’t disregard any of them when you are ready to prepare your taxes. The best advice I can give you, is to hire a professional to prepare your tax return for you. They will know what to do with all of your slips, and if they notice something is missing, they can always ask you to provide them with more information. At the same time, it is a good idea to be educated so that you are well informed and can ask intelligent questions.
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