A pre-tax checklist

The pressure — to sort through receipts, meet deadlines, make deductions that will pass muster with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and otherwise jump through hoops as big as your trucks — is on.

While tax time is approaching quick, there’s still time to make decisions that can save you serious money and reduce the chance of an audit.

Every year, we give our clients an extensive checklist to help them assemble the things we need to make tax filing simple, clear, quick, and as audit-proof as possible. Space doesn’t permit publishing the full list, but here’s an overview:

1. All receipts for last year, including bank statements, credit card statements and income statements. Remember, you record income when it’s earned and expenses when they’re incurred. The accrual method is what you should be using, not the cash method. Not sure? Ask!

2. Your 2003 Assessments. Better still, sign up for CRA’s “My Account,” to view your personal income tax, Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), and GST/HST credit information online. Go to www.cra-arc.gc.ca/eservices /tax/individuals/myaccount/
menu-e.html#1. You’ll need information from last year’s taxes to log in.

3. Details about any new truck, trailer, and other major capital purchases or disposals during the year. Provide copies of bills of sale; finance or lease agreements; and any re-writes to loans or leases and fees paid. If you traded equipment, discuss the implications if you changed from a purchase agreement to a lease agreement.

4. Information about income fluctuations in the last quarter.

5. Information necessary to calculate your travel claim. Here’s what you must be recording throughout the year in order to support a reasonable claim for expenses incurred while on the road: number of days in the United States; number of days in the Maritimes; number of days in Canada; number of days less than 10 hours; number of days 12 hours or more but returned home; number of days 12 hours or more and stayed away overnight.

6. Information related to your home ownership, mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, etc.

7. Your “service vehicle log” detailing the use of a personal vehicle for business, with dates, miles, and destinations.

8. Any other income such as RRSP withdrawals.