Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tax season


So...in the past few years, I've gotten used to getting like huge sums of money on my tax return. Basically if you're student or like really low income, the government loves you. Last year I got over $1000. This year..well not so much..about $150. At first I thought it was a mistake, but it's not. I did it online, and on paper, and it's right.

On my last tax return, I was able to get some benefit for people that made under $13, 000. I didn't even really know about that, cause when you do it online it just automatically claims any benefits/deductions for you, you don't really have to think about it. Well this year I made well over that, since I am now full time with a sort of half decent income, lol.

I also claimed a few months of rent on my last return, from before I moved in with my parents. I do pay my parents rent, but if I claimed that, then they would have to claim it as income on their return, which they don't want to do, so I just didn't claim it.

Since I made a deposit to an RSP account, I was able to put that on there, but I don't think it really made any difference, I only deposited $500.

So yeah..this is why I am getting less this year. It is making me reconsider my trip, because I was hoping to put a huge chunk of cash to my OSAP and get that paid off really soon. I'm not really sure what to do now. I think I am going to continue to put money aside for this trip, and I will make the decision in about 3-4 months if I'm going to do it. If I don't end up going on the trip, I might just use that money I had put aside to buy a car, or maybe just leave it there and save it for a trip next year. Who knows?? *sigh* I have some thinking to do...

4 comments:

The Asian Pear said...

Sorry to hear that... :(
but look on the bright side, least you're not oweing. =/

hklover86 said...

yeah thats true :) i forgot to mention that

Mary said...

Ugh, good luck! I need to actually LEARN about money, not enough girls do!

Sarah said...

The same thing happened to me. I though that I was going to receive a tax return as usual but since I made I much higher income even if I was a student, my accountant told me that I will have to pay 300$ to Revenue Quebec (and the province of Quebec take much more than the other provinces) but I called them and they told me that I have some credit from the past year for unused scholarship fees so now they will return me 400$ and the federal will return even more to me. Chek with your provincial agency maybe you have some credit that you did not use from the past.