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Monday, April 30, 2007

do you know your tax ABC's?

Today is the deadline for filing income taxes in Canada. If you're not afraid of the taxman, Paul DioGuardi thinks you should be. You've probably heard ads for tax amnesty services offered by this tax lawyer / former Revenue Canada employee ("Wouldn't you rather be talking about your taxes in a civilized tax office than a court of law?"). He was interviewed for an article in the weekend's Financial Post:

The department (Canada Revenue Agency) likes to leave the impression it views taxpayers as clients, DioGuardi says. "You're not a client. You're a potential victim," he says. "They are misleading people into thinking they're a harmless government entity and they're not."


So if you still haven’t filed your taxes – why are you reading this?

If you have, here is a little tax quiz straight from the FP article to help test your tax literacy. I’ve posted the questions. A link to the answers is below.

TRUE OR FALSE?

1 Nobody ever goes to jail for not filing a tax return. It's just a scare tactic to get people to pay up. True or false?

2 After seven years the taxman can't come after you for anything. True or false?

3 Transfer your assets into your wife's name and the taxman won't be able to get anything. True or false?

4 If the taxman puts a lien against your home, you cannot renew your mortgage or borrow against your home equity. True or false?

5 There is no way for you to find out if the taxman has put a lien against your home. True or false?

6 The taxman cannot seize and sell your family cottage or your retirement savings. True or false?

7 If the husband is in trouble with the taxman, the wife can keep everything. True or false?

8 Unreported income is more serious than not filing your tax return. True or false?

9 You can choose to go to jail instead of paying your taxes. True or false?

10 Going bankrupt automatically wipes out your tax debt. True or false?


Read entire article and check answers here.

Paul DioGuardi's blog.

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