For all of those who have not finished their taxes (in Canada) yet (April 30th deadline looms large), I would like to give you some of the excellent (what is the font for sarcasm) excuses that I have heard over the past years from friends and co-workers. (maybe you should read Myths About Your Taxes before you read this great list, just to make sure you are sure you don’t want to do your taxes):
- I don’t owe money, so I just couldn’t be bothered.
Question: How do you know that you don’t owe any tax if you haven’t done your return? - My taxes are simple, so I am sure I don’t owe any money, so why bother ?
Question: What if they owe you money? Don’t care? Want to send money to the “Send Big Cajun Man on Vacation fund”, if money means so little to you? - If I owe money, the CRA will tell me, soon enough
Statement: WTF? Yes, and the CRA will also impose their penalties starting May 1st (or earlier) if you owe them money. - I might do it wrong, then the CRA will get mad at me
Comment: The CRA might get mad at you, but my guess is their penalties won’t come into play, if you submitted your forms on time (although they may make you redo it, correctly) - I am on a worldwide cruise and can’t submit my taxes until I get back in September
Comment: CRA’s answer might be, “Maybe you should have thought about this before you went away?” - The CRA always extends the deadline, so I don’t have to rush
Comment: What if they don’t? (see penalties comment previously) - The dog ate my tax receipts!
Comment: Get a new dog? - The dog at my computer?
Comment: Umm…. next? - I didn’t submit my taxes last year, and they didn’t bother me, why should I bother this year? (repeat that excuse for 6 years)
Question: You enjoy loaning money to the Government? You most likely are owed money, but the CRA doesn’t need to tell you that, do they? - I can’t log into My CRA, I get an error, so I can’t do my taxes.
Comment: Don’t think that one is going to fly.
Any other great excuses out there about not doing your taxes on time, that I might have missed? I guess with these great excuses you won’t need to Search For a Good Tax Preparer either?
Disclaimer: This article neither condones, nor espouses any of these lame excuses, do your taxes on time!
I read an article last week in a US paper about a tax software provider (intuit??) that is spending tens of millions $ lobbying the feds to force people to submit their taxes rather than the govt calculating it for them. There is a big movement in the govt to let the irs do people’s taxes on their behalf because for most of them they already have all the info anyway. But of course this would cost intuit most of its revenue so it is fighting to the death to stop it. I’m sure the same situation is playing out in Canada. It is pointless for most people to have to do their taxes when the govt can already do them without any additional info. What do you think?
Assuming all the agencies in the Canadian Federal Government talk to each other, and are interconnected well is an optimistic view on things (IMHO).
BCM, great list. The “I didn’t submit my taxes last year, and they didn’t bother me, why should I bother this year? (repeat that excuse for 6 years)” happens far more often than u would ever think. Called endless procrastination and usually ends costly and badly.
That was my guess, that this happens more often than I thought, but I am always astounded when I hear it.
BCM, good list. The ” I didn’t submit my taxes last year, and they didn’t bother me, why should I bother this year? (repeat that excuse for 6 years) happens more often than you would ever think. Its called endless procrastination and typically ends very badly and very costly.