All Canadian citizens and permanent residents (including people residing legally in Canada) age 19 and over (with income or no income) have to file a Canadian income tax return for each tax year in order to:

• Pay the accurate amount of income tax owed or get back some of the income tax deducted
• Claim certain benefits, such as the GST/HST Credit, Child Tax Benefit, Universal Childcare Subsidy, or Guaranteed In-come Supplement under the Old Age Security Program

• Single individual with an income of $40,000 or less per year
• Single Parent with an income of $45,000 or less per year
• A couple with an income of $55,000 or less per year
• For each dependent/child add $3000 per child
• You must be a Member of Burnaby Neighbourhood House (BNH)/BCS and a Burnaby resident

We do not do: Income tax returns for individuals who:

• are self-employed
• have claimed bankruptcy
• are deceased
• have capital gains or losses – stock/mutual fund investments (no interest income over $1000)
• claim employment expenses
• have business or rental income and expenses
• have foreign income or assets (We can do foreign pensions and US Social Security income)
• are non-residents

This is a clinic is run by volunteers with limited knowledge or taxation and some experience in filing simple personal income tax returns.

All tax services are free of charge, but you must be a member of the BNH. Individual $5 or Family $10 (cash or cheque only). Tax receipts are issued for donations greater than $15

*Fee can be waived for those in financial need

What documents to bring to your appointment, and what information you have to know:

• A “government-issued” photo ID card for each adult member of the family Canadian Citizenship Card, PR Card, BC ID, BC Driver License, or BC CareCard.
• Social Insurance number for each filing adult family member.
• All income tax slips (T4, T4A, T-5007 etc) and your notice of assessment for last year. If you haven’t received all your tax forms for the year, please first get all your tax slips before booking an appointment
• Medical expense receipts (receipts for prescribed medication or treatments)
• Receipts for child care services, day camps and resident camps where the primary goal of the camp is to care for children
• All other receipts related to your income tax

To file income tax returns for each member of the household who is required to file a tax return:

• Bring all tax slips, documents and receipts mentioned above
• All family members are encouraged to file together, as it would make it easier and lessens the amount of data needed to be entered. Appointments are 30 minutes for each file
• Families with dependents under 19 who have taxable income will need to bring their T4 slips
• Families claiming childcare expenses must have the receipts for payments. If the service was provided by an individual, they must have name, address and social insurance number of that individual
• Students who have paid tuition fees during the tax year will need to bring a copy of form T2202A – Tuition, Education, and Textbook Amounts Certificate