Professor Benjamin Alarie who is an associate professor of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (shout out to the T-dot lol) recently launched, with the help of his law students, a new non-commerical website (read- no ads!) called TaxWiki.ca which aims to provide accurate tax information to the Canadian public.  It’s a FREE resource that aims to answer tax questions accurately of all kinds, including information about donations and official receipts, to questions about principle residence.

Everyone knows that the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) website is confusing and not updated very well (heck, even the Officer of the Auditor General of Canada admits it!), so this new intiative is unprecedented.  I think it will change the way Canadians see taxes.  Taxes won’t be so scary anymore, and hopefully people will feel confident enough to do their own taxes well.  They will feel empowered with tax information at their fingertips… instead of resorting to Googling “taxes Canada student loans” or something.

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Yes.. I mentioned the “D” word. Debt. Just letting that word roll off your tongue makes you feel like you have halitosis.

Well, get that tongue scraper and Listerine out, because as surprising(and somewhat crazy) as this may sound, there is such thing good debt AND bad debt.  And you might want to keep the good debt around longer (that means instead of paying off the good debt first, pay off the bad debt first) because there are some benefits to good debt unseen by the naked eye.

What can good debt do?  Good debt can help you decrease your taxes you owe to the government, and it’s especially better for you if you’re in the higher tax brackets.  If you’re not taxed to the nines by the government, then good debt is not as fantastic as if you were in the 46% tax bracket.

What does bad debt do? Nothing. It just gives you a bad feeling and an ulcer.  It just sits there, grows interest while you tread the deep end trying to keep up with the payments.

Here are some examples of good debt.

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Recently good ol’ Jim picked out his new shoes for the 2010 budget.  As you may well know, our tax payer money pays for the Finance Minister’s new shoes… it’s tradition.  One  year (2006)  our British Columbian finance minister Carol Taylor picked out a nice pair of $600 GUCCI shoes but that was when we were all flush with cash and BEFORE the depression recession, I suppose.  But I digress.

The Canadian Federal 2010 Budget was underwhelming, to say the least.  Canadians were very hopeful for an extension to the popular Renovation Tax Credit, but they didn’t give it to us.  Our national deficit is $53.8 Biilllliioooon dollars (insert Austin Powers impression here).  They decided to cut corporate taxes some more to make Canada a foreign-investor friendly place.  Nothing really changed that would affect the average Canadian, it seems.

Except if you are the average Canadian who is into cosmetic surgery! Jim Flaherty closed the loophole that would allow people to claim their Botox injections, breast augmentation, nose jobs, teeth whitening and liposuction surgeries as medical expenses.  Jim didn’t even give those people a chance to ‘Botox till you drop’ until the new rules kick in, because the new rules kicked in the day the budget was announced.  This is supposed to save the government $40 million dollars because people in the past could claim for a 15% tax credit if the medical expenses exceed 3% of your net income or $2024 (whichever is less).

What do you think about this?  I have never done any cosmetic augmentation and don’t think I ever will, but I guess if anyone did, it would be nice to get some cash-back from the government, way to milk the system, right?  My American friends, does your tax system allow you to deduct the costs of cosmetic or medical procedures?

I love blogging about Jim Flaherty, our Canadian Finance Minister. You can now follow him on twitter! @FinanceCanada LOL the GOVERNMENT is even using social media. Is that a good thing or is it slightly disturbing?

It’s that time of year again! TAX TIME!  If you didn’t get a chance to implement any of my 16 Tax Tips for Year End, don’t fret, my friend, there’s still time to get more money back from your tax return!

NOTE: These suggestions are for the Canadian Tax system.  If you are claiming your taxes in the US, then sorry, this post ain’t for you!

I started filing my own taxes last year. Before that, I hired an accountant to do my taxes (my taxes were really simple) and paid about $125 for his services. He gave me a few good tips which I carried on to use for the next year, when I learned to do it myself.  I decided to do my own taxes because:

1. I didn’t want to pay someone else $125 when I could do it myself
2. I didn’t have my own business so I couldn’t deduct my accountant expenses
3. You care about your own money the most (using an accountant is kind of akin to hiring a financial adviser, right?)
4. I wanted the challenge

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I’m not actually sure what the current mistress count for Tiger Woods is, but last I checked, it was 16.  I thought I would write up a post about the last minute tax tips before the end of the year to help decrease your tax burden for 2009.

This post isn’t really about Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods doesn’t live in Canada, anyway.  He’s probably getting a lump of coal for Christmas because he hasn’t been a good boy this year.  Anyway, here you go:

16 Last Minute Tax Tips:

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