{"id":1,"date":"2024-03-22T14:58:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T18:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/?p=1"},"modified":"2024-03-23T14:41:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T18:41:13","slug":"navigating-tax-season-as-a-university-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/2024\/03\/22\/navigating-tax-season-as-a-university-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Tax Season as a University Student"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Tax season is just around the corner. Here\u2019s what students need to know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As tax season approaches, so is the stress for students who may be first-time filers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What You Need to Know:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re earning income in Canada, even as a student, the deadline for tax returns is April 30, 2024.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most income you receive \u2013 including employment income, tips and occasional earnings, scholarships, research grants \u2013 is taxable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To file a tax return, you need either a <strong>Social Insurance Number (SIN)<\/strong> or an <strong>Individual Tax Number (ITN)<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t have a SIN, head to Service Canada to see if you are eligible for one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Common Kinds of Tax Forms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <strong>T4<\/strong> slip is issued by employers showing the amount of gross pay received by employees before deductions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/mitt.ca\/Content\/Images\/uploaded\/MITT%20T2202A%20FAQ.pdf\"><strong>T2202A form<\/strong><\/a> is a tax receipt issued by qualifying educational institutions for tuition, education and textbook tax credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <strong>T4A<\/strong> holds information regarding scholarships received during the year. If you are enrolled as a full-time student at a Canadian university, any amount received from scholarship, fellowships, bursaries, or grants \u2013 including the grant portion of OSAP \u2013 are non-taxable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do I Have to File a Return?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you owe income tax to the government or are asked by the CRA to file a return, you must file a tax return. It\u2019s also good practice because you might receive a tax refund or qualify for benefit payments from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1_988ce5-eb .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1_988ce5-eb size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes-768x1920.png\" alt=\"An infographic geared towards university students filing their taxes, potentially for the very first time\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes-768x1920.png 768w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes-120x300.png 120w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes-410x1024.png 410w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes-614x1536.png 614w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/How-to-File-Your-Taxes.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption>Infographic by Marina Black<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Do I File My Taxes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFirst and foremost, we advise students to file with their parents. This benefits the family as a whole,\u201d said Elizabeth Smith, Office Manager at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msmithaccounting.ca\/home.html\">M Smith Accounting Professional Corporation.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If this is not possible, Smith suggests meeting with the Tax Clinic at their school, or finding Community Volunteer Income Tax Programs in their area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, according to Laura Mezzanotte, a real estate corporate banking analyst with RBC, filing taxes on your own might be easier than you think.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can just go to the CRA website and fill it out there,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything is online now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Is It <em>Actually<\/em> That Big a Deal if I Don\u2019t?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, you have to file your taxes \u2013 all of them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only could not filing your taxes put you in trouble with the CRA, filing them incorrectly could land you with additional fees to pay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s say you miss a chunk of income and don\u2019t report it, and the CRA somehow finds out later, you\u2019ll still pay the taxes on that income plus an interest fee on top,\u201d said Mezzanotte.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/revenue-agency\/services\/forms-publications\/publications\/p105\/p105-students-income-tax.html#bys\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Layout and design by S Saadeq Ahmed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tax season is just around the corner. Here\u2019s what students need to know. As tax season approaches, so is the stress for students who may be first-time filers.&nbsp; What You Need to Know: If you\u2019re earning income in Canada, even as a student, the deadline for tax returns is April 30, 2024.&nbsp; Most income you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":859,"featured_media":23,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[7,5,22],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax-season","category-taxes","tag-tax-season","tag-taxes","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}