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Paper tax form
February 23, 2022
11:42 am
lesley
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Has anyone received their tax form in the mail?

February 23, 2022
1:57 pm
Bill
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Yup, maybe couple weeks ago.

February 23, 2022
3:49 pm
HermanH
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Today

February 23, 2022
3:52 pm
COIN
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I thought the CRA stopped mailing out paper tax forms. Also, I went to the Post Office last year and no paper forms due to lack of demand.

February 23, 2022
3:59 pm
Bill
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As long as you file a paper return they'll send you one for the next year.

February 23, 2022
4:25 pm
pooreva
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Bill said
As long as you file a paper return they'll send you one for the next year.  

What are situations/reasons to file by paper?

February 23, 2022
5:27 pm
lesley
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I prefer to file a paper copy

February 23, 2022
5:48 pm
COIN
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pooreva said

What are situations/reasons to file by paper?  

I can think of a couple of reasons.
1) If you do the paper return yourself, it's free.
2) People who don't have a computer and/or no internet.

February 23, 2022
6:00 pm
HermanH
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3) Those who prefer not to expose their confidential information to possible unauthorized electronic interception.

February 23, 2022
6:10 pm
Bill
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pooreva, in my case just personal preference. Plus I also like to work through the whole tax return to maintain my awareness of what the tax system is up to every year, including any changes, i.e. just entering data to selected fields on a screen every year means you lose the overall understanding of how the tax return as a whole functions to transfer wealth from some folks to other folks, and I like to know that.

February 23, 2022
6:38 pm
lesley
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I agree Bill. I have a computer and internet but I like doing my own taxes on paper.

February 23, 2022
6:44 pm
COIN
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I use a paper return only as a rough working copy. I prefer to let the tax software do the tedious numerical calculations.

February 24, 2022
1:37 pm
RetirEd
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My T1 packet arrived in the first week of February.

I use my own spreadsheets and a paper form; I don't trust hand addition or copying. I don't put any financial records on the web (though I know some financial institutions will whether I want to or not - but it won't be my fault!) and all the tax software available now demands a connection. I, too, like to keep up on the changes and vagaries of tax law as it affects me. And I drop off the forms at the taxation centre near Vancouver's old train station.
RetirEd

RetirEd

February 24, 2022
6:28 pm
COIN
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RetirEd said
And I drop off the forms at the taxation centre near Vancouver's old train station.RetirEd  

Here in Toronto the CRA drop box at 1 Front Street has been sealed for two years because of COVID.

February 25, 2022
11:14 am
AltaRed
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COIN said

I can think of a couple of reasons.
1) If you do the paper return yourself, it's free.
2) People who don't have a computer and/or no internet.  

About 9% (of 2020) of Canada's T1 tax returns are paper filings per https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/individual-income-tax-return-statistics.html with that number declining each year per table at the bottom of the link. It looks like just under a 10% decline per year (from the previous year) looking at the last column.

That number includes Final T1 returns for ~280-300k adult deaths each year..... so about 8% of taxpayers file by paper for one reason or another.

I disagree with Herman with regard to possible electronic interception. NETFILE is an encrypted secure submission far less likely to be intercepted than by nefarious Canada Post employees and contractors opening/spilling/tossing paper mail.

February 26, 2022
8:37 pm
RetirEd
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The Canadian tax sites have had many problems that tell me, as an IT specialist, that their security people and policies are doo-doo. Several of them were common flaws that should have been patched or avoided by properly enforced security policies.
RetirEd

RetirEd

February 26, 2022
8:47 pm
AltaRed
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The most common tax software is a downloaded executable to one's computer where security is as good as your own PC. Other than the "online" versions of tax software, I don't know what "Canadian tax sites" have to do with EFILE or NETFILE submissions from software residing on one's PC.

February 26, 2022
10:17 pm
RetirEd
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AltaRed: I meant to refer to the Canadian Government's tax sites, but I wasn't sure whether to say Taxation Canada, Revenue Canada or Canada Revenue Agency. So I used the more generic term.

The government direct sites and Efile portals have had both scary and damaging breaches.
RetirEd

RetirEd

February 26, 2022
11:33 pm
HermanH
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Exactly why I do not e-file. Those breaches are where they collect all the info. So, I could be iron-clad and it would be pointless if the recipient leaks like a sieve.

February 27, 2022
12:27 am
Loonie
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No matter how you submit the data, it all ends up in the government computers, which are, from what I can make out, probably just as vulnerable. For all we know, when you send it in by post, they may e-file it for you.
For that reason, I've given up on manual filing.

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