The race is on for this year’s income tax deadline

Louise Vautour has been doing taxes for 39 years and she says although the deadline is looming, clients are still coming in.

“I always have late filers,” she said. “The first deadline is April the 30th, the second one for the self employed is June the 15th, but I have some in June, July, August.”

While people technically weren’t late yet on Monday, there could be a pricey penalty for those who miss the April 30 deadline.

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“If they owe, there’s a five per cent penalty of whatever the amount that they owe and then one per cent for each month that’s not paid,” said Vautour.

She adds if people have filed and don’t have their information back yet, they won’t be charged the five per cent penalty, but they will still be on the hook for the one per cent interest.

Across the Greater Moncton area, many seemed to be on top of this year’s income tax deadline.

“I filed early March, as soon as I had all my paperwork that was available,” said William MacLean. “I’m extremely happy because I got a refund.”

MacLean says he does his taxes himself, although he used to have someone do them for him when he was doing more consulting work.

Yvonne Williams says she’s been going to the same person for years when it comes to filing her income taxes.

“I evened off. I didn’t owe nothing and I didn’t have to pay back,” she said. “I got someone else to do it because they’re more knowledgeable and they know more of what the government is offering on your taxes because I would miss something and then I’d be out so I get them to do it.”

While many were prepared for the deadline, it was a different story for Russell Tracey.

“I haven’t filed yet. Usually we do it online and just kind of ran out of time this year, still getting some things put together for last year, so a little bit delayed,” he said. “Hopefully I don’t owe anything back.”

Vautour says there were a few new benefits this year, including the seniors rebate increasing from $400 to $600 and in New Brunswick, a one-time, non-taxable workers benefit.

She says while this is something she wants to do for her clients automatically, they need to do it by themselves and she can only help them fill out the paperwork once they get the proper documents.

“They have to call Revenue Canada and ask for a proof of income statement, that’s the only document that that particular benefit will accept and it’s the same thing as the notice of assessment,” she said. “I worked three days trying to find out a loop hole where I could retrieve the information for them, [there’s] no way.”

As for advice, Vautour says don’t claim any expenses you don’t have receipts for, follow the rules set out by CRA, and always plan ahead.

“Make sure that you put your documents in a safe place, in the same folder, and at the end of the year just add them all up and see if something is missing before the end of January because if you have to call, let’s say Canada Pension Plan, it takes a while for them to get the information to you,” she said. “I have a couple that are waiting for T4s, that they didn’t give their new address, they’re going to be late filers and they worked this year on top of it so I don’t know if they’re going to owe or if they’re going to have a refund.”

On top of that, she says families waiting on the child tax benefits, the sooner they file the better because it goes on a July to July schedule and calculations are needed from both parents.

“Every income tax that I have in my hands, I try to get every single dollar possible for a refund,” she said. “It’s like mine. I don’t want to give the government more money then they have to.”

The only exception to the April 30 date is people who are self-employed. They have until June 15 to get last year’s taxes in, however, the CRA website states that if they owe money it must be paid by April 30 to avoid interest.