Tax season is upon us, and although this time of the year can be quite stressful — especially if you’re not overly familiar with the process — here are some quick tips to ensure that your tax return is on the right track.   

It’s time to dump out your boxes of T4’s and receipts, print off your tax forms from PAWS and begin that painstaking process. As a student, filing income tax returns could not come at a worse time. 

Students are busy enough trying to get their last essays and assignments in and preparing for finals without having to worry about getting their taxes done. The last thing we need this time of year is the added stress of worrying whether or not we filed our taxes correctly.

Income tax returns must be filed by Apr. 30, and whether you do your taxes yourself or you enlist the help of a friend, family member or company, you may still be left worrying whether you forgot to include something. After all, you don’t want to pull an Al Capone and get charged with tax evasion. 

Students should make sure that they print off their tax forms from the University of Saskatchewan under the “Tuition and Fees” tab on PAWS. These forms include your T2202A tax receipt for tuition, your Public Transit tax credit receipt and your T4 Scholarship tax form, if you received one. 

If you received student loans, you should also include the T4A which would have been mailed to you, as well as the T4 for any bursaries you may have received from Canada Student Loans. 

Now, as a student you may not be required to claim your scholarships, bursaries or fellowship incomes if you qualify for the education amount tax credit. This credit amount is determined by the number of courses you took during the 2015 school year. To determine whether or not you qualify, visit the Government of Canada Revenue Agency website. 

Once you’ve collected all of your educational receipts, be sure to add them to your other tax slips, such as T4’s collected from your places of employment and any other important receipts.  Once you have all of your slips accounted for, you are ready to begin filing your taxes. 

You can file your taxes online or by hand before mailing them in. According to the Canada Revenue Agency, in 2015, 82 per cent of individuals filed their tax returns online. Doing this allows for a faster tax return as well as the option for direct deposit. 

There are many sites and software programs that allow you to file your taxes for free, which is a major bonus for a student budget. However, if you choose to file your taxes online, the CRA insists that you use a NETFILE-certified program, which allows you to file your personal income tax directly.

The CRA website provides a list of NETFILE-certified programs you can choose from. Each program offers a description of the services they provide, such as the choice to file for free, in French and more.

If you are a student who doesn’t mind spending a bit of money — and you’d prefer to have a tax preparation company file your taxes for you — a quick Google search shows that there are many available in Saskatoon.

Whether you choose to file your taxes online, by hand or through a company, some students may find that they have left over tax credits after bringing their tax payable amount to zero. In my experience, being a student allows you to sign over your remaining credit to a family member or save it for future tax returns when employed at a higher income.

Tax season can be a real inconvenience for students but once filed, there’s nothing left to do but sit back, relax and wait for your money to arrive.

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Photo: Caitlin Taylor / Photo Editor