I haven't filed my taxes yet

Yes. It needs to be postmarked by today, not received.

what happens if I neglect to file?

Then you get hit with a failure-to-file penalty that gets worse until you pay up.

jeez lad

The IRS don't play.

fill out a pdf and print it out and mail it

that's what I did because I'm really hip

I did Turbotax since I had multiple state returns and some complexities.

Brother did it for free with Creditkarma which was easy as pie.

($1500 total on $11K AGI while I'm getting $1900 back federally and paying NY state $1500 on $92K AGI).

I e-filed in most states but Illinois made me hard file. For a $2 refund. The postage for certified mail, even discounted online, cost more than that. Argh. The whole exercise this year was basically a wash between tax software expenses (software + additional state fee + efile fees) and refunds vs. amounts owed.

Just e-file on Creditkarma, super fucking easy and free.

>people in the US have to pay for some software to do their tax declaration over the internet

Why buy certified mail?
First class is fine

Accountant obviously you moron. Will save you money, also, tax prep costs (Accountants) can be deducted partially, so technically you're hiring your accountant on discount.

Last Fiscal Year I literally paid just $2,000 in taxes with an income of $400,000

you can also download the forms, follow the printed instructions and fill out your taxes. The software saves you time and calculation errors.

the software is also pretty unnecessary for someone who only has a w-2

Certified Mail provides indisputable proof of mailing (acceptance by USPS) and the time at which it was done. If USPS loses it within transit, then you can prove that the USPS fucked up and you mailed your return on time. If you get it with a return receipt, then you also get proof of receipt by the recipient, and can prove that it was delivered to the tax authority.

The $4.25 to get certified mail (or $6.21 for certified w/ electronic return receipt) is nothing versus the tax penalty.

Certified mail is also bonded to the courier and the employee responsible for a piece of certified mail gets in serious trouble if they do not deliver it and properly handle it. It actually goes into a different bin at USPS locations and a different bin/pouch when given to the driver.

t. guy who has had five incoming pieces of mail and one outgoing piece lost by USPS in the last year (some were found 1+ months later). The outgoing piece was never found, was sent via Priority Mail with tracking and USPS said they didn't even owe the postage back despite never delivering (envelope contained an $100,000 check which needed to be voided)

I'll stick with my 72¢ stamp thanks

Who is his right mind sends a $ 100,000 check by mail?

And I'll hope that your letter arrives promptly. The shitty thing is that the burden of proof that a taxpayer filed taxes falls on the taxpayer. If you don't e-file then the burden of proof is on you to prove that you sent it if the IRS or whatever tax authority says they can't find your return in their mail. Hard to do without proof of mailing.

Businesses do so all the time - insurers, banks, etc... In the US, basically physical checks are converted to an automated clearing house (ACH) transaction in which the receving bank "pulls" the money from the bank the check references. If the issuing bank/the account holder indicates that the right person didn't cash it (hard especially with high value checks banks will usually require multiple employees to validate the person's identity and look over the check), then they charge it back and the money is yanked out of the receiving bank.

The pain in the ass was that the check had to be voided and a new one issued, plus the delay of having that check generated again, and then sent again (went with UPS the second time)

Can't you just write VOID in permanent marker across the front and back of the cheque ?

That works if you have physical possession of the check. The issue is that it was accepted for mailing via USPS who sent it to one of their processing facilities and lost it, never to be found again. Then you have to call your bank and issue a specific cancel/stop payment order on the specific check (if someone tries to cash that exact check # from that exact account then it will be electronically and automatically declined via blacklist).

I've never filed my taxes and I have a big stack of letters from revenue services of canada that I need to get around to opening.

Pretty sure they owe me money though, never made over 20k a year (min tax bracket), and was paying tax off my income from part time jobs.

I'm starting a full time job tomorrow and finally getting my shit together. What would be the best way to solve this problem? Look up some tax man and pay him to help me? Contact old employers for t4s showing the taxes I payed and try to sort it out myself?

I've always just brushed it aside but since I'm trying to unfuck mu shit I guess it's time to sort this out.

How?

>never filed taxes
I really don't understand why you wouldn't, Canadians are masochists when it comes to taxes and the government owning you. (I say so as a dual citizen US/Canada and I work in Canada some of the time).

You should definitely look for a CPA if you haven't been filing in the past, there may be penalties even if you were owed money in prior years for failure to file. I won't pretend to be an expert on Canadian taxes (I signed away my rights to file taxes in Canada to my employer and they take care of my returns).

settlement.org/ontario/daily-life/personal-finance/taxes/where-can-i-get-help-with-my-tax-return/

Wtf, your risk of audit must be way high

Never filed because I've been an idiot stoner for the last 5~ years and never really gave a shit about money/life. I could have easily claimed 1.5k annually in low income benefits but I was too lazy to figure shit out.

I just turned 24 and am making a concerted effort to not living through smoking weed constantly, so it's time to face the music re taxes.

My finances really aren't totally fucked, I have about 6k in debt, 4k on 11% annual interest with the rest no interest. The job I start tomorrow is min wage, 15/hr after 3 months, with excellent tips (or so I've been told, it's at a nice hotel).

My living expenses are very small, so I think in 2 years I should have all debt cleared, have a car, and can go back to school with some savings.

Thanks for the link, I'm going to amass all the letters and info I have and take it to a professional to help sort it out.

Planning out my unfucking and actually paying attention to the big stack of letters is quite stressful, but hopefully I don't have to pay too much and it's gonna feel good once it's all sorted out.

No problem. To be honest if you never filed taxes and made shit income they probably owe you money, and if you get assistance as someone with low income from a professional I'm sure you can be sorted out without resorting to debtor's prison. A certified public accountant is the best person to ask though. My brother made $11,000 adjusted gross income in the states last year and he's getting $1500 back between US Federal and state. It's very likely in your bracket that you're owed money, if the taxes in Canada work anything like the US.

Regarding debt, I'm not a gordon ramsay "cash only" kind of guy, but do try to be diligent and get your debt paid down. 11% interest is not as bad as the 28% APR my brother (different brother) was paying on excess of $10,000. You might look into getting a balance transfer credit card to park the debt so it doesn't accrue interest while you pay it down. In the US you'd pay a 3% fee upfront on most cards for the balance transfer but then interest would not accrue for 9-18 months depending on the card. That gives you more time to chip away at the debt without the interest building. Canadian credit *seems* pretty similar from what I've heard although interest rates are generally higher and accordingly benefits are weaker on the Canadian cards vs. USA.

>interest rates are generally higher
Meant that the interest rates are higher on US cards, but the benefits are better, and the interest rates on Canadian cards are generally lower, but the benefits are weaker. Again, so I've heard.

>gordan ramsay

kek

>kek
Fuck. I meant David Ramsey the "buy your house in cash and credit is the DEVIL" guy, not the cook.

Thanks again for the advice.

Im not going to bet on getting any money back, which would be awesome, but I don't think that I'll have to pay as I've never cleared over 15k annualy.

Im going to make sorting this out a priorty and go talk to someone this afternoon. Will probably have to contact my old employers, etc. before they can sort it out though.

I had already transfered my credit card debt to a low interest card, down from 22% to 11% annualy. I'll still look into other options, but I'm going to make paying that off a priority so I don't think incurring any additional payments for a transfer would be ideal.

If my tips are as good as what I've been told, I should be able to put roughly 1,500$ a month towards my debt while still living comfortably, then translate that to savings once I'm clear.

I'll also track all my earnings in a spreadsheet, file any paper records, so I can actually submit my taxes like a normal person next time.

>Im not going to bet on getting any money back, which would be awesome, but I don't think that I'll have to pay as I've never cleared over 15k annualy.
Money back would be a bonus, but they make tax credit in the US so the "working poor" get some opportunities too. CPA will tell you if you are. Great if you do...

>Will probably have to contact my old employers, etc. before they can sort it out though.
If you have the relevant paperwork from your old employers (general form in the US would be W-2 for wages) then the CPA might be able to sort it out without them. Else the employer should have filed them.

>If my tips are as good as what I've been told, I should be able to put roughly 1,500$ a month towards my debt while still living comfortably, then translate that to savings once I'm clear.
People seem to still tip similarly in Canada as the US so there's that. Tip income cleared via a PINPAD (credit card reader) will generally be tracked for proper tax deduction by the employer automatically. Cash income is usually the employee responsibility, at least in the US. (When traveling to Canada I pay in credit and tip in cash usually which the employees deeply appreciate - cheating on reporting cash tips is an epidemic in the US). Won't tell you to lie but US service employees generally don't keep that careful of track.

Generally taxes aren't that hard for individuals if the employer withholds taxes. Cash tips if unreported can be a wrinkle but it's one of those things like use tax (which less than 1/20th of people in the US will put any amount for despite most Americans shopping online nowadays and not paying tax on out of state purchases at time of purchase).

One warning though: Quebec is anal retentive about taxes at restaurants and bars. They make them hook up a machine in line with the receipt printer and digitally sign barcodes on the receipts so they can tell if receipts are real or fake. Don't fuck with Quebec.

>Software?
>Accountant?

I married an accounting person. I highly recommend this technique. A couple of kisses, a hug, and a glass of wine for her afterwards -- I'm good.

Yeah I never kept any paperwork... Seems like I'll have to contact them all for T4 sheets to submit to the revenue agency.

I'll be getting cash tips (going to be a bellman), so I'll log how much I take in and report a percentage. I've worked in bars before and seen servers get fucked for not reporting anything (in BC), so I'll make sure I at least put 30% or something down.

turbotax premium

1040EZ

A 10 year old could do it

TurboTax is pretty good.

Some of the terminology can be ambiguous at times though if you're not familiar with it, so you may end up searching through tax booklets/bulletins for clarifications.

The least-hassle solution is to just ask a CPA.