There’s a reason we have tax lawyers in Canada.
The tax system is complicated and sometimes we need that kind of expertise to get through the thousands of pages that make up the tax act.
But, for most of us, the system is pretty straight forward. If we earn a regular pay check, most of us can fill out our tax return and get it filed.
However, there are misconceptions — even about some of the simple stuff.
With the 2021 tax season about to come to a close on Monday, the folks at CIBC thought it might be interesting to test our knowledge of the tax act by asking a set of questions from the simpler side of the system to a host of average Canadians.
Here’s what they found.
Our average grade is a C. Fewer than one in five of us received an A for their understanding of basic tax rules – questions such as whether or not lottery winnings are taxable.
The question that gave us the most trouble was can we give a gift of any size to our children tax-free? (The answer is yes.)
You can learn whether you know the true answer to the other misconceptions here.
