April, 2010 

Volume 3, Issue 4

 

 

In This Issue

 

 

MFG FINANCIAL DISPATCH

A Monthly Publication of MacIntosh Financial Group Ltd.

Celebrating 25 Years of Serving Our Clients

 

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Win One of Two $25 Starbucks Cards

 

Canada Revenue Agency Warns of Scams

Tax Related Deadline Dates

Bits and Pieces

 

Win One of Two $25 Starbucks Cards

Once again we’re giving away a $25 Starbucks card to each of two lucky people this month. 

If you would like to be one of our winners, simply click on the word “WIN”, and answer the four multiple choice questions based on information in the articles in this newsletter.  We’ll randomly draw two names from the correct entries and award a card to each of those two people.

Last month’s winners were Walter Seed and Helene Loiuzos.  Congratulations to you both.  This month’s draw will happen on April 26th.  All the best!

 

 

 

 

Canada Revenue Agency Warns of Scams

Below is some important information taken from the CRA website warning of scams that are being run to get your personal financial information.  Please be careful when responding to requests for your personal information and make sure you know who you’re giving the information to.  And make your friends and family members aware of these scams as well.

 

Beware of fraudulent communications

Occasionally, taxpayers may receive, either by telephone, mail, or email, a communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) but is NOT. In all these cases, the communication requests personal information, such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers, from the taxpayer. These fraudulent communications are also referred to as scams or phishing.

 

Invariably, the communication argues that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or benefit payment. Another common scam refers the person to a Web site resembling the CRA's Web site where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. Taxpayers should not respond to such fraudulent communications.

 

To better equip taxpayers to identify those communications that do not come from the CRA, the following general guidelines are provided.

 

The CRA does not do the following:

  • The CRA will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by email.
  • The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
  • The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.

 

When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

  • Am I expecting additional money from the CRA?
  • Does this sound too good to be true?
  • Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
  • Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
  • How did the requester get my email address?
  • Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?

 

The CRA will continue to post notifications of fraudulent communications as we become aware of them and encourages you to check our Web site should you have concerns. 

 

Examples
You will find examples of a fraudulent letter, email, and online refund forms on the CRA's Web site. As per fraudulent telephone calls, a telecommunications provider has recently been leaving messages for individuals and businesses to call the CRA at a 1-800 or 1-866 number. On dialing the number, callers are then asked to call another number at a cost to them. These telephone messages are not from the CRA and should be ignored by taxpayers.

 

If you have responded to a fraudulent communication and have become a victim of fraud, please contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Phonebusters by email at info@phonebusters.com or call 1-888-495-8501. For more information, please see Public Safety Canada's Web site at www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/le/bs/phsh-adv-eng.aspx.

 

 

 

 

 

Tax Related Deadline Dates

April 30, 2010
Tax Deadline - 2010 Tax Deadline for personal income tax filing for the 2009 tax year.

April 30, 2010
Payment to CRA of your balance owing for 2009 personal income tax is due April 30, 2010 for all personal income tax filers including self-employed.

June 15, 2010
CRA tax deadline for self-employed persons to file their personal income tax return. Any balance owing must be paid by April 30, 2010.

June 15, 2010
Quarterly instalment due if you pay taxes to CRA by instalments.

September 15, 2010
Quarterly instalment due if you pay taxes to CRA by instalments.

September 30, 2010
Last day for the electronic filing of your 2009 personal income tax and benefit return using NETFILE.

December 15, 2010
Quarterly instalment due if you pay taxes to CRA by instalments.

As always, we’re here to help answer or get the answers to all your questions regarding your financial concerns. 

 

 

 

Bits and Pieces

 

New Mortgage Rules are Now in Effect

As of April 19th the new rules for qualifying for a mortgage have come into effect (see last month’s Financial Dispatch for details). 

HST Purchase Planning

Here’s an interesting article from the Vancouver Sun that gives some ideas of how the new Harmonized Sales Tax will affect different categories of items.  The article tells us when the best time (before May 1st , June 30th or after July 1st)to purchase various items and services to avoid or lessen the sales tax.  To read the article, click the link - http://dld.bz/aPpz .

 

In 2010 we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary of serving our clients.  For 25 years we have been providing financial advice and products to some of the finest people we know.  We really do appreciate you and we look forward to continuing to serve you for many years to come!

  

 

 

 

MFG Financial Dispatch is our monthly email newsletter designed to keep you up to date on timely financial issues that may affect you and to pass on timeless information and advice regarding financial issues.  Archived issues are available in the Client Centre on our website (macintoshfinancial.com).

If at anytime you would prefer not to receive these communications, please reply to the email with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line and you won’t receive another one.

Our website address is macintoshfinancial.com .  If you are on your smart phone you can also find our contact information on our “.Tel” page at macintoshfinancial.tel.

 

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