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Accountants and missing tax deductions


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I've signed up with a national accounting firm that does resident taxes for free. Was having no issues for the past few years when I realized that we get T2202A forms in residency, with 12 months of full time education per year. I filed this during med school but never realized we got them during residency (it's not obvious online, nor did I ever receive them in the mail). I will be refiling my taxes retroactively to make use of this deduction.

Now, while I admit this was mostly my fault for being ignorant, shouldn't a good accountant (especially one who was sold to me as being an accountant for medical professionals) be looking out for things like this? Or do they basically just input exactly what I provide them with and not add much value?

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1 hour ago, The Ace of Spades said:

I've signed up with a national accounting firm that does resident taxes for free. Was having no issues for the past few years when I realized that we get T2202A forms in residency, with 12 months of full time education per year. I filed this during med school but never realized we got them during residency (it's not obvious online, nor did I ever receive them in the mail). I will be refiling my taxes retroactively to make use of this deduction.

Now, while I admit this was mostly my fault for being ignorant, shouldn't a good accountant (especially one who was sold to me as being an accountant for medical professionals) be looking out for things like this? Or do they basically just input exactly what I provide them with and not add much value?

hmmm so you weren't using them in the past as a resident? (noting that they have done away with them now). 

Probably not providing much value to you as they are doing things for free ha - not to say they shouldn't be more aware to say the least. 

you can make adjustments to prior returns as needed - perhaps as a start you can see if they can do that for you to make up for the mistake. 

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You would think a T2202A is standard enough to notice, especially for a firm reaching out to residents. I too used a national accounting firm that offered free services for residents/students this year and was also surprised by the service. They were confused about how to go about filling TD1 and T1213 forms to carry forward tuition credits to reduce tax at source -- something I assume not uncommonly requested by residents. Perhaps they're less thorough when they're working for free...

But anyway, I think it's not too late to get things changed. Plus, tuition credits are non-refundable and carry forward so you can use it next year if it's too complicated to change things now.

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I have always used a local firm that specializes in physician taxes. One was a moderate sized firm when I was a resident/fellow. No issues with them and they were well versed in physician/resident tax issues. Now that I am a staff, I am in a different province. I use a small firm that basically solely does physician accounting. The guy who owns it is very good (works as a consultant to CRA too). Costs a bit extra but I am willing to pay for knowledge. 

The best way to find an accountant is to ask around to other staff who they are using. 

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8 minutes ago, The Ace of Spades said:

That was one of my thoughts. But that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me to pay for their service after fellowship. I'm paying for someone to catch things I miss, or else I could easily just do this myself.

Hey I am using the national accounting firm recommended by MD financials who does the residents tax for free. To be honest upfront, since they are doing our taxes for free, I read over the MD financial guide for residents each time and submit all the relevant forms to the accountant. I would still double check his & her submission to CRA before they e-file it. 

When you hire an accountant as an incorporated physician, I think that the accountant will be more diligent as most people are paying 2000- 5000 K annually for accounting. I would ask around your staff physicians which accountant they use in your area. I think that once you incorporate, the taxes would be too complicated for any non-accountant to do. It is always useful to know the basic incorporation tax rules, as nobody represents your interests the best as yourself (paying them or not ) :) 

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On 4/23/2019 at 8:52 PM, LittleDaisy said:

Hey I am using the national accounting firm recommended by MD financials who does the residents tax for free. To be honest upfront, since they are doing our taxes for free, I read over the MD financial guide for residents each time and submit all the relevant forms to the accountant. I would still double check his & her submission to CRA before they e-file it. 

When you hire an accountant as an incorporated physician, I think that the accountant will be more diligent as most people are paying 2000- 5000 K annually for accounting. I would ask around your staff physicians which accountant they use in your area. I think that once you incorporate, the taxes would be too complicated for any non-accountant to do. It is always useful to know the basic incorporation tax rules, as nobody represents your interests the best as yourself (paying them or not ) :) 

Once you incorporate your taxes and financials become much much more complex. You need professional advice. It is well past the point of doing it alone. 

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On 4/22/2019 at 8:10 PM, The Ace of Spades said:

I've signed up with a national accounting firm that does resident taxes for free. Was having no issues for the past few years when I realized that we get T2202A forms in residency, with 12 months of full time education per year. I filed this during med school but never realized we got them during residency (it's not obvious online, nor did I ever receive them in the mail). I will be refiling my taxes retroactively to make use of this deduction.

Now, while I admit this was mostly my fault for being ignorant, shouldn't a good accountant (especially one who was sold to me as being an accountant for medical professionals) be looking out for things like this? Or do they basically just input exactly what I provide them with and not add much value?

agreed. I found MNP this year to be a bit less thorough then last year, and even when I asked some questions they didn't seem to keen in trying to answer.

T2202A they don't seem very interested in looking for more deductions/tax savings. More interested in just submitting and getting it over with. 

It's good to use their services for convenience but when I'm staff I'm probably going to try to find someone as specialized as possible. 

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