Newsgroups: can.general
Path: utzoo!lsuc!dave
From: dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman)
Subject: Re: Bank obnoxiousness, tax woes
Date: Thu, 30-Mar-89 23:05:55 EST
Summary: income is income
Message-ID: <1989Mar30.230601.4162@lsuc.uucp>
Distribution: can
References: <145@sickkids.UUCP> <5723@aldebaran.UUCP>
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto

In article <5723@aldebaran.UUCP> jimp@cognos.UUCP (Jim Patterson) writes:
>Since I stopped receiving interest slips (T5s) years ago, I've stopped
>reporting interest on our savings account on my income tax. (I don't
>keep much money in savings; it all goes to the mortgage). I never
>thought much about it; I've assumed that, if the banks don't have to
>send them to me, I don't have to report it. I don't know if that's
>what the tax acts say, but I do know that it's pretty unreasonable to
>expect taxpayers to calculate it themselves.

Nonsense.  You have a passbook, don't you?  Or monthly statements?

You remind me of the people who think that if they do
work and are paid in cash, they aren't required to report it.
The fact income may be undetectable doesn't in the least change
the fact that it's legally income.

As I noted in an earlier posting, we have a self-assessment system.
T5's and similar information slips are designed to prevent the system
from breaking down entirely, but it's still a self-assessment system
and should be treated as such.  Income tax may be a game in which
you try to structure your affairs so as to minimize tax; but it's
breaking the rules of the game to not report income which you have
earned.

As has been pointed out, in the past when $1,000 of interest
income was exempt from tax in most cases, small amounts of
savings account interest didn't matter.  Now they do.  It is
your legal obligation to report these amounts.

David Sherman
-- 
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