Personal Finance

Received too much money in Tax Refund

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  • Mar 25th, 2014 11:12 pm
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Jr. Member
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Dec 12, 2013
104 posts
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Toronto

Received too much money in Tax Refund

Hey guys,

So I filed my tax returns 2 weeks ago with my normal accountant who just charges 50$ per tax return. I have used this accountant for several years and it worked out fine, He is really good at his job and explains everything to me in detail. This year I filed my taxes and he said I should expect to get around $1,700 in tax refund. However I just noticed that this week when I checked my bank account(I have direct deposit set up for my tax refund) that I received close to $7800 instead??? there must be some mistake, right? I am single male mid 20s making only 60k a year. I did not make any contributions to my RRSP last year(2013). However I just started putting money into my RRSP this year as of January still it is a tiny amount. I only have about 5000$ in my TFSA. But those should not matter about income tax returns right??? Can someone please explain to me why I got so much money back, and will I be penalized for it later?
45 replies
Deal Expert
Mar 25, 2005
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pcmania wrote: Hey guys,

So I filed my tax returns 2 weeks ago with my normal accountant who just charges 50$ per tax return. I have used this accountant for several years and it worked out fine, He is really good at his job and explains everything to me in detail. This year I filed my taxes and he said I should expect to get around $1,700 in tax refund. However I just noticed that this week when I checked my bank account(I have direct deposit set up for my tax refund) that I received close to $7800 instead??? there must be some mistake, right? I am single male mid 20s making only 60k a year. I did not make any contributions to my RRSP last year(2013). However I just started putting money into my RRSP this year as of January still it is a tiny amount. I only have about 5000$ in my TFSA. But those should not matter about income tax returns right??? Can someone please explain to me why I got so much money back, and will I be penalized for it later?
How much did you pay in taxes?
Deal Addict
Aug 19, 2013
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Did you actually review your return before it was filed? It is very important that you do that.
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Dec 12, 2013
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Toronto
on my T4 slip it showed that I paid about 13k in taxes
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Feb 22, 2013
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Ottawa, ON
The is definitely a significant difference if the accountant said you'd be getting $1700 but you got $7800 instead. Check your notice of assessment to see what the government was considering that the accountant wasn't.
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Dec 12, 2013
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Momof3cuties wrote: Did you actually review your return before it was filed? It is very important that you do that.
Yes I did review everything, But I am not really an accountant so I might have missed something. But still I paid around 13k in taxes which my employer takes directly out of my paycheck. so considering i owe income tax of about 11k. the difference of about 1.7k$ in tax refund sounded about right to me. was I missing something.
Deal Expert
Mar 25, 2005
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pcmania wrote: Yes I did review everything, But I am not really an accountant so I might have missed something. But still I paid around 13k in taxes which my employer takes directly out of my paycheck. so considering i owe income tax of about 11k. the difference of about 1.7k$ in tax refund sounded about right to me. was I missing something.
You shouldn't have to be an accountant to review a tax return. The $6k difference has to be on your return.
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Dec 12, 2013
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Toronto
Kasakato wrote: You shouldn't have to be an accountant to review a tax return. The $6k difference has to be on your return.
Yes I am looking at my tax return file right now, on the line which says how much I should expect back in refund it shows around $1.7k, I really have no other deductions to claim. It was a pretty simple tax file just see how much income tax I paid and if I overpaid it refund me the money, so I have no idea why CRA is giving this much money back....
Deal Addict
Feb 20, 2009
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pcmania wrote: Yes I am looking at my tax return file right now, on the line which says how much I should expect back in refund it shows around $1.7k, I really have no other deductions to claim. It was a pretty simple tax file just see how much income tax I paid and if I overpaid it refund me the money, so I have no idea why CRA is giving this much money back....
Take it and run!

In all seriousness though, I make 50k mid 20's (24) and my return was 7K however I had a lot of tax deductions as I had paid rent for more than half the year, bought a home (first time buyers credit), contributed over 2K to my RRSP, my daughter is a dependant so I get that deduction and she received the disability tax credit so I applied the disability transfer amount to my return. My wife doesn't work but I also get the family caregiver amount for her because she needs to stay home with my daughter for medical reasons.

So with all that said it IS odd to me that you received 7K and I would call the CRA so you don't receive any "surprises"
Deal Expert
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Jun 9, 2003
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Markham, ON
u0dcameron wrote: Take it and run!

In all seriousness though, I make 50k mid 20's (24) and my return was 7K however I had a lot of tax deductions as I had paid rent for more than half the year, bought a home (first time buyers credit), contributed over 2K to my RRSP, my daughter is a dependant so I get that deduction and she received the disability tax credit so I applied the disability transfer amount to my return. My wife doesn't work but I also get the family caregiver amount for her because she needs to stay home with my daughter for medical reasons.

So with all that said it IS odd to me that you received 7K and I would call the CRA so you don't receive any "surprises"
i hope they dont charge you interest once they ask for the money back...
Sr. Member
May 5, 2006
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Compare the lines on your Notice of Assessment to the return. You should be able to find the differences. You can take back both to your accountant and ask him to explain the difference, if you don't understand it yourself.
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Apr 4, 2009
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I would wait for the Notice of Assessment, it will explain the refund in detail.
Deal Addict
Jul 11, 2008
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maybe they forced you to take your education credits... that's what happened to me when i first started working. received huge refunds
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Dec 12, 2013
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Toronto
Busybuyer888 wrote: I would wait for the Notice of Assessment, it will explain the refund in detail.
So I should get the notice of assessment in the mail correct? I guess I will just give my accountant a call today to notify him of what is happening, maybe he can double check my tax return for any discrepancies. Once I receive my notice of assessment I will compare it with my tax return file in person with my accountant to see what we missed. I am not worried about sending the money back or anything like that. I just do not want to pay interest and other penalties for a mistake CRA did...
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Dec 12, 2013
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pace wrote: maybe they forced you to take your education credits... that's what happened to me when i first started working. received huge refunds
Maybe that might be it?? umm I did graduate from university in 2012 and I started working immediately after. I only had about 7k in OSAP Loans, which i am currently paying back slowly. What exactly are education credits are they something different from OSAP and regular stuff?
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Jun 9, 2003
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pcmania wrote: Maybe that might be it?? umm I did graduate from university in 2012 and I started working immediately after. I only had about 7k in OSAP Loans, which i am currently paying back slowly. What exactly are education credits are they something different from OSAP and regular stuff?
This is why doing your own taxes, especially when they're relatively simple, is advisable.

You get tax credits for the tuition that you paid while going to school. You can deduct these tuition credits from your income once you start earning, but it must be deducted right away (e..g you can't carry them over to higher earning years). Your tax preparer would have only been able to make these deductions for you if he was aware of the tuition credits. They should be listed on your assessments from previous years (assuming you claimed the tuition during the years you were paying it).
Deal Fanatic
Nov 24, 2013
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Kingston, ON
Tuition and education amounts were the first thing I thought of. This is probably it.

Your university sends a form called T2202A to CRA every year stating how many months you were full / part time and how much tuition you paid in that year. These lead to non-refundable tax credits, meaning it can reduce your tax burden in a given year to zero (refund what you've paid in through work), but if it hits zero they're carried forward to the next year. CRA is probably paying out the remainder of the tuition and education amounts for the 2013 tax year, and since you got $7800 back (and not the full $13k you paid in) that's probably now used it up.
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Dec 12, 2013
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Mike15 wrote: Tuition and education amounts were the first thing I thought of. This is probably it.

Your university sends a form called T2202A to CRA every year stating how many months you were full / part time and how much tuition you paid in that year. These lead to non-refundable tax credits, meaning it can reduce your tax burden in a given year to zero (refund what you've paid in through work), but if it hits zero they're carried forward to the next year. CRA is probably paying out the remainder of the tuition and education amounts for the 2013 tax year, and since you got $7800 back (and not the full $13k you paid in) that's probably now used it up.
I remember using the T2202A during my time in university when I was filing my taxes it would usually give me back some money. notihng major just a few hundred bucks here and there, cause I was not working back than. So you are saying these education credits are put on hold and once I start earning/working and my salary is higher CRA will automatically claim these deductions to refund me the money for the tution I paid during my university years. Am I understanding this correctly. I think I will know for sure once I see the notice of assessment. gonna check my mail today when I get home and confirm if this is what was done. I would like to keep the 7.8k if possible lol put it towards my RRSP and save up for buying my first house :)
Deal Expert
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Jun 9, 2003
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....you should fire your accountant if it's tuition credit...this person should have asked you...

from $1700 to $7800 refund...that's a lot of tuition ...hmmm

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