Does StudioTax Calculate This New Family Tax Cut Income Splitting Reduction For Me?

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2014 is the first (and possibly the only!) year when the government has given us the choice to try to reduce the tax payable by a 2-parent family with children under the age of 18. The maximum benefit has been restricted to $2 000 although they say that the parents are allowed to “split” up to $50 000 of income on their federal (not provincial or territorial) taxes. It’s really just a math-intensive way to give a credit to your federal income tax payable. In fact, there are 2 pages (Schedule 1-A) of math! So I was curious to see if StudioTax would automatically calculate and apply this new benefit to a tax return for a married couple with young children, like mine.

Did StudioTax Calculate the Family Tax Cut For Me?

Yes.

I ran a test case with a married couple with 2 children under the age of 18 filing their 2014 tax return. When asked at the beginning if I wanted to create returns for both husband and wife at the same time I said yes. I also entered the usual information about the dependent children because they need to be listed to claim the Children’s Fitness and/or Children’s Arts amounts. I did not input any extra information directly intended to prompt the program to try to apply the new “tax splitting” for the Family Tax Cut.

StudioTax went ahead and did it though.

Where Does StudioTax Report the Tax Savings Created by this New Family Tax Cut

The actual amount that this pretend “income splitting” is saving you is reported on Line 423 of Schedule 1.

The detailed calculations are in Schedule 1-A.

Do I Recommend Using a Tax Program to Calculate the Family Tax Cut?

Maybe.

It’s not particularly difficult to complete Schedule 1-A by hand with a pencil and a calculator. It is dull and time consuming though.

Given that you can use StudioTax or GenuTax Standard tax software for free, I’d recommend you at least double check your work by using a tax program.

How Much Did We Save Thanks to the Family Tax Cut?

Well, let’s just say we can afford one more dim sum lunch this year but not necessarily with soft drinks. Fortunately I love the tea our local restaurant provides!

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Did you benefit from this Family Tax Cut? Or is it just another source of irritation to you? Should the government really be spending its time tinkering at this level with our tax forms? Please share your views with a comment.

How to Set Up a Bill Payment Using BMO Online Banking

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OK, so far I’ve tested paying bills from Tangerine and PC Financial. In both cases, somewhat to my surprise, it all went well. Now I’m going to try to set up a bill and pay it from our BMO Online Banking program: wish me luck!

As usual, I will do my test with our Bell telephone bill. That’s because although I share nothing (else) in common with the woman in Fifty Shades of Grey I do like the threat of suffering endlessly while trying to straighten out a billing error with Ma Bell. OK, maybe it’s because I can see the results of a bill payment online on my Bell account fairly quickly. Or maybe it’s because I like to play for high stakes. I dunno. But here goes anyway.

How to Create a New Account to Pay Using BMO Online Banking

  1. Sign in to your BMO Online Banking program and take a second to review your recent transactions looking for any computer fraud: Phew. No problems.
  2. Click on the tab called Payments and Transfers.
  3. There’s a long list of links down the left side of the screen. Under the heading My Payments and Transfers, click on: Add a Payee

The Add a Payee: Enter Details Page

  1. From the drop-down list for Payee Province, select the province the bill is coming from. For example, since I live in Ontario, I selected Ontario.
  2. In the Payee Name field, start typing the name of the bill. For Bell telephone, I tried Bell. The system will present you with a list of possible matches. From the list, remembering the hassles elsewhere, I selected Bell One Bill.
  3. In the Account Number field, the system prompted me to enter a 14 digit alphanumeric account number. So I did. I got the number from a recent Bell bill where It was listed and described as the “14-digits number for online/telebanking.” It’s not actually my account number.
  4. In the Nickname field, type a name to help you identify what company you will pay if you choose this number from a list in the future.
  5. I typed the service at Bell for which I am paying.
    (No, I did not just type #*$*%&% although it was tempting.)
  6. Click on the Verify Payee button.

The Add a Payee: Verify Details Page

Review the info you submitted. If it looks ok, click on the Add Payee button.

The Add a Payee: Complete Page

Review the confirmation message.

Now to try actually paying Bell a buck or two to see if it gets credited to my account.

How to Pay a Bill Using BMO Online Banking

From the list of links down the left side of the screen, click on Make a Payment.

The Make a Payment: Enter Details Page

  1. From the drop-down list for the From field, select the bank account from which you wish to pay the bill. As warned, be sure there will be enough money in the account before setting up a payment, especially for the future.
  2. From the drop-down list for the To field, select which bill you wish to pay. I chose my nicknamed Bell account.
  3. In the amount field, type the amount you want to pay.
  4. You can then either accept the date proposed or click on the calendar to select a future date to pay the bill. I accepted today’s date. (Watch out if you are paying bills after hours, on weekends or on holidays: the bill will not be paid immediately!)
  5. Click on the Verify Payment button.

The Make a Payment: Verify Request Page

Review the details of your proposed bill payment.

If it all looks good, click on the Submit Transaction button.

The Make a Payment: Complete Page

Review the details of your bill payment including the reference number.

You may want to cut and paste the confirmation information into a document and save it to a secure storage device such as a USB stick. The confirmation has your bank transit number and bank account number and your bill’s account number so you don’t want to leave this information unguarded.

Now I’ll have to watch my payment history at Bell and see if and when the payment arrives.

I went back to the My Accounts tab and clicked on my bank account. I can see the money has been deducted from my bank account with a note saying it has been sent to Bell. So it looks good so far.

UPDATE: The amount was credited on my Bell account the second morning after I made the payment. Phew!

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