How to Use T4 Slips to File Income Taxes

How to Use T4 Slips to File Income Taxes Employers prepare and issue the Canadian T4 tax slip or Statement of Remuneration Paid to inform each employee and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) how much the employee earned during the previous tax year. The document also records the amount of income tax that was withheld from pay. Employment income includes salary, bonuses, vacation pay, tips, honorariums, commissions, taxable allowances, the value of taxable benefits, and payment in lieu of notice. Youll typically receive three copies of a T4 tax slip- one to attach to your Canadian federal tax return, one to attach to your provincial or territory tax return, and one to keep for your own records. Youll also probably receive more than one T4 tax slip if you had more than one job. The back of each T4 slip explains each item on the document, including which items to report on your income tax return and where, and which items are for Canada Revenue Agency use only. Deadline for T4 Tax Slips T4 tax slips must be issued by the last day of February in the year after the calendar year to which they apply. For example, you should receive your T4 tax slip for 2018 earnings by February 28, 2019. Filing T4 Tax Slips With Your Income Tax Return Include copies of each T4 tax slip you receive when you file a paper income tax return. If you file your tax return electronically using NETFILE or EFILE, keep copies of your T4 tax slips with your records for six years just in case the CRA asks to see them. Missing T4 Tax Slips If you havent received a T4 slip, file your income tax return by the deadline anyway to avoid penalties for filing your taxes late. Calculate the income and any related deductions and credits you can claim as closely as possible based on the information you do have. Include copies of any statements or employment stubs you use to calculate your income and deductions as well as a note listing your employers name and address, the type of income you received, and whatever steps youve taken to get a copy of the missing T4 slip. Youre required to ask your employer for a copy of your T4 before filing your return,  so make sure to allow enough time to do this. Tax returns are due to the CRA by April 30 unless that day falls on a weekend or a holiday, in which case returns are due the following business day. For 2018 earnings, taxes must be filed no later than April 30, 2019. If you need a T4 slip for a previous tax year, try checking the My Account service or calling the CRA at 800-959-8281. Other T4 Tax Information Slips Other T4 tax information slips include: T4A:  Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other IncomeT4A(OAS):  Statement of Old Age SecurityT4A(P):  Statement of Canada Pension Plan BenefitsT4E:  Statement of Employment Insurance and Other BenefitsT4RIF:  Statement of Income From a Registered Retirement Income FundT4RSP:  Statement of RRSP Income

Why Brand Consistency Is Important On You Social Media Accounts

Why Brand Consistency Is Important On You Social Media Accounts A few weekends ago, I decided that my online presence was a mess. Visual brand consistency was non-existent. I have several different blogs and associated social media accounts, and they were all in a disarray. Accounts didnt look the same. They had different tag lines and graphics and information and the overall effect was that they were separate entities. That was a serious failure on my part. Why Visual Brand Consistency Is Good Whats the big deal about my social accounts looking a bit different? If you visited my Facebook Page, and then my YouTube page, and then Twitterthere was nothing about them that suggested they were related, active, or cared for. There were no visual cues that said were part of this larger family. They could have been owned by separate people and happened to have the same name, for all readers might have known. The look was unfamiliar, and unfamiliarity is a negative experience for your readers. When its clear the owner of social properties hasnt bothered to update, change, and unify the appearance–or even keep things in line with what new network updates require–it makes people a bit less likely to get involved. Those lacking visual cues on a social media property make it seem as if it has been forgotten. Simple Tweaks To Better Brand Consistency How do you keep your social media accounts in shape and make sure the visitors to them dont feel like youve neglected them? There are lots of detailed (and complicated) guides on achieving brand consistency freely available online, but really, the simplest and most obvious things are the most important. These are the things you need to do first. Use Uniform Colors Use the same color combinations everywhere, across all of your online accounts. Colors are identifiers. I have a set color scheme that I use on my blogs and across social media platforms. To make it easy to create and manage a color scheme, I use Adobe Kuler. It makes it easy to open up a tab, grab the hex color, and use that for my accounts. A few places where I use those colors are: Customizing my WordPress theme colors. Twitter background and link color. Custom graphics for Facebook views and apps on your page profile. Any standard graphic layouts I do for images posted to social networks. Use the same color combinations on social media profiles as you do your blog.Create Uniform Images The images you use in your icon and cover art on your social profiles are the first way your audience will learn to identify you. As usual, we see pictures first. While each network is different, I tend to think of it as follows: Icon remains the same. Clear, crisp, and simple. Must look good in either a square or round format (some social media networks use a square for the icon, others are round). Design accordingly. Cover image is the same, but in multiple sizes. Each social network uses a different ratio when it comes to the size of the cover image. Choose an image that will work well across all of them no matter how it is cropped, or design an image specifically for each network to fit their specifications. And also, consider that your image may adjust and change size for different screens. People view your social account on different sized screens. The cover image will change accordingly. This is Google+, at different sizes. I often change out the main image to fit the seasons or for other reasons. I usually use a photograph instead of a custom designed graphic because that same photograph gets used on my blog as a background. In other words, I try to connect the images I use on my website to those used on the different social networks. The image becomes the motif, while the profile icon becomes the identifier. You may have custom graphics that you use, instead of a simple photograph, and that is perfectly fine. The main thing is that the imagery matches across the board. And what does it look like when the images arent the same across all of the different networks? It looks pretty crazy. For example, check out my personal social media profile images below. Its all over the place. Am I a world traveler? Do I like nervous cats? Am I a big fan of Godzilla? Am I a cartoon character? Maybe I can get away with having fun on my personal social networks, but for a blog thats focused on creating a platform, definitely not. And, considering Google Authorshipmaybe its time I rethought my personal consistency, too.  At the very least, I dont have the default Google+ rainbow paper for a cover image, which suggests that someone either never visits Google+, has an account and doesnt care, or couldnt be bothered to take the time to upload a basic photo.