Help young clients become tax-savvy

Some young Canadians rely on their parents to file their taxes.

According to a survey by H&R Block, the top reasons for this are fear of making mistakes (21%), it’s easier to depend on parents (14%) and/or rely on their experience and knowledge (14%), and some young taxpayers don’t have enough money to hire tax professionals (13%).

The survey finds 61% of millennials (those aged 18-34 at the time of the survey) filed their taxes on their own before the age of 24. But they were also the largest cohort of respondents who still had their parents filing their taxes (20%).

On the upside, the majority of Canadians surveyed (63%) stopped asking their parents to file their tax returns when they were between the ages of 18 and 24.

To further this trend, encourage young clients or even clients’ kids to take the reins and learn about tax filing. Read and share the following articles.

Updated CE course: Personal tax season — Are you ready?

Tips for filing your taxes for 2016 (Client-friendly article)

How foreign exchange impacts capital gains

What is the alternative minimum tax? (Client-friendly article)

Clients have unique tax needs? Here are tips

Many Canadians withdrawing RRSP funds for daily expenses

Help your immigrant client face the tax man

Tax tips for Canadians between jobs (Client-friendly article)

Additional survey highlights:

• 10% of Canadians asked their parents for help with their taxes between the ages of 25-34.
• Males were more likely to file their own taxes under the age of 18 without the support of their parents (18% versus females at 13%).
• Albertans were most likely to file on their own under the age of 18 (19%).
• Canadians from British Columbia (8%), Ontario (8%) and Atlantic Canada (8%) were most likely to continue asking their parents to file their taxes, over Saskatchewan (2%), Alberta (4%), Manitoba (4%) and Quebec (6%).
• At 16%, Quebeckers struggled the most with taxes and found that doing them on their own was as difficult as they imagined it would be.
• Women were more likely to fear making a mistake when filing (23%) than their male counterparts (19%).

Survey methodology: An online survey was conducted among 1,509 randomly selected Canadian adults, who are Angus Reid Forum panelists, between March 8^th and March 9^th. The margin of error is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.