I got a call from the accountant this morning, and she said my taxes were all done. I just had to swing by and sign some forms and they would be e-filed.
Before I gave her my taxes, I did a quick trial run myself, just to see what the difference would be. If I were to have filed them, I would have gotten back around $600. Having her do it (and properly take into account all my camera gear), I get about $1800 back. Her fee for doing my taxes was about $160, so that means my net return is $1640, or about $1000 more than I would have gotten had I done them myself.
Not bad.
I find it very discomforting to realize that taxation is so subjective - shouldn’t it be more straightforward than that? More accessble to the commone individual without having to go through some magic middle-person? Ugh.
Well, conceivably I could have ended up with the same number doing it myself, but it gets complicated when you start doing business-associated write-offs, as there are CCA schedules you have to follow (i.e. what to write-off and when).
Touché
… it still seems unncecessarily complicated for the average person. :(