This 1991 Canada/provincial Tax Return uses about a dozen linked Microsoft® Excel™ 3.0 worksheets, set up to resemble closely the original set of basic personal forms from Revenue Canada - Taxation. Each Schedule exists as a separate linked worksheet. The worksheets take care of the arithmetic, but you need to enter the data. The usual Tax Guide and forms from Revenue Canada will help in completing the process.
When printed, these forms are approved for submission directly to Revenue Canada - Taxation. To do this, you will need to obtain the Revenue Canada authorization number from Icicle Computer. Mail us a copy of the “Tax Template Purchase” file, included with the Return, or phone. We happily accept cash, cheques or Visa cards.
This is shareware; it represents a lot of work as well as a certain twisted sort of fun, and we hope you agree that it is worth $25.
••• To do this return •••
1) Copy the folder, ‘Ontario (or B. C.) Tax ƒ’, to any convenient place in your system.
2) Open ‘1991 Tax’.
3) Enter data in ‘A Tax Worksheet’ first, as it provides basic information to all other worksheets. Pressing the «Tab» or «Enter» key will take you in order through all the data cells in each worksheet. Use standard Excel practices.
4) Save your work as you proceed.
5) Enter data to all other relevant Schedules or Forms.
6) When you have entered ALL your data (and obtained the Revenue Canada authorization number from Icicle), re-calculate and print your Return. Don’t forget to check the GST Tax Credit application to see whether you qualify—submit it if it says “Yes”— and print T1-KS; see the note below on direct submission.
7) The ‘Tax’ menu helps with printing and viewing the worksheets.
••• More detail •••
…all of the worksheets are standard Excel 3 files.
…all have been ‘protected’ with data entry cells left unlocked for convenience and clarity. Any sheet can be ‘unprotected’ any time by selecting the appropriate command in the ‘Options’ menu. There is no password. Toggle back to ‘protected’ and the automatic moves reappear.
…‘1991 Tax’ is a ‘workspace’ (refer to your Excel manual) which arranges about a dozen linked worksheets in the folder. It should be at the top of the list in an Excel 3 ‘open’ dialogue box. Opening takes a long minute on slower Macs. The workspace setup deliberately omits the ‘tool bar’ and the ‘formula bar’.
…use the Options Workspace menu command to return the tool and formula bars to the window, if you wish.
…all the worksheets should be open simultaneously. Macros which make the ‘Tax’ menu work expect it. (Incidentally, if your Mac is running Multifinder and a flock of extensions, you may encounter errors related to the Mac’s default number of open files, which I think is 40; this number can be easily increased by using a utility such as Bootman, available on many BBSs.)
…if you are doing returns for various members of your family, save a distinct folder for each by saving a copy and then changing the name of the folder.
…‘A Tax Worksheet’ is right on top when you open the ‘1991 Tax’ workspace.
Do the T1 General, then various Schedules and supporting Forms in any order. Be aware that many entries, especially on the T1 General, depend on data input to another form. You can limit the number of worksheets whose windows are in view through the ‘Tax’ menu, described below.
…select the worksheet on which you wish to work under the ‘Window’ menu (or by clicking on it or by the keyboard command, «Command»-M/ «Command»-«Shift»-M).
…dates should be entered in Excel conventions, eg, “d mmm yy” or “m/d/yy”. The typical proper display as “31 Jan 92”. A date incorrectly entered is the probable source of a burst of #VALUE errors.
…number formats used throughout are variations on Excel standards. Numbers should be entered in a form consistent with the System in your machine, typically “50000.2” or “50,000.20” or “12345” with a US system—the North American English norm.
…the formulæ are set to deal with most common situations. If those don’t include you, then with care they can be changed, deleted, or data entered directly, using standard Excel practices.
…the screen of the T1 General template is split to allow you to see the progress of your refund in a line at the bottom of the window.
…if a list of items is too short for you, carefully ‘insert’ additional rows. If possible, insert in the middle of a list rather than at the top or bottom, in order to ensure that defined ranges remain intact. After inserting, ‘Fill Down’ the row above the insertion to copy formulæ into the new rows. Also, beware of the tax man, who may apply different rates to subsequent occurrences of such things as children and dependants. Check the Guide!
…there are 300+ recalculations for some entries. Speed up data entry (but lose some useful bells and whistles) by opting for manual calculation.
•• The ‘Tax’ menu—
The ‘Tax’ menu is intended to help select forms to print or to see and use. As well, it can speed your exit from the files.
Three commands print and/or hide/unhide forms, two are short cuts to close all the files, and a final command allows you to remove the ‘Tax’ menu itself.
Setup Print/Show…
allows you to check settings prior to printing. The default is to preview pages, but not to check page setup (which is pre-set for LaserWriters or ImageWriters).
By default, ‘hide non-printing forms’ is selected, so forms NOT selected under the ‘Select and Print’ command will be hidden. Alternatively, all the forms will remain in view.
Show & Print…
allows you to choose forms to print or view. The option buttons at the bottom of the dialogue box allow you selectively to print or to hide worksheets. Rev Canada insists on T1-KS so don’t forget it, and remember to submit the GST Tax Credit application if you qualify.
If you choose to ‘Print and Use’, the forms which you have selected are sent in turn through a print dialogue box, where you may opt to print or to cancel. By default, at the end of the process, only the selected forms will be on screen. All those NOT selected will be hidden.
If you choose to ‘Hide Unused Forms, Don’t Print’, then the forms which are NOT selected will be hidden. No forms will be printed.
By default, ALL forms are selected. Changes become defaults when the ‘Tax Macros’ file is saved. The ‘Close & Save All’ command does save the ‘Tax Macros’ file.
‘Show All Forms’ does that, un-hiding forms previously hidden.
‘Close All, No Save’ closes all of the dozen or so files WITHOUT saving. You need to confirm your decision in a dialogue box.
‘Close & Save All’ does the same, but saves everything, without the dialogue.
‘Remove Menu’ applies only to this ‘Tax’ menu. Use it and all of these custom commands are gone. (The ‘Macro Run’ command, ‘Set Tax Menu’, will reinstall it.)
••• Other considerations:
• Direct submission of these templates printed on an ImageWriter or better has been approved. The templates can be modified to accommodate your particular set-up, as can any Excel worksheet. Beware that extensive changes may invalidate Revenue Canada’s approval of this format for direct submission. “Extensive changes” would affect the page format, page breaks, or use much different type faces.
• There is no concise, automatic way for parents to calculate the ‘Child Tax Credit’, which can be claimed by “only the individual eligible for Family Allowances”, but the Family Allowance must be reported by the “higher income spouse”… If your higher income spouse is not eligible to claim the Child Tax Credit, you will need to change the numbers of children at lines 545 and 546 on that spouse’s Schedule 7 to zero. Do the change by selecting the ‘Macro Run’ command, ‘Zero_ChildTaxCr’. On the other hand, a lower income spouse eligible to claim the Child Tax Credit may not have claimed any deductions from income for the children, so the worksheets have no information with which to calculate the correct numbers. In this case, run the ‘Unlock_Children’ macro to enable you to enter the number of children directly to lines 545 and 546 on Schedule 7.
• If yours is a complicated family, check the accuracy of computed entries concerning net income and numbers of children to Schedule 7, the GST Tax Credit, T1C(Prov), and T778 - Child Care Expenses.
• “Minimum Tax” may, perhaps, apply to you if your Taxable Income + a number of esoteric items total more than $40,000. If so, you will need to use Form T691 and take special steps. These worksheets only flag this possibility at the top of page 4 of the T1 General (and on page 3 of the T1C(ONT)). If the flags (text notices) appear, you will need to decide what to do. The flags can be removed and Minimum Tax ignored by selecting the ‘Macro Run’ command, ‘'Tax Macros'!Clear_Min_Flag’.
• If you need to complete supplementary reports, such as business or rental income statements, you can do those reports separately and enter the final figures as data. Or, you can set up the statement as an Excel worksheet and link it to the appropriate cells in these templates.
••• We will be pleased to answer questions about the workings of these templates, phone (613)747-7561. On tax law and loopholes we are NOT experts, so please refer the subtleties of your own situation to your own accountant/bookkeeper/significant other!•••
••• Direct Submission •••
To submit your return directly to Revenue Canada - Taxation, you will need the authorization number which you can get from us by phone (credit card—Visa) or mail upon payment of the shareware fee. Then print the T1 Return and the supporting Schedules you need to submit on 8 1/2" x 11" pale blue standard bond colour paper. Print any supplementary Forms on plain white paper. Print Form ‘T1-KS’ on plain white paper. (Note that if you have had to complete some of the more esoteric forms, such as T2222 or T2038(IND), you will need to enter the data manually in the appropriate spaces on T1-KS.)
Quoting from Rev Canada’s Information Circular on Computer Printed T1 Returns, “Returns with perforations along the fold are not acceptable. It is preferable that the return be in the folded, four-page, jacket format, with pages 1 and 2 back-to-back and pages 3 and 4 back-to-back. (Rev Canada) will, however, accept four single pages in sequential order, firmly stapled at the top left corner in such a way as not to impede access to all items of information.
“Attach any enclosures, top edges together, to the top left corner of page 3 of the return…”
We understand from this that the four pages of the T1 General should be stacked in order with page 1 on top. Additional Schedules, Forms and supporting documentation should be inserted in front of page 3 of the T1 General, and the whole lot should be stapled at the top left corner.
••• Disclaimer •••
This template is distributed with the understanding that, while every reasonable care has been taken to ensure its accuracy, the author cannot be held responsible for any omissions or errors. Because tax returns are personal and relate to individual circumstances, the author cannot be liable for losses or risks with respect to the use of this general template. This template should not be used as a substitute for professional advice, and any questions should be directed to a professional adviser.
