Unit C
Activity 2 c

Schedule 1

To the Teacher

Before taxpayers can fill in the last page of the T1 General, they have to fill in Schedule 1, and the provincial form ON428. These are the forms they use to work out how much tax they should pay. As with the T1 General, there are lots of lines and sections that probably won't concern students in upgrading programs but which may intimidate them just by being there on the form. We have created a simplified version of Schedule 1 that will allow them to see that there aren't very many lines that they will have to fill in. As with the T1 General, there are some calculations that have to be done, but the basic calculations are reasonably straightforward. If a student earns less than $31,677, there is only one operation to perform - a multiplication by 16%. We have included a basic section on finding percents using a calculator with a couple of examples for practice. Even if students haven't worked with percents, they are probably familiar with the idea. Our intention here is not to teach them all about percents but rather to show them that the percents to be calculated on their tax forms are really quite straightforward, especially if they use a calculator.

Although the income amounts in the other three sections will likely be far higher than most students earn, they may find it interesting to see just how much tax a person pays who earns these larger amounts. The calculations are more complex, but you could do them as a group activity, so students weaker in math wouldn't be left out.

We have included a simplified version of the provincial form ON428. This is where you work out your provincial tax and credits. The provincial tax is worked out in much the same way as the federal tax, so we haven't provided a detailed separate activity. If you do use the form, you should point out to students that the percentages and certain amounts on the provincial form may be different from those on the federal one.