First of all, compare line 435 and line 482.

There are three possibilities here. If lines 435 and 482 are equal, you have already paid the right amount of tax. You don't have to send any more money, but you don't get any back either.

If line 482 (how much you've already paid) is more than line 435, you have paid too much. The government will send you a refund cheque.

If line 482 is less than line 435, you have a balance owing. You owe the government money. You have to send the government a cheque for this amount.

Imagine that the income tax you should pay came to $3,742 and the amount of tax you had paid already came to $3,916 ,which column on your simplified T1 would you fill out? Put a check mark in the correct column. How much will you get as a refund? Write that on line 484.

The last thing you have to do is to sign and date your T1 and give your telephone number. You sign to certify that all the information you have given is correct. You are also certifying that the information is complete.

If you find out later that you've made a mistake, contact CCRA. You will usually be able to correct the mistake without any penalty. If the mistake means you owe CCRA more money, you may have to pay interest on it, but that is all. If you deliberately try to hide some income or make a false claim and CCRA finds out about this, there will be a penalty. This is not a mistake. You are breaking the law.

Comparing our simplified T1 to the real T1 General form

Now that you have worked your way through page 4 of the T1 General, you can compare your simplified version with the real one. As usual, there are far more lines on the real one than you will have to fill in. We gave you six lines and three columns.

First of all, find the three lines on page 4 that we gave you for how much income tax you had to pay. (Lines 420, 428 and 435.) Now find these lines on the real form. Circle them.

Next, find the three lines for how much income tax you've already paid. (Lines 437, 479 and 482.) Now find them on the real form. Circle them.

Now find lines 484 (you've paid too much so you get a refund) and 485 (you have a balance owing and haven't paid enough). Circle them.

Finally, find where you have to sign, and circle that on the real T1.
These are probably the only lines you will need to fill in to complete your T1 General tax form.

We hope that going through the forms step-by-step has helped to make your income tax forms much less confusing. You will have learned that the forms are much less complicated than you thought. There are lots of lines there to be filled in, but as we showed on our simplified forms, you will usually only be interested in a few of these lines.