Death and taxes are the two things that are guaranteed in life. Unfortunately, the scare of tax lingers on even after a person dies. After your death, Canada Revenue Agency would be interested to know how much money you earned in the year you died. Your loved ones need to file a T1 personal income tax return. This return is known as terminal tax return or more commonly as date-of-death return.

The amount of tax to be paid by you after your death depends on the type of assets you owned, whether you named any beneficiary or it was a joint ownership. It is better to hire an accountant to review the estate and ascertain the tax bill payable. We must prepare ourselves so that we can pay the tax debt later before we hear that bad news. The Tax Return should be filed by 30^th of April, like it is done by everyone else. These are some of the requirements and benefits of filing tax returns.

• If the person died from January 1 to October 31 then the return should be filed by April 30 in the following year. For deaths that happened from November 1 to December, the return should be filed within six months from the date of death.

• If you did not file the tax return for last year, then it should be filed within six months from the date of death, and pay any tax you owe. You can have the necessary forms from CRA, T4 / T5 are the necessary tax information slips you need to have for this.

People want to what are the benefits of filing tax returns and how they can claim for twenty-five hundred dollars towards Canadian Pension Plan Death Benefit. For the deceased, the final tax return should not be included in the CPP death benefit.

• On the other hand, if the entire proceeds of the estate are received by one beneficiary, then the concerned person has to pay personal tax return. But if there are more than one beneficiary, T3 trust income tax return should get included in CPP benefits for filing tax returns.

Many people want to know does their accountant need to make the final tax return. The fact is you can prepare the tax return on your own. But if you hire an accountant he or she may be able to give valuable inputs.

Along with personal return T1, you are also required to file return for the estate itself, through T3 income tax return. CRA is interested in knowing what your income through estate is. You are required to file this tax every year in order to have the benefits of filing tax returns.

This needs to be done within three months after the death of the person, till the time estate proceeds are completely distributed. And for the partial year, the last T3 return is also required, till the distribution date. Benefits of filing tax returns are that our government has the financial input to implement its plans.