I monitor a number of on-line bulletin boards and email groups to help me keep Ask Around up-to-date on all the issues. An exchange on one of my favourites, the Ottawa Recycling Bulletin Board, sent me scurrying to the file cabinet looking for the receipts we have stashed away towards the Home Renovation Tax credit next March.
Linda:
I have just spent the better part of today gathering and scanning all my home renovation receipts in preparation for tax time. Why so early? Not because I am super organized, but because I discovered that the receipts from most of the big box stores are printed on thermal paper, and have already started to fade. At this rate, they will barely be legible by next March, and would be of no use at all if I were to be audited a few years down the road.
So if you or anyone you know is planning on using the once-in-a-lifetime credit, may I suggest that you start scanning your receipts while you can still read them?
Sharon:
Good idea! And you should also keep work invoices along with a proof of purchase (cheque or credit card receipt) or proof of delivery in addition. Actually a lot of requirements:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/hmwnr/hrtc/clmng-eng.html
Note also that this deduction has still not been approved by Parliament.
Some of our Home Depot Receipts are already looking fairly fuzzy and, like Linda, I doubt if they will still be legible in March. At a minimum I feel a walk down the road to the photocopier is justified, or maybe a scanning session if I feel more ambitious.
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If you have loads of receipts to scan on a regular basis, I know people who swear by this little product: http://www.neatco.com/
Posted by: Dagne | December 01, 2009 at 01:08 PM
That is a great tip that you found, I will be sure to tell all my clients to scan their receipts in the future.
Posted by: Justin from Ottawa Home Renovations | December 17, 2009 at 05:37 PM