Contents

Updated February 7, 2008

General:

You must click the "Tax Summary" button after you change the tax calculator inputs. Failing to do so may result in an incorrect depiction of your taxes on the "2007 Calculations" and the "Tax Summary" web pages.

Family Status:

Use this button to choose your family type. Choose "single" if you are a single individual with no children. Choose "single parent" if you are not married but have children. Choose "married" if you are married or common law. Choose "single senior" if you are a single individual, 65 years or older. Choose "married senior" if you are married or common law and both you and your spouse or common law partner are 65 years or older.

The calculator does not directly allow for married or common law couples where one individual is over the age of 65 and the other is under the age of 65. However, providing both individuals in a family of this type pay provincial tax in 2007, you may use the calculator to approximate your family’s taxes. To do so, calculate the tax for the non-senior as a "single" and add to it the tax for the senior calculated using the "single senior" option. (Calculate the family's income tax as the sum of two single tax filers).

Children:

If you are a single parent or married, choose the appropriate number of children. If you are single or senior, please ensure that you set the number of children to none.

Salary and Wages or Income from Private Pension:

If you are either "single" or a "single parent" enter your wages in the primary earner column. If you are "married" enter the wage/salary income of the individual with the most income in the primary earner column and the other spouse's wage/salary income (including $0) in the secondary earner column.

If you are a "single senior", enter your RRSP and other private pension income in the primary earner column, but do not include your Old Age Security (OAS) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) income in this amount. If you are "married seniors" enter the individual with the most RRSP and other private pension income in the primary earner column, and the other spouse's RRSP and other private pension income in the secondary earner column. Do not include OAS or CPP income in either of these amounts.

CPP and OAS:

Only seniors should be placing a value in these columns. "Singles", "single parents", and "married families", please ensure that the amount entered in this column is $0 before proceeding to calculate your taxes. If you are a "single senior", enter your Old Age Security (OAS) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) income in the primary earner column, and ensure the amount entered in the secondary earner column is $0. If you are "married seniors" enter the appropriate OAS and CPP income amounts for each of the primary and secondary earners in the appropriate column (ensure the OAS and CPP amount entered in the primary earner column corresponds to that individual's RRSP and other private pension income).

RRSP/RPP Contributions:

Enter your or your spouse's Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Registered Pension Plan contributions in the appropriate column. "Singles" and "single parent families", please ensure that the amount entered in the secondary earner column is $0. "Seniors", please ensure the amount in both the primary and secondary earner column is $0.

This model is not able to confirm your claimed RRSP/RPP contribution limit is not exceeded. You must limit your RRSP/RPP contribution amounts to your maximum claimable amount.

Child Care Expenses:

If you are "married", and both you and your spouse work outside the home, or you are a "single parent", you may be entitled to claim a child-care expense amount. Please see Form T778, which can be found at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t778/README.html, to calculate your estimated maximum claimable amount.

Enter your maximum claimable amount. "Seniors" and "singles", please ensure this amount is $0.

This calculator assumes that child-care expenses are always given to the individual with the lower income once RPP/RRSP contributions have been deducted. The calculator automatically ensures that your child-care expense claim does not exceed 2/3 of the income amount entered for the lowest income earner but does not perform the basic limit test based on the age of your children, as described on Form T778 at the web address above. It is up to you to ensure the amount that you enter under child-care expenses does not exceed this basic limit for your family.

Medical Expenses:

Enter the amount of your family's medical expenses. The calculator automatically estimates how much of these expenses you are entitled to claim. The calculator always gives the medical expense claim to the individual with the highest net income.

Charitable Donations:

Enter the amount of charitable contributions your family makes. The calculator automatically calculates your charitable donation credit but assumes all of your family’s charitable donations are made by the individual in your family with the highest net income.

Printing Instructions

To print the results pages, which open in a separate window, follow these instructions:

• Right-click on the results page; from the menu that appears, click on "Print".
• The Print dialog box will appear.  Under "Print Range", choose "All", then "OK".
  
  OR:
• Right-click on the results page; from the menu that appears, click on "Select All".
• Right-click anywhere on the highlighted section of the page; then click on "Print".
• The Print dialog box will appear.  Under "Print Range", choose "Selection", then "OK".
  
  OR:
• Maximize the window (middle button on the top right of the window).
• On your keyboard, press the "Print Screen" button.
• Open your word processor (Word, WordPerfect), open a new document, and click on "Paste" or use Control-V on your keyboard.
• This should paste an image of the screen into the document.  You may have to do this more than once to get the entire results page (if the whole page doesn't fit on your screen).
• Print the documen

Messages you may see when using the Calculator:

The user may input data that the calculator cannot handle or that is against current tax laws. When this occurs, the user may get a pop-up message explaining the violation. Please, ensure that you fix the violation before proceeding to examine your tax savings. Some common examples of these messages you may receive are:

1. "Primary earner’s net income is less than the secondary earner’s. Interchanging information."
   This violation occurs when the net income (income after RRSP contributions have been deducted) entered in the secondary earner column exceeds the amount entered in the primary earner column. The calculator requires the net income of the primary earner to be greater than the net income of the secondary earner. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically interchange the primary and secondary earners’ income as well as the RRSP/RPP contributions, putting them in their correct positions.
   
   
2. "Family status of single (single parent, single senior) does not permit a secondary income. Setting to zero."
   The calculator assumes that there is only one income earner for the three family types in this message. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically set the income amount entered in the secondary earner column to $0.
   
   
3. "Only seniors may use the CPP/OAS entry. Entry set to $0."
   The calculator assumes that only seniors have OAS and CPP income. Clicking "OK" will automatically set the amount entered in the CPP/OAS fields to $0. The subsequent tax estimate will not include the tax applicable on the amount of CPP/OAS income that was originally entered.
   
   
4. "Family status of married seniors required to use secondary earner CPP/OAS entry. Entry set to zero."
   The model assumes that only seniors have CPP/OAS income and that there is only one earner for the single senior family type. As a result, this violation message occurs whenever the user enters a CPP/OAS value in the secondary earner column for a family type other than married seniors. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically set the appropriate entries to $0.
   
   
5. "Seniors may not have pension plan contributions in this model. Values will be zeroed."
   The calculator assumes that seniors do not make RRSP or RPP contributions. The violation occurs when the user tries to input an amount in this row when the family type is either senior or married seniors. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically set the appropriate entries to $0.
   
   
6. "A status of single (single senior, married seniors) with children claimed for tax purposes does not fit this calculation model."
   This model assumes that only single parents and married couples have children in this model. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically set the number of children to none.
   
   
7. "A claim of a child-care expense must be complemented with a indication of children."
   This violation occurs whenever the user tries to enter a child care expense claim, but has no children. To fix this violation click "OK" - the calculator will automatically set the appropriate child-care expense entry to $0.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

The tax calculator asks you to provide selected information about yourself based on common income sources, deductions and credits. This selected information is based on your prediction of your circumstances in 2007.

The tax calculator is intended to give you an estimate of your potential taxes at year-end, based on the limited information you provide and the assumptions set out on the tax calculator web site.

The tax calculator cannot give you an accurate or official assessment of your 2007 tax liability.

The calculator cannot duplicate the results obtained from using an actual income tax return containing the complete set of information that reflects your actual circumstances.

Calculations are done on the user’s own computer, and the information is not recorded or stored by the government. Albertans are still required to file their official income tax return.

BY USING THIS CALCULATOR, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE TAX CALCULATOR CANNOT GIVE YOU AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF YOUR 2007 LIABILITY, YOU AGREE TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS PRIOR TO USING THE CALCULATOR, AND YOU ACCEPT THE TERMS OF USE.