How to (maybe) file your Canadian Tax Return online for free this year

In Canada, we have the option of filing our Income Tax Returns ourselves or having a tax preparation specialist do it for us. If we choose to file our taxes ourselves we have a few choices of how to do it: either by mail, over the internet (called Netfile) or by telephone. (called telefile) For the last few years I have been taking advantage of the telefile service which is free, while my wife has been using the netfile option which is not free to the majority of Canadians. Filing over the internet basically involves using third party software to prepare the return before you can file it with the Federal Government. So the Government doesn't charge you to do this but the needed preparation software doesn't come free. Depending on which software you buy it can set you back anywhere from $20 to $30 (Canadian), and if you choose to prepare it online instead of buying the actual software in store, it will still cost you at least $15 to $20 per person.

One thing to mention here is that filing online is free for anyone with a net income of $20,000 or less, which rules out a lot of people. This is a provision put in place by the Government to make sure that low income households can have access to this filing option but .like I said it still rules out a lot of people who are still not well off by any means but make more than $20k a year.

Now, there is a way around this - a loophole if you will - that leats many more people file for free.

To do this you need to qualify in the following ways:

1. You have to be using the Ufile online tax preparation software (ie use it on the internet because I dont know if the store bought version allows for this)

2. You have to be a student who will be claiming some student deductions for the past tax year (2008).

Here is how it works. You get a promo code and enter it in the special offer codes section of the tax return and make sure you are claiming some tuition fees and then the software should end up letting you submit your return for free even id your net income is over $20k for the year. Basically, you are supposed to be a member of the Canadian Federation of Students to use this but there is no way for them to check this if you satisfy the other requirements of tuition and entering the right code in the right spot. The code for the 2008 tax year is FAY1493

Here is the blurb for it straight from the Ufile site:

File online on time -- for free!

The Canadian Federation of Students and UFile.ca, Canada's online tax preparation Web site, have joined together to provide FREE online tax preparation and filing for all Canadian post-secondary students.

To be eligible for this special offer...

You must be a resident of Canada, have tuition fees and have attended school for at least one month during tax year 2008. You must also be designated as the FAMILY HEAD (the primary member of the family) for purposes of your tax file in UFile.

To take advantage of this offer...

• Log in to a new or existing UFile account for tax year 2008.
• Enter your tuition fees and months at school and click NEXT
• Locate the "Special offer" form in UFile's QuikClik Navigator. (You may need to scroll down the screen.)
• Enter the following Canadian Federation of Students "Free for Students" special offer code:

• Click NEXT.

Enter the rest of your tax information and then you can print or NETFILE your return whenever you are ready -- free of charge!

To see this for yourself just visit: http://www.ufile.ca/home/cfs.asp and follow the instructions.

My wife who is a member of the Federation of students was able to use this promo code to file here taxes for free this year and I realized while helping her with her taxes that there is really no way that this stipulation is being enforced so ... I'll let you decide if you want to save some money online at tax time this year.

Site Build It and Newbies = Me feeling kinda sad...

Hey,

I kind of feel like a hypocrite, since here I was proclaiming that I would maybe revive this here abandoned blog and turn the focus away from online marketing to more of a focus on small and easy ways to save your self some money online.

So I go and make this decision public and what is the next thing that I do? I decide to comment here about a recent post I came across by an acquaintance by the name of Lissie; now Lissie has a blog about how to earn passive income online and I have to admit that I dont frequent it as often as I should (my bad) but this time I was tipped off to a post that she had recently put together concerning an IM package called Site Build It, (Site Build It Scam Review)that basically gives you the tools to build a website, host it and help promote it. All of this for around $300 per year. Now my natural inclination is to always do things on the cheap as much as possible because I am not a wealthy man and the idea of signing on to a commitment like that would therefore never appeal to me. I had barely even heard of SBI before, so Lissie's post was interesting to me - especially because I read it after she had added a few updates to it.The short of it is this: SBI as a program does offer you a website and hosting and support to help you market your single site, but that all comes at a cost of around $300 like I said. I just can't help but feel a bit sad, knowing that there are a large number of people out there new to internet marketing that would see advertising for SBI early on in their entry into IM and figure that that is as erasy and painless as it is going to get for them; I cant help but wonder if there are too many people out there willing to throw away their last $300 to spare hoping and praying that this is going to work for them when really what would work for them is just sifting through some of the garbage that is clearly out there in the IM or 'make money online' field to instead learn from some of the real gems in the business - and by gems, I mean those who would rather teach you to fish than just keep selling you the fish each year, year after year. It also doesn't help an organization's rep when their members continuously spit venom at the poster in the comments section for offering up her opinion; if it is such a great thing then surely it should speak for itself and the members should not feel the compulsion to attack so ferociously. Admittedly, some offered reasoned rebuttals to Lissie, but too many were just there on the warpath which had me wondering about what were they defending other than their affiliate sales?

I have come to learn that anything that you need to do to be successful online can be done for a lot less than $300 per site. Heck, for less than a third of that you could probably have a number of sites up and running and self hosted and properly marketed by following free advice that is out there. Seriously, you don't need to be putting that kind of money up when you are still getting your feet wet!

You can ask me if I have made lots and lots of money online to date and I would honestly answer you: no, I have not. But - and this is a bigee: I have definitely made more than I have spent so far, and I know what needs to be done - even if too often I have just been a wee bit lazy in the doing. What's that saying? The mind is willing but the flesh is weak...

Next time I will get back to my original intent, and share some tips about how to save money online - or to be more precise, how to save some money on filing fees if you have chosen to file your taxes online.

Consider using crock pot replacement parts to lengthen the life of that slow cooker in your kitchen

I had the idea of discussing Rival Crock Pot parts kicking around in my head for awhile now with this blog and something I recently experienced pushed me to finally do so; Everybody and their Cousin know about slow cookers in general and Rival Crock Pot slow cookers in particular. Indeed, the rival brand of slow cooker, their crock pot, is likely the most widly used brand of slow cooker out there. Everbody knows how slow cookers can free up many hours that would otherwise have been spent slaving away in the kitchen and instead can be spent doing something - anything else that you may wish to spend that new found time doing.

Okay, we are all on the same page when it comes to the idea of crock pot slow cookers - or any other brand of slow cooker for that matter, but I don't believe that we all share the same level of awareness when it comes to the subject of maintaining your trusted slow cooker appliance. A slow cooker is like most other kitchen appliances in that if you maintain it properly, you can expect it to have a long and useful life in your home's kitchen. Of course in the case of crock pot slow cookers, this means that over time you might end up needing to replace one or more parts of the crock; whether it is the crock pot lid, the knob on the lid, a handle on the outside of the crock pot, or even the stoneware crock pot liner, there are a number of areas that might need replacing and that without too much trouble can often be replaced by the purchase of a new part. To some, the idea that you can replace these parts of the crock pot when necessary is a relatively obvious one, but to many others that idea just doesn't occur to them. Unfortunately this means that many times an appliance such as a crock pot is simply discarded when it could easily be maintained. Here is an example: the other day I was taking the garbage down to the dumpster at the back of our building; when I got there I noticed that someone had left a well used crock pot sitting next to the bin with a sign attached to the top of it that read:

"Free crockpot that still works - help yourself. Handle on the lid is missing."

I didn't take it because i already have aslow cooker, but I thought that somebody would probably grab it since it looked like it was still in decent shape despite missing the handle on the lid. I thought that it was actually too bad that it had not been left at a charity shop instead of at the back of our building but I didn't think much more on it - after all, people give up and give away things all of the time. It was later that day when I went down to the dumpster for a second time with another bag of garbage and looked in the dumpster that I saw it: someone had taken the crock pot and thrown it in the dumpster as if it were garbage.

This really bothered me as I thought about it on my way back upstairs; I realized that people had given up on that appliance twice just because it needed a simple part replacement! A simple handle for the lid and it would have been nearly as good as new. I went back down and rescued it from the trash, wiped it off and took it down to my nearest charity shop the next time I was passing by. I guess the message that I am trying to get across here is that sometimes, in this consumer society, people are just too quick to discard what they have got for something new and shiny when maybe they shouldn't. It might take abit more effort to track down an appropriate replacement part for an appliance but it is almost always going to be the cheaper alternative and in the long run it is probably going to save you money.

If you don't know where to look to find replacement parts for your crock pot then let me give you some suggestions. One place to look is on the crock pot home page (crockpot.com); this site has a variety of rival crockpot replacement parts available for order. As well, a simple search on Google or Yahoo will yield up a long list of retailers offering replacement parts for many different models of crock pot slow cookers. Other online alternatives are to search on ebay or amazon or any relevant forum for someone offering a used crock pot for sale cheap. You can also consider posting in the relevant forums that you are looking for a cheap used crock pot to use for parts.

If the traditional brick and mortar storefront is more your cup of tea then you can always try an appliance parts store. Other options are to consider actually buying a whole new crock pot for parts if you are lucky enough to find one for cheap at an auctioneers or overstock retail location. Sometimes you can find a whole one for almost the same price as a replacement part and it will give you asource of replacement parts for the future if they should be needed. Of course don't forget your local charity or used goods store, you might find a used appliance that is mising a different part from the one you are seeking which is good news for you.

Same name, new goal - to save you money online!

I'm just going to come right out and say it: whether it was my intention or not, I have pretty much abandoned this blog. I started this blog just over a year ago and after a few months of enthusiastic posting I pretty much lost interest in it - or to be more precise, I lost interest in publicly discussing the subject of this blog. Really, if you are at all serious about learning how to make money online, then i would just suggest you check out a very informative (read useful) website created by a fellow who goes by the name of grizzly. Seriously, his site will impress you with its matter of fact approach to making money. With the likes of Grizz and so many others out there blogging on the subject, I just didn't feel like swimming in those crowded waters - my amateur voice wasn't needed.

However, I thought about it and decided that instead of just giving up on this blog and starting over I would instead make use of it and give it another shot. But if I lost interest in the subject matter then why would I use this blog anymore? What has changed this time around is the nature of the online opportunities that I want to discuss; instead of looking at strictly money-making and marketing issues, I instead want to discuss online opportunities of another kind. I want to look at things that I have come across in the last while that might help someone else to save money on the web. Things that come to mind are such things as how to save money while booking travel online, how to make your kitchen appliances such as your trusty (Rival crock pot) last longer with the timely use of replacement parts (Rival crock pot parts in the case of the crock), and things like that.

I might not post frequently (its just not usually in my nature) but I will try to post regularly. Well, at least we will see...