Tax stories bring real life relevance to your classroom. Use TaxDetective.ca Student Workbook, create up to 20 sample tax returns anonymously online, in the computer lab; save to edit later. Tax literacy is an essential skill we love to ignore but require for life.  The workbook is designed to introduce students to taxation with five case studies:

1. Simple employee
2. Self-employed student
3. Student moves away for school, and back for summer job, then back to school
4. Server with tips
5. First full time job with employment and benefits.

Instructions:

TurboTax® Online is a product of Intuit® Canada. TurboTax Online, is free to use as customers do not pay to input data, it's only necessary to pay at the end to file. With TurboTax Online, no software to install, sign in, use any computer. Save your work and come back to finish it later. 

To protect student's privacy, I show you how to use it anonymously. Follow my instructions for free, safe, redirecting email from the company to an unused email address, use fake names and SIN #. Each student can create as many as 20 sample case studies, saving their work to complete later at home or in the library.

1. Click to view the instructional video: found under the next heading below, Video Links: "How to register for TurboTax Online (11 minutes)"

2. Create a free GMail account for the class to use to ensure students privacy is maintained.

3. Click the  link open the 33 pageStudent WorkBook, 33 page PDF file found under the heading: Get Started

Get Started Student WorkBook: 33 page PDF Video Links How to register for TurboTax Online (11 minutes) Case #1 Video: Student works @ McDonald's (24 Min) Case #2 Video: Student, paper route (33 Min) Teacher Resources Teacher ToolKit Tax Summaries: first 3 cases Tax Summaries: other case studies Case 1 Student, works at McDonald's restaurant Guidelines for Employment Standards Act in BC EI premium rates and maximums CPP premium rates, minimums and maximums Income Tax Deduction at Source TD1 federal for 2011 TD1 (BC) RRSPs and related plans RRSP Excess Contributions Case 2 Student, self-employed paper route TD1 Forms to explain personal tax credits Employee or Self-employed? Self-employed information page How payroll works CPP/EI explained (plus not at arms length) Vehicle expense for employees or self-employed Worksafe BC Case 3 Server in pizza parlor Tips & Gratuities GST/HST Tips & Gratuities Report tips not included on T4 on Line 104 Elect to contribute to CPP on Tips with Form CPT2 Paying your income tax by instalments Case 4 Student, away at University of Toronto T1M's for Jonathan Students Students: Guides, forms and publications Common types of income for students Scholarships Moving expenses Case 5 Young Adult, first full time job Union Dues Medical expenses Private Health Service Plans  Includes travel health insurance, extended health benefits premiums and dental plan premiums Donations Tools TurboTax® software UFile® software Intuit Education Tools CANLII Tax Literacy home page Keeping Records Keeping Records Keeping Records in depth study CRA's letter campaign Privacy Security of taxpayer information Canada's Privacy Commissioner Canada's Privacy Legislation BC's Privacy Commissioner BC's Privacy Act FINTRAC CSIS

Note to Teachers: Contact your CGA Provincial Association Office to request a CGA to visit your classroom! Ask for a local CGA public practitioner to mentor you. CGAs volunteer to speak at schools and welcome these opportunities. If there's no room in your curricumlum for tax, and you're concerned about the e lack of tax education, start an after school or noon hour 'Tax Club' and ask for a CGA to mentor the club. 

Tax Literacy is a huge part of Financial Literacy. Finance Minister James Flaherty claims we have a financial literacy crisis in Canada but there is NO mention of tax education in the Harper Gov't recommendations released Nov 30 2011. 

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada educational program doesn't include anything about tax in their materials on financial literacy. FCAC informed me that they don't have any mandate to include tax, and that tax is solely CRA's mandate. CRA's mandate on the other hand seems to be focused on administering the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act. They do have a course online called Learning about Taxes, but I got tired of putting in my name and why I wanted to access the educator section long before I got anything valuable out of the product provided. Teacher feedback is that the materials are out of date and are for Ontario, which isn't helpful, so they end up re-working the material in order to make it useful to their students. Not much of a reference is it?

The BC Securities Commission financial learning team tells me they have included the basics about payroll, a T4 and a single T1 in their curriculum, but you have to be a teacher or a student and must register to get access to their materials. They are only working to the most basic IRP, mentioning a single paycheque, T4 and single, simple T1. They have interesting case studies, but don't carry those to completion by working through the tax cases.  

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