I’m playing around with the 2023 T1 in Taxcycle and see that there is now a question on the very bottom of the T1 Info page asking if the client is required to file a UHT return.
Is it a CRA requirement that we now answer that question on each T1? Or did Taxcycle put it there to be helpful and remind us to fill in the UHT if we determine it’s necessary.
I had absolved myself completely from UHT due to the ambiguity and told my clients I would not be advising them on it’s applicability to their situation. Am I now forced to?
If it doesn’t print the answer on the jacket or one of the official schedules probably not. I suspect this is TaxCycle being helpful in having a field to flag for UHT that can be sorted for in Client Manager. Although if they wanted to be really helpful they’d put in an info note with details on the latest and greatest decision trees for how to decide if they need them or not. Some additional checkboxes would be helpful so that we could for instance check - yes cnd citizen/perm res, yes - owns property, no - held in partnership so that we could remember from one year to the next why we decided they did or didn’t have to file the form. If they for instance had no cnd citizen/perm res, no owned property so didn’t have to file the UHT form there could be a diagnostic note to flag to ask if they still have no property the following year. A diagnostic to make sure yes or no is ticked rather than defaulting to no to prod the tax preparer to consider this issue would be very helpful.
I also have chosen not to file UHT for clients… i doubt any of my clients would owe tax… but some may be required to file the form. Being a one person office…the amount of time required is not worth it to me for the amount I could realistically charge.
I do hope we are not required to do this as part of normal tax filing.
@laurie is correct. We added this field in T1, T2, T3 and T5013 as a way to flow information up to Client Manager so you can filter your files to find clients where a UHT filing is applicable. We do not transmit this field to CRA.
It will also conditionally trigger a paragraph in the client letter if YES.
You can add custom fields to track this information if you want. I did last year. If you make them both required and carryforward a review note will appear if the questions aren’t answered and the answers will carry forward from year to year.
The custom fields are a really powerful part of the program and I wish they’d spend more on teaching us some uses for them in the annual webinars!
