With the tax season upon us the Students’ Association is here to help students make their returns a little less taxing.
It’s been popular in the past: Over 200 students from all three Algonquin campuses take advantage of this service during a typical tax season.
The SA has been offering aid with taxes since 1987. Students began to approach it for advice, this grew into an annual service offered by the accounting staff.
“Our main focus are students and the alumni if they wish to come back,” said Yessica Hondermann, an accountant for the SA.
Hondermann said many alumni who enjoyed the service return year after year but the majority of clients are current students.
Stafford Rollocks, the controller for the SA said that the most common misunderstanding when filing taxes is the size of students’ returns. Many students have either part-time jobs or do not work so they will not be eligible for as large of a return as they would hope.
It is also a common misconception that the amount of tuition paid does not entitle students to a sizeable return.
However, students from the other side of the river are out of luck.
“As for Quebec returns, you need totally different software and unless you do them often, it can be really challenging,” said Rollocks.
Accounting staff decline tax services to students residing in Quebec because a typical appointment only lasts 30 minutes and interprovincial taxes can be too complex and take more time than that allows.
For similar reasons, tax services for businesses and the self-employed are also declined.
Although the SA does not advertise this service off campus, they would still process requests from people outside of the Algonquin community.
Upon scheduling their appointments students are given a form listing the required information to file their taxes properly.
Appointments began on Feb. 21 and are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Students pay $35 while non-students, including staff and alumni must pay $65 for the service.