Individual taxpayers have until this Friday, April 30, to file their 2009 income tax returns, and they are being encouraged to make use of the direct deposit option when doing so.
The appeal was made by Senior Tax Inspector, Neville Clarke, who stressed that it was important for persons who preferred a direct deposit not only to indicate the account number, but also, to select the correct bank or credit union.??
"It is very easy to make mistakes when you have boxes to check. You must indicate cheque or direct deposit and if selecting the latter, indicate the bank/credit union and the account number.??
??"The problem that we had last year, was that some persons put in the correct account number, but selected the wrong bank or credit union. Those funds were returned to us and then we had to refund those persons by cheque," he explained.
The Senior Tax Inspector pointed out that it was advantageous for the taxpayer to use the direct deposit option, because it facilitated "the seamless and timely processing of tax returns", as the need to print notices of assessment and cheques was negated.??
"Once the funds have been released by the Treasury, we simply notify the bank or credit union and they put the money on the account. With the cheques, we have to go through the whole manual process of sending them out and that takes time," Mr. Clarke observed.