Dale Jackson

Personal Finance Columnist, Payback Time

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ANALYSIS: If you think your employer, your bank and your government are talking about you behind your back – you’re not far off.

Starting this tax-filing year, the Canada Revenue Agency is offering a feature called Auto-fill that prompts the taxman to fill in the necessary forms on your behalf. In the old days we were required to either include the forms with our tax returns when we mailed them in, or hang on to them as proof if we filed online.

Over the past few years, employers and banks have become very efficient at sending pertinent information directly to the CRA.

Auto-fill works with most certified tax software. All you need to do now is go into your online CRA account and click away.

Auto-fill provides many forms including:

T4: The form from your employer that lists such things as income, tax deducted, Canada Pension Plan payments, Employment Insurance payments and company pension contributions.

T4A: A series of forms relating to income in the form of pension payments, annuities and government benefits.

T5: Investment income such as dividend payouts outside of a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or tax-free savings account (TFSA).

RRSP contribution receipts: Any RRSP contributions you made through a third party during the year.