Paper Angels

When I explain to people that I'm writing this book about how to organize your paper, each person I tell, in turn tells me about how there is someone they are close to who is struggling with the process of doing exactly that, taking over the financial affairs or becoming concerned about the financial affairs of a senior who is close to them.

It may be mom and dad who are just not as competent as they once were, or it could be the spouse who cared about the finances in the couple has developed early onset dementia, or it's the widow struggling to take on the finances after a lifetime of being looked after in that way.

My municipality, Delta, BC has a program called "Snow Angels" where seniors can call in if they need their snow shovelled if there's a storm. An army of volunteers signed up to help, but reports from the recent snow fall were that seniors who had signed up almost all called in to say that someone was caring for their needs and the didn't require assistance.  The volunteers weren't needed this time around.

I wonder if you created a program for seniors to help them to organize their paperwork, hence the "Paper Angels" to assist in the process of downsizing, would volunteers be met with the same resistance to assistance? Probably. Most seniors, until they can't do it for themselves, are likely to resist any efforts to assist them with their paper.  They've after all handled it this far, no need to rock the boat.

But if you are one of the 'watch crew' monitoring how a senior is doing, one of the leading indicators may be that their tax return filing isn't being completed correctly.  And these days, CRA is more likely to catch that than it ever was before as their programs to cross check the TSlips to the income reported are much more vigilant than they used to be.  The Auditor General in Canada brought to the CRA's attention that there wasn't enough cross checking, especially on slips like T3's.  That's probably been rectified by now, and combine that with some pretty stiff penalties for not reporting your income, and the senior in your life may get a notice that their bank is being garnisheed for some pretty substantial coin, and not just for tax not paid, but based on 20% of income not reported.

Why would they care if income wasn't reported, even if there is no tax owing? Because both federal and provincial social benefit programs, for example OAS, GIS, Pharmacare, Medical Services Plan, all have substantial programs to assist low income seniors and the threshold is based on the calculation of net income.

Where would you start?  Click here to see what the forms look like!

I'm writing a story to show how it's possible. It's in re-write mode at the moment, so you'll have to wait. If you need to get started right now, some tools to assist you to organize the paper. I sell a starter kit of 24 checklists in Word Fillable Format, for $3.95 plus tax. You can enter information into the Word form, save it, then call it up later to add or edit the file. Create multiple files for you, your parents, your kids..

If you're in your 50's and have aging parents, or you're one of the aging parents, and you can use Word and know how to save a Word document, it's easy.  If you aren't, you could print out the forms, and complete them by hand.
In either case, you'll need a banker's box, preferably one with a lid attached, or a plastic tub that holds legal size folders, plus a package of legal size folders to get started.

Complete the fillable forms, and while you're at it, start dredging up the paper to put it into the folders in the same order.  By the time you're finished, you should have no paper left in all those nooks, crannies, drawers, cupboards and closets.  There should be a pile of shredding, consisting of empty envelopes that every senior I've ever met seems to hoard.  Lord knows why you would keep the envelopes for your bank statement instead of stapling everything together for the month and keeping it in a pile, flat, so you can sort through it easily to find something is quite beyond me. Included in that pile of shredding will likely be grocery lists, letters you don't want found when you die, hydro and telephone bills for many years prior, articles you thought you would respond to...and I could go on.

Why would you want to see those bank statements again?  Several really great reasons.  First, you want to check that all of your income has been reported,and the fastest way to ensure it's been captured is to make a list of your deposits during the year, documenting any deposits that aren't income as to the reason for the receipt.  You'll need them if you're ever audited, or if you die, it will give your executor assurance that returns were filed correctly, so it's a great idea to keep them with your paperwork.

The second, is to check for medical expenses, as even if you don't have taxable income, if you do have some income from working, there is a significant, as in over $1,000 Refundable Medical Expense Supplement to claim per person for claiming medical expenses if you are a low income earner.  Even if you don't pay tax, you should always keep your medical receipts, because in the year you die, you can claim back 24 months prior for medical expenses on your final return.

Be your own Paper Angel first, then start to help others if and when they ask for your assistance.  Making the transition to old age, and not being able to care for your own financial transactions can be easier if you've got systems in place.