Monty Loree interviews Cleo Hamel HRBTaxTalk.ca - Part 1

http://www.canadian-money-advisor.ca Monty Loree interviews Cleo Hamel HRBTaxTalk.ca - Part 1

Monty: Hey folks this is Monty Loree here from Canadian Money Advisor. My goodness its tax time coming up again. Everybody loves tax time and I think millions of Canadians just actually cringe. Who actually ever wants to sit down at the kitchen table and do their taxes? I've got somebody here who I think can help us out. I've got Cleo from H&R Block. I found it interesting about H&R Block over 50 years ago brothers Henry and Richard Bloch founded the company known today as H&R Block. In 1964, H&R Block opened its first franchise operation in Canada. The next year, it opened its first company-owned operation. Today, H&R Block Canada prepares approximately $2 million returns annually, making it Canada's leading tax preparation firm. It's headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and the company serves the tax-paying public in more than 900 offices across the country. Again, I have Cleo here and Cleo's going to tell us all about it. How are you today Cleo?

Cleo Hamel: Really good, Monty. How are you?

Monty: Good. Thanks for visiting on our podcast today.

Cleo Hamel: No problem.

Monty: Well you must be under pressure these days because tax season is coming. You must be feeling a lot of questions.

Cleo Hamel: You know, this is that time of year where taxes start creeping into people's minds and the question is not so much, I'm in a hurry to get it done. It's more a matter of, I have to get it done. What do I need to know or what are the things that I need to get together? We're fielding a lot of questions and more on a research basis. People this year seem to be really interested in finding ways to save money on their taxes. I don't know if that's because they've had a bad year and lost jobs or had to take a part time job. Whatever that is, they're really looking to save some money. We actually did a survey and a lot of people in our survey said yes, we need to know more information before we do our taxes this year.

Monty: Okay. Is it a trend that because of the economy, the crash in 1998 or is it an aging population thing or just people losing their jobs?

Cleo Hamel: I think it's people are being a little more careful with their money, whether it's because they're earning less or they have to make it go further. There is something there. But people are realizing that if they can't make any more money at work, then they've got to find a way to keep more of their money in their pocket. Tax time is one of those times when you really feel like you're putting a lot of money out. So you need to find out what you can do. I know that you have tax withheld from your pay check every two weeks or bi-monthly or how often. So you already feel that little bit of a pinch happening then. But when you do your taxes at the end of the year and you have to pay more money, it just hurts that much more. We need to start finding ways not to have that happen.

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