Hiding Tips from Tax Man

Shocking! Absolutely shocking!

(Ottawa, Canada) Waiters, waitresses, bartenders, and others who receive tip income are not claiming the full amount on their Canadian tax returns. They say that they are advised not to.

From TheStar.com:

Those who said they sought guidance from a tax professional suggested "accountants or other taxation professionals often advised them to underestimate the amount of tips they earned, referred to as 'doing the minimum,'" says the $35,000 report, delivered to the Canada Revenue Agency in May.

This is appalling. So what if those waiters, waitresses, bartenders, and others are working sweaty-long hours to eke out a respectable living and must rely on the occasional gratuity to get by. The gluey palms of government must be filled. Therefore, all tip income should be declared.

For the sake of full disclosure, I have experience working in jobs where I received tips and, for the life of me, I was never able to keep very good track of the total, running amount. When it came time to declare the income, I just had to guess estimate. You can trust that I made full-faith guesses estimates.