Majority of Canadians to reinvest tax refund: survey

TORONTO – April 30 is the deadline for Canadians to file their taxes, and it seems many have already decided what they’re going to do with their refund.

Of the Canadians who expect to get a tax refund this year, 62 per cent said they will deposit or invest the money, according to a Scotiabank survey.

Twenty per cent of those surveyed said they would use their refund to pay off debt compared to 34 per cent in 2012.

More Canadians said they would use their refund to contribute to their RRSP, with 4 per cent more saying they would invest compared to 2012.

“Canadians are continuing the trend of using their tax refund effectively by building their savings or paying off debt,” said Mike Henry, senior vice president of retail payments, deposits and lending at Scotiabank.

Read more: What should I do with my tax return?

A BMO Nesbitt Burns survey conducted in March found that just 10 per cent of Canadians plan to spend their refund on travel or luxury goods. More than half of those surveyed said they plan to use their refund to pay down their debt or invest.

The survey results showed that Canadians are getting away from the mindset that their tax refund is a sort of windfall, said John Waters, vice president and head of tax and estate planning at BMO Nesbitt Burns Wealth Planning Group.

“I think what we’re trying to get into people’s minds is this is really your money that the government has had and now they’re giving it back to you,” Waters said.

“It’s refreshing to see that people are generally putting it toward investing or paying off the debt.”

The Scotiabank survey was conducted by Harris/Decima. A total of 1,001 surveys were collected April 4-7, 2013. It has a margin of error of +/-2.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

The BMO survey was conducted by market research firm Pollara between March 15-19, 2013, with a sample of 1,002 Canadians.

With files from the Canadian Press