Financial Data and Charitable Donations, Preliminary T1 Family File

Financial Data and Charitable Donations, Preliminary T1 Family File
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Detailed information for 2001

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

4106

This activity is conducted for the development and dissemination of annual small area economic data for Canadians.

Data release - November 15, 2002

Description

This activity is conducted for the development and dissemination of annual small area economic data for Canadians. The data, collected from income tax returns submitted to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), provide financial information (RRSP Contributions, RRSP Room, Savings and Investment Income) and the amount of charitable donations reported on the tax file. The data are available for Canada, the provinces and territories and sub-provincial geographic areas (postal areas and selected Census areas). Data are used by financial institutions and charitable organizations to evaluate contributions and support marketing decisions. Academics and researchers use the data for analyses of economic conditions.

Reference period: Calendar year "y" for income and contributions, end of calendar year "y" for age, point in time (usually April of calendar year "y+1") for address information.

Collection period: Income tax returns are filed mainly in the spring following the year of reference. The preliminary T1 file for income year "y" is received from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in September or October of the year "y+1".

Subjects

  • Household, family and personal income
  • Household spending and savings
  • Income, pensions, spending and wealth
  • Pension plans and funds and other retirement income programs

Data sources and methodology

Target population

These data cover all persons who completed a T1 tax return for the year of reference by the date the file was copied for Statistics Canada. This is a preliminary version of the T1 file and therefore the file is missing a certain amount of late tax filers.

Data sources

Data are extracted from administrative files.

The data are derived from income tax returns for the year in question, filed for the most part in the spring of the following year.

The data are direct counts from preliminary tax files. All records are used to compile the Financial and Charitable donations databanks.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Data accuracy

In 2001, 21,886,860 Canadians (70%) filed tax returns. In the past, some Canadians with little or no income did not file. However, with the introduction of the Federal Sales Tax Credit in 1986, the Goods and Services Tax Credit in 1990 and the Canada Child Tax Benefit in 1993, the percentage of the population filing tax returns has increased.

Documentation

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