Canadians are headed in the right direction when it comes to using their tax refund, according to a recent Bank of Nova Scotia survey conducted by Harris/Decima.
Almost half of Canadians plan to use their 2011 tax refund to either deposit or reinvest (23%) or pay off debt (22%), while another 25% do not expect a tax refund this year.
“This is similar to what we saw last year, with Canadians looking at building their savings or paying off debt as the top two options as they receive their tax refund,” says Mike Henry, senior vice president of retail payments, deposits and lending, Scotiabank.
At the same time, just under half of Canadians (46%) report having a financial advisor.
“We’d like to see more Canadians getting advice on how to make the most of their money,” says Henry.
According to the survey, Canadians living in Ontario are the most likely to deposit their tax refund in the bank (18%).
Canadians with a household income of $100,000+ are most likely (33%) to deposit or re-invest their income tax refund
The data was gathered between April 4 through 9, through Harris/Decima’s weekly national omnibus survey. Results are based on a sample of 1,005 Canadians, and the corresponding margin of error is ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20.