Yesterday I was digging around to find specific answers to questions about Canadian taxes, specifically about cross-border tax issues and business deductions. Still, I wanted to get a good overall grasp of Canada's tax system. So here's what I found.

Canadian Taxes: The Basics covers, as you can imagine, the essential tidbits for filing a Canadian return, such as deadlines, where to find tax forms, and various filing options.

The tax return can be filed on paper tax forms or electronically using software. Here's tips on where to find an income tax package, and quick review of the top five Canadian tax software programs. The Canadian system requires the use of a security code found on your T1 slips to be eligible for the NETFILE service.

Canada also allows various deductions against the income tax, such as for charity and retirement savings. Charitable donations are allowed "up to 75 percent of your net income." And tax-deductible contributions of up to $19,000 can be made to Registered Retirement Savings Plan.

There's also tax credits to consider as well. One new credit is the Children's Fitness Credit for enrolling kids under age 16 in a physical fitness program.

The Canadian Revenue Agency has online services available for taxpayers. Canadians can check the status of their refund, and obtain information about their retirement contribution limits, check their account balances, update their address, set up a payment plan, or disagree with a tax assessment using the CRA's my account service.