The HRTC was unquestionably the most talked-about item from the 2009 federal budget. By the CRA's count, 3.5 million Canadians inquired about the program last year. Spend $1,000 to $10,000 on qualifying home renovation expenses from Jan. 27, 2009, to Feb. 1, 2010, and you get to reap up to $1,350 courtesy of this measure. Hope you kept all those receipts.

First-time homebuyers' tax credit

Another measure from the 2009 budget. If you acquired your first home after Jan. 27, 2009, you could be in line for the first-time homebuyer's tax credit, worth $750. "First-time" means that you'll qualify only if you and your spouse or partner did not own a home in any of the four preceding years. Claim this on line 369 of Schedule 1.

Tax-free savings accounts

TFSAs were first unveiled in the 2008 federal budget, but you couldn't set one up until 2009. They've proven to be enormously popular. Millions of Canadians set up a TFSA last year, and some surveys suggested that as many as a third of adults ended up joining the "Tiff-sa" club. If you missed out last year, the good news is that you can stuff up to $10,000 into one this year ($5,000 from last year and another $5,000 in 2010).

Final return

Let's assume you're filing the final tax return of someone who died. Let's also assume that the value of their RRSP or RRIF declined between the date they died and when the money was finally released in 2009. If so, a deduction can now be claimed on the final return for that drop in value.