Many people are new to the North each year and so the exemptions are also new.

We've seen "duplication of residency" claims, he said.

The Northern residents deduction has two parts -- basic and additional. Each is $7.50 per day. Both can be claimed.

One scenario where the error occurs is when both spouses claim the basic deduction and one spouse claims the additional.

"It is still an issue but we see a declining (number of forms with the mistake)," Anderson said.

If you have lived anywhere in the NWT continuously for at least six months, beginning or ending in 1997, you are eligible for a Northern resident deduction.

If you moved North late in 1997, you can file an amendment after filing your tax return.

"If you say you are a Northern resident, we may ask you to verify your residency," Ron Quinn, communications manager with Revenue Canada's Edmonton office, said.

"Dave (Anderson) has implemented changes. Provided everything is status quo, we don't need to ask for verification."

Quinn also said there is a difference between a verification and an audit.

Verifications are for one line on the tax return while a audit it is much more substantial.

If you are to be audited, you will get a letter 30 days ahead and be required to produce books and records.

On the travel deduction, "what we're seeing is if the employer pays a travel benefit of, say $5,000, the employee believes they can deduct $5,000," Anderson said.

Travel deductions can be claimed by each member of a household to a maximum of two trips.

The maximum travel amount is the lowest of the following:

*the travel benefits you received from your employer for each trip.

*The total travel expenses for the trip.

*The cost of the lowest full-economy return airfare available at the time of the trip between the airport closest to your residence and the nearest designated city (Edmonton).

There is no limit to the number of trips you can claim for medical purposes.

The Winnipeg Revenue Canada office is responsible for NWT and the three prairie province income tax returns. That means processing about 3.6 million individual returns plus around 200,000 business returns. Of the individual returns just over one million are electronically filed.

This year, Revenue Canada is initiating filing by telephone. About a million Canadians across the prairies and the North will be invited to file their income tax return by punching numbers on their touch-tone phones.

Also new this year, a box giving Revenue Canada permission to release information to Elections Canada.