Filing taxes in Canada is relatively simple compared to the USA. See the site for various options, but try to find ones not operated by American firms such as H&R Block and TurboTax.
From a cursory search, TaxTron, GenuTax, Better Tax appear Canadian. Many are Pay-What-You-Want model.
If you have a complex tax situation and/or can’t file online, and/or don’t want to do the paper return yourself, consider seeing an independent Canadian accountant.
Wealthsimple has tax filing services, and StudioTax is also Canadian.
To make my life simple might use one of these services this year as I figure out how the hell to do my taxes by paper. Absurd we don’t have a system from the government directly to do this.
I’ve been using Wealthsimple for taxes for 4 people for the last 3 years and it’s absolutely fantastic. Would recommend to anybody.
The fine print: up to 2 people can file for free, but they’ll ask for a “donation” when you get ready to netfile. If you have more than 2 people you need to purchase a plan ($40 for up to 8 returns).
Easy workaround: don’t have more than 2 people on a single Wealthsimple account and you can file for free again.
I do my parents’ taxes and it’s worth having everything organized under one account so I gladly pay for the plan.
The software I imagine the Government of Canada coming up with, would be like filling out the PDFs manually, but somehow worse.
I could not find their API documentation, so I imagine the current NETFILE might not be too far from that.
As someone who has filed via NETFILE a number of years, you fill it out by hand as much as you write Word docs by hand, or less. Tax software collects the information, you push a button, it asks for your CRA credentials, and sends the properly formatted file it prepares. I imagine that, even if you were writing a program to use this, there are two parts. The first is the file format and the second is the communications requirements.
The hardest part was connecting to CRA directly. If you have that worked out, great. If you want to avoid that pain, link it to your bank account and your bank authenticates you, and then it’s as complicated as logging into your online bank app/site.
Absurd we don’t have a system from the government directly to do this.
yeah, It seems the lobby is too strong here. A bunch of countries provide their own software with autofill included.
There has been some movement on this. There is a government file by phone option, restricted based on income and return complexity. It is being expanded onto computers, and a somewhat larger user pool. I’d like to see it be universal provided you match the complexity criteria.
I can vouch for GenuTax, https://www.genutax.ca/Home/About
Positives:
- it is like a wizard (next->next->finish) that asks and explains everything you need to answer on each page. It helps me a lot to keep up with the changes in the rules.
- runs on your computer, so your data is not going around being sold.
Negatives:
- Windows only (it seems it can run on emulators, but needs some tweaks).
- The Wizard might be a bit overwhelming at first as it will ask you everything. Before, I used SimpleTax(online), and it would have checkboxes for you to pick each form you want to fill before starting the filling.
SimpleTax used to encrypt your data they store (if you lose your password, you lose your data). They changed that, then they changed their terms so they can sell your data to partners. Simple tax is now Wealthsimple.
If you decide to use an online or mobile tool, make sure to check if you agree with their terms, and you are comfortable with their security measures.
Personally, this is not the kind of data that I would be comfortable sharing with unknown actors.
In Quebec I use Impôt Expert which was developed by the same company as TaxTron. There’s an english version of the tool called Ufile.ca
I used cloudtax this year. A basic return for a disabled person with dependants. Easy and quick. I’d use it again.
You can also file with just a phone call. There are a couple of restrictions so it’s on an invite basis still. I found out about it after I filed so I might give it a whirl next year; if I remember.
