The results are in! For almost 3 weeks in April 2019, HighInterestSavings.ca ran an online survey of how 201 people file their personal income taxes in Canada.
Have you filed your taxes yet?
15% of respondents wait until the last week in April to file their taxes. 1.5% file in February, while another 1.5% file in May or June. Naturally, the bulk of people file in March (36%) or April (61%). You are average if you file on April 4, whereas the median is roughly the same on April 5.
Who files your taxes?
81% of respondents do their taxes themselves, and of that number, 68% of them believe their tax return is “simple”. 14% of respondents use a tax professional, and of them, 41% rate their tax return as “simple” while the other 59% rate their tax return as “complex”. If you have a family member who does your taxes for free, count yourself as the lucky 4%, or feel guilty that you’re not the 1/201 respondents who said they pay a family member.
How much do you pay to do your taxes?
48% of respondents pay nothing at all, either to someone else or for software. People who pay someone else average $275, although this drops to just under $100 for a self-rated “simple” return. If people pay for software, including donations, the average cost is $26.50.
Software: the Big 4
For those who do their own taxes, 8% of people either eschew software altogether or use only spreadsheets. For the 92% of people who do use software, the vast majority of them (92% of the 92%) use one of StudioTax, TurboTax, SimpleTax, or UFile. The full breakdown of software from our survey is as follows:
- StudioTax: 27.7%
- TurboTax: 25.2%
- SimpleTax: 20.6%
- UFile: 18.1%
- GenuTax: 2.6%
- H&R Block: 1.9%
- FutureTax: 0.6%
- myTaxExpress: 0.6%
- ImpôtExpert: 0.6%
- TaxFreeway: 0.6%
- ProFile: 0.6%
- TaxTron: 0.6%
What are some key features in personal income tax return software? 57% of respondents mentioned that ease of use is important, and to 44% of respondents, free or low cost is important. 15% say they use a given piece of software simply of habit, 5% mention NETFILE as a reason for their choice, and 4% cite security as a key feature.
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