2016 taxes and related software | Income tax filing | Discussion forum

+1 I used Studio Tax for some years and liked it a lot. There is also TaxFreeWay.
If you are comfortable/knowledgeable with your own taxes or have a relatively simple T4 based situation, it is great.

I had to stop doing my own taxes due to their complexity (we have a holdco). But I did my own taxes from age 18 to 42. For the first 12 or so years with the paper returns... do they even exist anymore ?

Over the years, we've migrated from QuickTax (now TurboTax), TaxWiz (acquired by Intuit, makers of TurboTax, and renamed TurboTax Basic with functionality removed) that was actually my favourite tax software, Ufile, StudioTax and now SimpleTax. We migrated as the companies consistently refused to offer pricing at the $19.99 price point for at least eight (8) returns for all personal income tax situations (and unlimited for low income tax situations) so, as prices were raised, we migrated to the next one. Ufile remains at $19.99 but they've been increasing the price "by stealth," in that what was once 8 free returns included is now 4 (though sometimes they offer a bonus two (2) free returns). A couple years ago, I thought, "screw it, I'm trying out H&R Block Tax Software, which is free," but didn't bother making a donation for it as I never filed with it as it was clunky/had errors. It may be better now, I'm not sure. We ended up using GenuTax Standard and made a $20 donation, which is nicer than StudioTax but a bit clunky. 🙂

We've now made the switch to SimpleTax. Online, easy-to-use web-based and intuitive interface and has an interview process. It's free but a donation is recommended so we donate $20 per year. Highly recommend it and it will save your tax returns online if you wish! Only downside, really, is the printed PDF of your tax return is "plain vanilla" CRA forms plus a SimpleTax cover page - no custom informational pages like some others. 🙂

Why CRA doesn't give us a non-refundable tax credit for personal tax software, which would amount to only a $3.00 cost to the public treasury, assuming 15% non-refundable tax credit rate on a $20 cost, I don't know. Seems silly as we're actually saving them time and money! 🙂

Or, better yet, do what Norway does and have the CRA automatically prepare our income tax return and tell us what we owe/get back!

Cheers,
Doug

AltaRed said
Really can't have CRA do our tax returns. There are too many unknowns that only the taxpayer can know, e.g. foreign domiciled income such as sale of a snowbird property, US domciled bank and brokerage accounts, etc, etc. There would have to be a wholesale change in the tax code AND things like the US/Cdn tax treaty for that to work, investment property income and expenses, etc. Just not a viable option.

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I agree.

There isn't always just one possible return that one can file. CRA may be able to automatically file some allowable return. But, it may not be the best one for the taxpayer.

I may have a year with a net capital loss. CRA wouldn't know what would be better for me. I could carry the loss forward to a future year when I have a net capital gain and am in a higher tax bracket. I could also carry the loss back and apply it against capital gains in previous three years.

Same with RRSP contributions. CRA knows how much I've made in contributions. But, CRA won't know if it would be better for me to claim the full RRSP contribution deduction now or claim some of it now and claim the rest in future years.

Here's a link to CRA's page re certified programs for netfile purposes, including the free ones - note it indicates it's for 2016 though the details show only up to 2015.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/netfi.....esoftware/

JenE said
I haven't done my own tax return in years but would like to save the $175 that our accountant charges for our two returns. Can anyone recommend software that is simple and straightforward to use. I see that Studio Tax is offered free. I did try using ufile a couple of years ago but found it confusing. Any comments?  

SimpleTax for the win - hands down. And, to help them grow, I always donate except we make one donation as a family, not per tax return in the household. It was a bit unusual to switch from desktop-based software to online-based ones but I definitely like it the best and they can store your previous year's tax return (if you wish). We typically donate what we would've paid for the cheapest (or average, really) of the "paid" desktop-based tax software packages, about $20 CAD for the household but what I like is they don't limit you to "number of returns" like Ufile or TurboTax.

Haven't really used StudioTax but found it somewhat "buggy," not major bugs mind you but just didn't like the interface. For "desktop"-based packages, I've used GenuTax one year and it's "not bad" so would rank it #3.

In the "runner up"/#2 spot, I'd go with TurboTax Free, basically TurboTax Free Forms - they still check your return for errors but have a slick online or software-based UI that lets you easily add tax forms and you really don't even need the interview. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug

CRA services back up online again, as of tonight.