In previous years, Canadian readers may have completed their taxes with QuickTax or Ufile. Both of these are great programs and I plan to look at them in more detail later this month. However, there are a couple of free programs for preparing your taxes that I wanted to quickly share with you. While this tax software may not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger titles, they work as expected, especially for those with uncomplicated returns.
StudioTax
I used StudioTax for the 2008 tax year and was happy with it. StudioTax has a great wizard that will get you through most of the forms. You then have the option to add any specific forms you require and fill then out one field at a time.
Udotaxes
I haven’t tried Udotaxes yet, I believe it might be the first year it’s been out. I have installed it and looked around and it’s very polished for a free program.
Once I have all the forms for my personal taxes, I’ll try these programs out an provide a more detailed review. In the meantime, for those of you that are lucky enough to have your necessary documents, why not save some money and try out these free tax preparation programs?
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I’m not doing my own taxes this year, but I will be next year and I’m already looking around for some ideas. I’m looking forward to your other software reviews!
2 Cents @ Balance Junkie´s last blog ..Taxes: The Missing Step
Will be trying out StudioTax this year. Thanks for the tip.
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Nice thread. For the last couple of years I’ve been getting a copy of the Tax Planning guide issued by CA (chartered accountants) and I find it useful.
The Tax Planning Guide- That’s $15 or something right? Maybe I should get my hands on one too. Why not read what CA’s read? =)
UFile is Free too if you earn less than $20,000 a year or if you are a student. (I haven’t tried it personally)
I have heard that Studio Tax is really popular and it’s free (no keys to punch in etc.)
With QuickTax and H&RBlock they have really basic tax filing online that is free, and if you need to ‘upgrade’ then you can pay. I think for both you can’t have any sort of investment income (e.g. T5′s or T3′s).
youngandthrifty´s last blog ..How to Get More Money Back from your Tax Return
Wow, this is convenient. I was just about to start looking for a free way to file my own taxes. So if UFile has a free until $20k limit, and H&R Block and QuickTax do too, I wonder if any of these are “free” until a certain amount.
I am looking forward to the reviews!
Alan, this software is truly free, not just ‘free with a catch’. They do accept donations though to keep things going.
Worth mentioning that none of the free alternatives are compatible with Quebec, only the Federal portion.
I am a non-resident who has just had a dragged out, awful experience with a local Canadian tax preparer. He has made so many mistakes that I feel compelled to file my own taxes. The kicker is I’ve only got rental income in Canada…can anyone recommend good software that can handle NR rental income?
I was pleasantly surprised with Taxtron.
My wife & I both have under $20K in income, and I was able to netfile for both of us with the download version (no license). I also tried myTaxExpress, but it calculated that I would get back ~$600 less than Taxtron.
I did find both programs complicated; my wife is a full-time student with no employment income, we have child care expenses, and I have self-employment income. Maximizing her provincial education tax deduction, figuring out who can claim the child care expenses, and maximizing my working income tax benefit took me many hours, and I’m still not sure I’ve done it the best way I can.
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