By Ted Kritsonis

It’s not like you mean to do it, but filing your income taxes on or near the deadline seems to be an annual habit. Thankfully, filing electronically expedites the process of getting the proper forms to the Taxman to get you a refund sooner, except you still have to decide which tax software to use.

Over the last few years, what was, for all intents and purposes, a two-horse race between Quicktax and UFile, has now evolved into a software category that not only has more players, but also more options among them. Whether you’re filing a simple return based on one solitary T4 slip or a more complicated return for your incorporated business.

Generally, Intuit Canada’s Quicktax — now known as TurboTax — has had the wider selection with a number of different versions that cater to different needs, but in most cases, tax software from all developers focuses on individual and self-employed income taxes. UFile, H&R Block, ETaxCanada, AceTax and others are also widely available, and you even get a choice of going with the versions that come on discs in retail packaging or the web-based versions that work with just a browser.

It would take far too long to review all of these in this article, but we can at least point some of the pros and cons of each, and help you better understand what might be a better fit for you. One thing we liked was that we could carry over tax files we did electronically from last year, regardless of what program we used. It’s not always universal, but the major players all pretty much support this feature.

TurboTax
The name change is simple cosmetics, since the software functions the same way as before. What we like about TurboTax’s interface is that it told us what our refund or amount owing was every step of the way. It can prove to be the difference in making the process exciting (when you see your refund grow) or a bit grueling (when you owe more than you thought).

Unless you need a business tax return that includes a T2, then you’re better off going with TurboTax Business Incorporated, but for self-employed or those who have income from investments, rental property or a side unincorporated business, TurboTax Home & Business covers it all. Returns over $25,000 are limited to 12 with Home & Business, whereas they are unlimited under that. The problem is that both of these options are pricey, so it does depend on what your budget is.

If you have a very basic return that includes only one or two slips, you can probably breeze through the process on TurboTax.ca’s web-based version online. At the very least, they allow you to try it first. We were able to get through an entire return and not pay a dime to Intuit once we decided not to actually file anything.

UFile
The first thing that stands out about UFile’s web-based version is that it’s free for students and for anyone with an income under $20,000 (though TurboTax offers this too). UFile offers three CD/downloadable programs that can only be installed and used on Windows PCs. This is pretty much the standard across the board, as Canadian Mac users have to rely on online versions to do their taxes electronically.

The three versions aren’t all that different, except for the number of returns they allow. The Plus version is more ideal for self-employed income earners, while the Pro version is perfect for those preparing taxes for 20 people or more.

The Maxback Refund Analyzer is the bread and butter of UFile’s ability to keep more money in your pocket. The software is also generally good at holding your hand through every step you have to take, no matter if you’re trying to figure out pensions, income-splitting or investments. The only downside is that you have to wait till the end to see what the final tally is.

H&R Block
H&R Block has an online version that works a lot like the other two already on the list, and they do offer it for free for anyone making under $20,000 a year. It’s not a lot at $15.95, with a second return being $10, and every subsequent one being free after that, but we would’ve preferred to see H&R Block follow the industry trend on that.

That said, the Windows PC software product is a clean and user-friendly process that doesn’t offer much confusion. The whole thing is like an interview, which is something TurboTax and UFile have been doing for years, but here, it’s a little easier to manage each step, and you can go back and forth between steps easily, in case you think you may have missed something.

The navigation sidebar on the left is made up of menus and sub-menus that help streamline the process so you know what you’ve added and what you haven’t. Unfortunately, you won’t know what your refund or balance owing will be until the end, but if the total doesn’t seem quite right, you can at least trace your steps back and double-check everything.

It may not be quite as slick as the other two are, but it is nice to know that you get free auditing help from H&R Block if the Canada Revenue Agency comes calling. At $34.99, it’s also a one-size-fits-all type of product. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend this for incorporated businesses, but for everyone else, it should be more than enough.

StudioTax
Believe it or not, there is a free Canadian tax software alternative, and it’s called StudioTax. This was developed “by Canadians for Canadians” and is free for everyone, regardless of income. However, if you’re looking to do more than 20 returns, you will need to inquire about their Enterprise version, which costs $169.50 after taxes.

We didn’t get to use StudioTax extensively, but from what we did scour through, this isn’t a program to be taken lightly. It offers pretty much all the features the others do, though it’s clearly not for incorporated businesses. Anything from a basic return to self-employment income, rental properties, investments and commissions are available to do here.

Though free, StudioTax needs to be installed on a Windows PC (sorry Mac users) for you to use it. You also have to manually import data from your 2009 return if you had done it with a different tax program.

Tax software for Mac
It’s a shame there aren’t more full install versions for the Mac like there is for Windows, but all the online versions noted above will work on Macs. In addition, there are two others, Tax Freeway and Tax Tron, that are available to use on Macs. In fact, Tax Freeway even offers an iPad app in case you want to file your taxes that way. It’s currently the only fully-featured Canadian tax filing app that we’ve seen so far.

Whatever method you choose to do your taxes with — assuming you still haven’t done them — the crop of options available to you keep getting better and better.

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