Filing Taxes

[Bimmer88]

So just out of curiousity...

Does anyone here file their own taxes? and if so.. what software do you guys use? or how?

I'm thinking of buying the Quicktax 2007 from Staples for like $59.99? or is that a complete joke?

Thanks,
Steve

PS Anyone wanna help me? I'm a noob at this.. usually I pay an accountant like a CGA... but this time I feel like learning and doing it myself and saving some money.

[gatorade]

quicktax, takes like 20 mins, Ive done it for 2 years straight its easy

[Altezza]

My advice to you is do a paper copy of your return. You'll learn how to step through each part of your return. I think it's a great learning experience to know how the calculations are made. This way, you have a better understanding of where you can become more efficient with some of your finances.

How complicated is your return? If it's simple, you don't have to buy the expensive versions of the software. If you have the time and want to learn, I'd suggest doing a paper copy on your own.

[Maddog55]

Originally posted by Altezza
My advice to you is do a paper copy of your return. You'll learn how to step through each part of your return. I think it's a great learning experience to know how the calculations are made. This way, you have a better understanding of where you can become more efficient with some of your finances.

How complicated is your return? If it's simple, you don't have to buy the expensive versions of the software. If you have the time and want to learn, I'd suggest doing a paper copy on your own.

That is great advice. I started doing my own simple returns (T4 only) on paper about 15 yrs ago. And gave me a great understanding of the tax system.

That being said...the time involved to do that..and your potential mistakes..(even mis-copying a number from one box to another..)I dont know if its worth it.

I have a CGA that does my books now. I use Quickbooks Pro and then to do the year-end, both she and myself use Quicktax to do the T1's.

Quicktax is a great program. make sure you get the right one. there's small business quicktax for the self-employed ppl.


PS:

The greatest thing is being able to e-file right away with quicktax. You can also request "direct deposit". No "waiting for the mail" for your money returns!!

[liquid1010]

I like the idea of doing taxes on paper, but then there is no-one to double check your work - and the potential for errors is quite high.

I do mine on Quicktax - but I verify all the work on the electronic "paper forms" rather than following the wizard. This helps me to understand what I'm actually doing, and get a handle on how things work. I would recommend getting Quicktax, and then following the wizard and the "forms" simultaneously.

[icecreamvan]

There's a $19.99 Basic edition of Quicktax that you can buy to file your returns if it's not complicated. Also if your income is under a certain amount (probably $28k-ish) you can do a Quicktax return online for free.

[mekeni]

I use UTAX

[Weapon_R]

Check out ufile.ca. For someone who doesn't have any complicated taxes, their online system is very easy to use. If you make less than 15k/year, it's free to use. Once you're done, you print up your return and mail it in.

[Khyron]

We used quicktax a few times, but there's a clone that's about 13 bucks for 5 electronic filings with no income limit that we've used the last few years.

http://www.mytaxexpress.com/index07.html

[Ben]

Software: an HB#2 Pencil
Mode of Filing: Tele-file.

LOL

I'm archaic. But it works and costs 0$

[BrknFngrs]

Originally posted by Ben
Software: an HB#2 Pencil
Mode of Filing: Tele-file.

LOL

I'm archaic. But it works and costs 0$

As long as your return is non-complex this is a breeze for most people that can read.

[Bimmer88]

Yeh mines just mostly T4's and due to the American market my investments have went down $-300.00 so that must suck... and student write offs? Is that even real? and other things like donations...

What would you guys recommend?

Thanks,
Steve

[Sharpie]

Does anyone here us H&R? Is it worth it if your taxes are easy to do? Or is it just a waste of money?

[FishPoo]

I heard that Studio Tax is pretty decent and its free too!

http://www.studiotax.com/

[old&slow]

I paper taxed one year some 5 or 6 years ago...I made a mistake entering a line...been "randomly" audited 5 years in a row!

[Doozer]

As mentioned above, doing them on paper is great way to understand what's happening. That being said, I switched to QuickTax after making a mistake on a pencil form with my student loan deductions many years ago, and I was audited for about 3 years after that. Since I've been using Quicktax (the $39.99 version for personal taxes), no problems. Plus, each new version can load last year's saved tax file, and *presto*, all your last year's info is loaded in so you don't have to start from scratch each year.

[Bimmer88]

Uhh being audited is not good... lol do they charge you?

[TC2002]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
Check out ufile.ca. For someone who doesn't have any complicated taxes, their online system is very easy to use. If you make less than 15k/year, it's free to use. Once you're done, you print up your return and mail it in.

+1

I used it as a student and it was nice that it's free to use if you make under $x amount per year. Even if you make more than that amount, it's significantly cheaper than buying Quicktax if you are only filing one return per household.

[Doozer]

Originally posted by Bimmer88
Uhh being audited is not good... lol do they charge you?
Only if you can't support your claim, and you've underpaid what you owe. Mine was about $65 that I owed, so it wasn't a big deal. They took it off my next year's return. But they kept their eye on me for awhile. Usually, an audit just means you have to pay them anything you owe. There's usually not additional charges (at least there wasn't in my case).

They know mistakes happen. You only go to jail if you're intentionally misrepresenting your income and intentionally screwing the gov't out of large amounts of money.

[Bimmer88]

Originally posted by Doozer

Only if you can't support your claim, and you've underpaid what you owe. Mine was about $65 that I owed, so it wasn't a big deal. They took it off my next year's return. But they kept their eye on me for awhile. Usually, an audit just means you have to pay them anything you owe. There's usually not additional charges (at least there wasn't in my case).

They know mistakes happen. You only go to jail if you're intentionally misrepresenting your income and intentionally screwing the gov't out of large amounts of money.

I see what you mean... so you'd only be in HUGE trouble if lets say you made 1 mil but only claim 500k of it? lol

As for filing taxes I'll see how it goes... is it cheaper though to do it yourself? or give it to an accountant? because I heard the more u give to an accountant the more he charges?

[ZorroAMG]

Did you really just ask if it was cheaper to do it yourself or give it to an accountant?

Really?

Sounds like you NEED to pay someone. Best of luck.

[Khyron]

Using an accountant is a waste if you're just a working stiff with a T4 and some RSPs.

If you have ANYTHING to do with a self-employed business, they are good for finding extra stuff for you to writeoff, and to prevent illegal accidents like writing off too much of your car or something. Definately worth the money and peace of mind.

As mentioned before, we buy the 10 filing from mytaxexpress for 13 bucks and our friends use the other files. 40/year is a rip-off IMO for quicktax.

[old&slow]

They found my mistake that year and I had to fix that...
other than that I was clean altho they have asked for receipts here and there, which I was at least smart enuf to keep...

[Bimmer88]

Originally posted by old&slow
They found my mistake that year and I had to fix that...
other than that I was clean altho they have asked for receipts here and there, which I was at least smart enuf to keep...

Sweet yeh I guess I can do it myself and tell my Dad to let me handle it... though he's self employed... so that'll be a challenge. We did try it once before but didn't know how to use it. I imagine it must of gotten a lot easier now though.

Steve

[Supa Dexta]

I usually just use cutetax online filing.. 8 bux or sumtin..

[danno567]

What about if you have a rental property? Are these software programs good enough to claim the money on the property?

I thought about hr block but thought I'd comb this site first for a bit on some ideas.



thanks in advance.

[USED1]

I use cute tax, it costs like 8 or 9 bucks.

[rated_R]

This is kinda of a dumb question but does anyone know which software I would use to do previous year's taxes (2006) can I just use QuickTax 2007? or do I need to fill out the forms by hand or use an older version of quicktax or other filing softwares?

Thanks.

[Kloubek]

I use ufile - and it worked great. At least, they haven't reassessed me. Yet.

[Ben]

Originally posted by rated_R
This is kinda of a dumb question but does anyone know which software I would use to do previous year's taxes (2006) can I just use QuickTax 2007? or do I need to fill out the forms by hand or use an older version of quicktax or other filing softwares?

Thanks.

I'm in the same boat.

I didn't do my 06 taxes (I did them but never filed as I was getting a return, didn't need the money (read: lazy) and had heard they had a new tax structure (was misinformed) so I wanted to hold off on using my RRSP credits for this year.) As such, you have to do all old returns in Paper format. You cant file previous years via internet/phone (this was from the CRA Helpline when I called to get a Telefile code for this years return and asked about last years).

[rated_R]

Originally posted by Ben


I'm in the same boat.

I didn't do my 06 taxes (I did them but never filed as I was getting a return, didn't need the money (read: lazy) and had heard they had a new tax structure (was misinformed) so I wanted to hold off on using my RRSP credits for this year.) As such, you have to do all old returns in Paper format. You cant file previous years via internet/phone (this was from the CRA Helpline when I called to get a Telefile code for this years return and asked about last years).

Thanks a lot man :thumbsup:

This is actually for my little brother, I do my taxes every year and on time. I did his taxes as well but he owed money and couldn't pay so he didn't bother submitting it, now he has to pay the amount owing from the previous year plus interest on top.

[roopi]

Originally posted by rated_R
This is kinda of a dumb question but does anyone know which software I would use to do previous year's taxes (2006) can I just use QuickTax 2007? or do I need to fill out the forms by hand or use an older version of quicktax or other filing softwares?

Thanks.



Originally posted by Ben


I'm in the same boat.

I didn't do my 06 taxes (I did them but never filed as I was getting a return, didn't need the money (read: lazy) and had heard they had a new tax structure (was misinformed) so I wanted to hold off on using my RRSP credits for this year.) As such, you have to do all old returns in Paper format. You cant file previous years via internet/phone (this was from the CRA Helpline when I called to get a Telefile code for this years return and asked about last years).


You can still use ufile.ca to do taxes for previous years. The only difference is that they won't be submitted electonically via Netfile. You just print them of and send them in. So you are still using the software but it just prints off the paper format.

[black_2.5RS]

Off topic here but I have reason to believe my tax preparer messed up my 2006 return. How do I go about re-filing the return? What granularity of documentation do I have to retain (ie: here's all the stuff I changed with supporting receipts)

[mac_gurl]

I fill the paper copy out, but double check the calculations using ufile.ca It works great, to make sure i'm on the right track.