BristolUK

TurboTax appears to be ready for 2016, although I remember last year that this was too soon for Netfiling.

Paul_Shepherd

Argghh hate this time of year. Wish it was all taken care of by your employer through your tax code like it is in the UK.

beckiwoo

Agreed!

scrubbedexpat091

Oh joy.

I wouldn't mind it so much if I could just file in Canada, but no the IRS wants an annual return as well.

BristolUK

I still like TurboTax. I like how it asks you questions and then produces the return for you. I have used StudioTax (Siouxie's choice) but I feel you need to be familiar with the layout of the forms. With TT it sort of pulls up everything you need so if I say I have rental income it brings up the rental pages, whereas StudioTax requires you to find and include the rental form which it lists by form number. If it's your first time, you won't know the form let alone the number.

But there often seems to be something odd with TT in that sometimes you have to give 'the wrong answer' to produce the right result.

For example, I was asked to itemise the expenses on my rental property and then put the total. But when it did the calculation the amount used for expenses wasn't the total, it was the individual ones plus the total and that would overstate the costs!

scrubbedexpat091

I use tax chopper, our returns are so simple doesn't really matter which we use. Straight income, no real deductions of any sort etc.

I can't recall if turbo tax offers a free version, or maybe they didn't back when I started using tax chopper it was free, listed on CRA website, so figured it was legit. Not a fancy website though, but hey its free, it works, and over the years never had an issue, so I tend to not switch once I find something I like...lol

I have nothing against turbo tax though, I've used it in the US before, and always worked, but eh I never have complicated returns.

BristolUK

Yes they do. It's a bit sneaky though. They used to offer a free one and then the various upgraded versions, with a suggestion that you might be better with the upgrades.

The free one always dealt with my foreign income and joint rental income adequately but it would invite you to upgrade. I just said no thanks and carried on.

Then the free one wouldn't carry your details forward but the standard one would. However if income was below $20k, the standard one was still free so we switched to it.

Suddenly, last year, the only free one was the free one and low income no longer got the free one. It's only $20 to pay.

On the other hand, when all it carries forward is your personal info, why not type your own name, address, d/b and SIN and save $20.

BristolUK

For anyone interested:

My return this year was a little complicated (final year of rental income & Capital Gains issue) and although all the figures tallied with reality I wasn't completely happy with the results and appearance of returns using TurboTax and StudioTax.

I was unable to identify what I had to do with TurboTax for the capital gains issue. JonboyE kindly told me the parts I had to do and because StudioTax is quite different, I was able to find the relevant parts on their version and then apply it to TurboTax.

So I thought I'd try a new one. I found SimpleTax and it was like TurboTax was a few years ago in that you identified the features of your circumstances and it gave you the forms to do.

It was really easy - partly because I was merely copying the details over - and was done very quickly. But on the capital gain issue, having said it was a feature of my circumstances it gave me the form I had to do, so no looking for it, and it was quite obvious what figures I had to put where to identify the gain/loss.

It's free although they say you can pay what you want.

So here's a recommendation for SimpleTax.

Yorkiechef

When does it have to be submitted by and to whom?

Will be my first one, does Mrs Yorkie have to fill one in too?

Thanks

scrubbedexpat091

April 30th.

I e-file so the return goes directly to CRA.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/t.../menu-eng.html

Yorkiechef

Thanks JS.

haggis88

Waiting on my T4...i assume it'll go directly to my CRA Online mailbox since I don't have a residence in Canada any longer and left my old employer in June?

scrubbedexpat091

Your employer issues the T4 and typically mails them to your last known address or maybe email if you have a tech savvy employer. Employers have until Feb 28th I believe to issue them, some employers will wait until the last possible moment to issue them.

The T4 will eventually be posted onto CRA account as well.

Aviator

Employer has to send T4 by mail to each employee to the address they have on file. If it is returned undelivered, the employer holds it. Employer also files all T4s with CRA. Another unpaid tax collector job.

scrubbedexpat091

I suppose the time I got it by email they made an error then.