Now, I still don't understand the logic. I have been e-filing for years. In Australia, you go to the tax departments website, you download their e-filing software (for free), do your taxes and send it in, and magically have a healthy looking bank account approximately 10 days later. Easy peasy. Not so in this great country called Canada! First I have to select from a multitude of taxation software. This is not an easy task for a Libra girl who is not good at making decisions at the best of times. Which software is the 'best', and does it really matter? They all have different interfaces, some are easy step by step guides, others are confusing jumbles of questions. But surely they will all give me the same result - a lovely juicy tax return?
Well, apparently not. Ok, some might argue that I am too anal-retentive. Others may suggest I simply have far too much time on my hands. Others still may applaud my efforts at determining which tax software to select. How did I do it, you ask? Read on.....
First step - work out my tax the good old fashioned way - on paper. This in itself was a tedious process as I had to navigate several new tax issues. Apparently I can claim the cost of a dependent's university education! Brilliant!! Oh no, not so fast, say's the almighty tax department. YOU can't claim education costs until the said student has done their OWN tax return! ^*$#%!!!!
Ok, so revised first step - wait (impatiently) a few more weeks until busy university student does *their* tax return! (Long drawn out saga - another story for another day. Suffice to say, I don't think she'll be looking at a career as a tax agent any time soon...)
Now that I had the necessary documents in hand, I could return to MY tax return! So I worked through all the arduous forms (see previous blog on taxes) and worked out what I could expect Mr. Taxman to give me.
Now that I knew what sort of return to expect, it was time to test out the tax software available. Thankfully, most of the big name companies allow you to enter all the information online prior to actually paying, so I could check them all out.
First up, TurboTax, simply because my bank was offering a 20% discount for their software. So I plug in all the information they asked for, question after question, and I hadn't even gotten to the income and deductions yet! Finally, I start to transfer the information from my T4. Now the thing I loved about TurboTax is that it has a running total at the side so you can see your tax return growing as you go. So here I am, happily inputting all my numbers and watching my return grow and grow and grow. By the time I got to $10,000 (yes, you read that right!), I am literally BOUNCING in my seat. I am already spending the return in my head, and I hadn't even got to the end of the return yet! I seriously want to kiss the computer - I can't believe I wasted time working out my tax on paper! I obviously have missed some major tax deductions. This program is AWESOME!!!!!!
So I get to the last lot of questions, and now I'm getting a bit confused. The program is asking me questions about my life in Nunavut. I'm not sure why, but who cares. With my 10 grand, maybe I'll go visit the place. Then I began to wonder *why* it was asking me about Nunavut. Cos that's a bit odd for a tax return to to be worrying about that. So, I go back to the very first screen, the one where I have to select what province I live in. Gosh, right there, under Nova Scotia is Nunavut. Oopps! So I click on the correct province, and watch my awesome return drop. Majorly drop. Like over 75% drop. :( Now I'm really bummed, in a "I just overspent the budget and now can't afford to pay the bills" kinda bummed. My new total did NOT match my paper total either. Weird.
So next up, I tried out U-File. I wasn't impressed with their interface, and I got the impression that you had to really know what you were claiming in your return. At least TurboTax walked you through everything. This one relied on YOU to select what you were entering and claiming, so it would be easy to miss something. I plodded along, and got to the end, and had a different total yet again.
Ok, so now I'm wondering which program I should use - the one with the highest return, the one with the fanciest interface, the one so simple even a dummy could figure it out (providing you actually click on the correct province to begin with!). TOO MANY CHOICES!!!!! And should I be concerned that they all gave me a different result?
So the long and short of it - which one did I pick? None of them - I went with the free one I found with the boring, plain interface. Hell, I shouldn't have to PAY to lodge my tax return!
Now to sit back and wait - here's hoping I don't have to wait 6 months again. I need that money to get me to Alberta! Yeah, I learned nothing from last year - I still have the money spent in my head before I even get it!
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