I’ve been preparing personal tax returns on a computer of some sort since 1981. During that time, the quality of the tax software has gone from marginal to excellent.
Up until this year I was using Quick Tax by Intuit. I also use their corporate T2 software. I like the company, the products and support. However, $39 for one return seems steep.
So I tried out UFile a $19 competitor. While UFile did my return this year, I’m not likely to use it again.
What did you use this year?
The software is clearly not was well written as Quick Tax. Moving through the screens it feels clumsy. Forget something? It will not allow you to move randomly throughout your return.
I missed the preview Quick Tax has on the left which shows how your taxes are going up or down which is good for tinkering or planning. The return calculation is done in batch mode, not real time which is a relic from the past.
The data entry screens gave me this vague feeling like “what is going on?” The medical receipts entry screen does not check for valid dates.
Support is non-existent. I was never able to connect with their site to register, update the software, or send them an email. Their servers were always busy or down. I don’t know if the software is current or not. Since it wasn’t current, I couldn’t efile for the first time in years.
I have friends who swear by this software so it must have a market at the $20 price point. It makes me nervous.
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