Future Tax T1 software
Future Tax matches $40 Turbo Tax at a bargain price
I was pleasantly surprised this year by Future Tax T1 income tax software. It matches the market leader at a fraction of the price.
Future Tax does everything that Turbo Tax does for $34 less. Income Tax returns with Net Income less than $25,000 are free.
Future Tax is similar to QuickTax with screen forms that look like the physical Individual T1 Return. That’s helpful if you are familiar with the tax forms.
Some programs like UFile reduce the return preparation to answering questions. That’s dangerous since you can’t see the results.
With Future Tax the results of your entry are instantly show in the Quick View on the left. Quick View shows Total Income, Net and Taxable Income, Taxes, Owing or Refund on a real time basis.
That’s handy if you want to try what-if scenario’s such as taking the maximum allowable deductions or not. You can move deductions from your spouse and see who pays the lowest taxes.
The program is easy to use. The navigation is intuitive. The forms, since they follow, Canada Revenue are logical to the extent you have seen them before.
The only glitch I found is the software sometimes misplaced the cursor. Forms management is controlled by vertical and horizontal scroll bars like a spreadsheet. Sometimes the cursor would disappear. It took me a few tries to figure out the scroll bars controlled its location.
One of the nice features of Future Tax is the free download trial. You can use the free version up to printing. If your Net Income is less than $25,000 it will Netfile the return for free.
Future Tax is certified by Canada Revenue Agency for NetFiling of tax returns.
Compared with the market leader QuickTax / Turbo Tax at $40, Future Tax is a bargain at $6 for the first return. 20 Returns cost $16, an even bigger bargain compared with $130 for QuickTax.
Ufile, a $30 solution, can’t match QuickTax in features. As I found this year, UFile prepares the return incorrectly, missing important refundable tax credits. I’ll report in UFile separately. It’s safe to say UFile is not recommended.
People buy QuickTax out of habit and it is marketed extensively with TV, retail and internet advertising. Personally, I think QuickTax product is over-priced.
Future Tax also prepares Corporate T2 returns at a fraction of the price of any other company. Amazingly, their T2 program works very well.
DerekMacEwen
For many years I have been using tax software from MyTaxExpress.com – $6.99 for one return, $13.99 for 10, free for low income. It has the ability to import last year’s return, and lets you save the return as a PDF, as well as Netfiling it. You pay on the internet, and download it. Small Ontario company. Staying with them, even though it’s almost a buck more – either of these packages are just as good as the big names.
Tim Gormley
I’ve been using Studio Tax for several years. It’s free, although I can’t say whether it matches any of the others mentioned here since I’ve never used them, but it gets the job done for me.