A recently study by the Fraser Institute, as cited by Larry McDonald of Canadian Business Online, shows that it costs Canadians an average of $215 each to complete their personal income taxes. That's a pretty heft number! With most Canadians paying for professional preparations services this is, of course, going to bring the number up.
April 30th is the deadline for filing taxes, so there will be a lot of lineups at post offices today because of that. And there will be a lot of people stressed out trying to get their taxes done at the last minute. And this will also mean big lines at the post office for people mailing on the last day. Imagine that! Do people really procrastinate? When the deadline for institutions and employers to send out tax slips, T4s and such is the last day of February, people should have all they information need long before the filing deadline. And yet, many are still late. Perhaps this is because filing taxes is intimidating. It doesn't have to be. And one way to make it less so is to use software that can help one through the retutn ste-by-step.
Most people who prepare their own taxes do use tax software. And most of them pay for this convenience, or help, depending on how you look at it. And most software cost around $30. There are online versions that cost a lot less, but also give a lot less help. However, there is one software package that is available without any cost whatsoever (unless one feesl like donating to them, which is a great gesture, of course)! Who is it? The company is called Studio Tax. Their software is good, because it takes the user through a simple "wizard" that asks questions about the personal return and guides through the process in a simple, straight-foward manner. Any decent personal tax software should do this. So the competition in the industry is fierce, as there are a lot of good products out there.
So, if one is worried about the deadline, and is still struggling to complete the tax return, there are basically 3 options.
- Get a professional to do it. At this late juncture, it will be filed late. With this option it will cost no less than $55 and likely a lot more.
- Do it by hand. This can take a couple of hours or more, and lends to mistakes easily being made, so be careful. It's also the most stressful.
- Get some personal tax software to help you out. They are all pretty much the same as far as quality goes, it is only price that matters most. Online versions are available and are less expensive than store bought versions.
What option is best? Well, each person has to decide that based on personal experience, finances, and stress levels. For most people some version of option 3 is probably the best alternative at this juncture.
Johanus Haidner - Johanus Haidner (BA, BEd, MBA) is a martial artist, writer, craftsman, artist and life coach in Edmonton, Alberta.
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