Tax Time

It is tax time for Canadians (April 30th) and Americans (April 15th).

This can be a source of stress for some people but I have found a site that makes the entire process very easy and painless.

The site is www.turbotax.ca for Canadians and www.turbotax.com for Americans.

This is a site that does all the work for you. All you need is your identification and tax receipts etc. and they ask questions which you answer. If you do not know the answer they have a “help” button you can click on to get the help you need.

As you move through your return they let you know if you are forgetting something or if there is a tax benefit of which you are not taking advantage.

They also offer a live auditor to assist you and an audit insurance option.

In Canada now they recommend you have a will and they will help you with this if you wish.

The cost is very little and some Canadian banks offer a discount for using Turbo Tax.

I sat down yesterday with all my information at hand and completed both our income tax returns in a little over an hour.

When you have entered all of your information and checked it twice, you can download it and “save”. You can then efile it on the spot and save or print it for later use. In Canada now you no longer need a 4 digit code to efile. You just need your Social Insurance Number and birth date.

Your information is then stored for next year. You will need to record your User ID and password.

Once you have gone through all the steps successfully you will be given a Confirmation Number which you should either print out or record.

Nothing (well few things) are as wonderful as seeing your Confirmation Number of a successful filing pop up on the screen denoting your income taxes are complete for another year.