# Does anyone use this free Simple Tax?



## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

It's a free software, but I'm paranoid about putting in my social security # till I know it's legit.

Has anyone used this?

thanks


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

No...but we're trying (free) Studio Tax this year.


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

great thanks! i'll try that one


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

oh darn guess I won't, it's only for windows O.S


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i referenced simple tax in another thread
i used them last year and will use them again this year and drop some money in the hat

excellent and very easy to use and free or by donation

it's a much fresher and cleaner piece of software to use than turbo tax which seems kind of retro to me


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## cedebe (Feb 1, 2012)

Another vote for Simple Tax! It's my first year using it, and I haven't submitted yet as I'm still collecting tax receipts, but so far I'm quite impressed with it.


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

Great! thanks for the replies.


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## Ag Driver (Dec 13, 2012)

I've been using Studio Tax for the last handful of years. Works well for me. I have never heard of Simple Tax until now. I may very well just stick with what I know.


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

when doing capital gains in Simple Tax, am i supposed to put in my full capital gains, or am I supposed to put put in just the taxable portion (50%) ?
thanks


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## Money4life (May 17, 2012)

Simple Tax is great. My wife and I used it last year. Extremely easy to use and clean on the eyes. It's very helpful if you've never done your taxes yourself before.

Also, I had a few questions about capital gains last year, so I thought I send them a Facebook message and they answered me within 5 minutes!

They were the real deal. Highly recommended.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

Canuck said:


> when doing capital gains in Simple Tax, am i supposed to put in my full capital gains, or am I supposed to put put in just the taxable portion (50%) ?
> thanks


the full gain ... they will calculate it all for you based on income and category etc


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

fatcat said:


> the full gain ... they will calculate it all for you based on income and category etc


thank you!


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## amitdi (May 31, 2012)

Canuck said:


> thank you!


+1. I used Simple Tax last year and am using them again this year. Didnt find any issues, pretty clean and user-friendly.


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## amitdi (May 31, 2012)

Till last year, there was a .tax file that we used to upload on some CRA site. This year, my tax was submitted directly through SimpleTax. Have they changed the process or did I miss something?
FYI, also got confirmation # - so I guess that confirms. but I want to re-confirm through this forum.


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## rikk (May 28, 2012)

amitdi said:


> Till last year, there was a .tax file that we used to upload on some CRA site. This year, my tax was submitted directly through SimpleTax. Have they changed the process or did I miss something?
> FYI, also got confirmation # - so I guess that confirms. but I want to re-confirm through this forum.


Sign up here ... http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/myaccount/ ... the CRA will not only tell you your submission was received, but will (within a few weeks depending), tell you your refund/amount due, and if a refund, when it will be transferred to your financial institution ... if you've signed up for that.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I've used TurboTax for years, but after reading about Simple Tax on this forum, I tried it this year and really liked it. I'm not criticizing TurboTax - I never had any problem with it - but Simple Tax seems more straightforward and intuitive. As someone else noted, they are also very quick to respond to questions. I'll definitely use them again next year.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

I used Studio Tax for the first time this year. No complaints. You can do it all offline an then print the T1 Condensed right from the program to be mailed if you don't want to send any info through the internet.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I downloaded Studio Tax and used it to do a pro forma tax return. It was very straightforward to use. I will compare it with what our accountant does. Next year we will be filing our own returns so I am interested to see how it compares. In the past I have used Ufile to do returns for my children and parents. They are on their own now.

One thing for certain, I would never use an on line program, other than a CRA program, where I had to input my financial data. I like being able to download the program, complete the return, and then send it directly to CRA.


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## amitdi (May 31, 2012)

rikk said:


> Sign up here ... http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/myaccount/ ... the CRA will not only tell you your submission was received, but will (within a few weeks depending), tell you your refund/amount due, and if a refund, when it will be transferred to your financial institution ... if you've signed up for that.


Thanks Rikk. It says its been received, cool.


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## martinv (Apr 30, 2009)

Just tried SimpleTax as a check on my returns with StudioTax. Must say, I prefer StudioTax but that could be because it is more familiar.
It seemed a bit too easy to miss something with Simpletax.
They both came up with the same results though and they are both free! Although a contribution wouldn't hurt.


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## whiteknight (Jan 21, 2012)

+1 for SimpleTax.

Looks like the process is different this year—no more .tax files.

http://simpletax.ca/blog/2014/netfile-web-service


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

dotnet_nerd said:


> I use Studio Tax for my personal return and TurboTax for my corporate T2s.
> 
> Nothing against Simple Tax. I'm just not a fan of web apps in general. I like rich clients much better, but that's just me.
> 
> ...


what you call a "richer user experience" i call "turbo tax bothering me with a lot of useless information" ... i love the simplicity of simple tax (so to speak) ... though, in general, they are all pretty good and very affordable even for the ones you buy

i am going to definitely give simple tax a donation this year

what stuns me is how many people still use paper, i don't care which software you use but the paper has got go


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## AirPro (Mar 31, 2014)

Been using Studio Tax for the last five returns now and will be using it again this year. No problems with fairly straightforward returns which includes some freelance consultancy work my wife does.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

fatcat said:


> what stuns me is how many people still use paper, i don't care which software you use but the paper has got go


I use software, but print and submit the paper forms. I probably don't have to, but I want to pepper them with supporting receipts and slips and spreadsheets working out the capital calculations and such. I have to prepare it all and I'd rather send it in so that they have it, instead of trying to find it later and remember what it was all about.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

dotnet_nerd said:


> Apples to oranges. My Turbo Tax is for corporate T2 returns. A different beast altogether.


right, yes it is ...


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## Andrew (May 22, 2009)

SimpleTax seems pretty legit to me.


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## Canadian (Sep 19, 2013)

I netfiled this year using Simple Tax and received my refund within a week. It's on CRA's list of trusted software.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

I've been using studio tax for a number of years, it's easy and works great. They allow you to netfile directly from the program now but you can still use the old netfile method of using revenue canada's website if you like.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

Canadian said:


> I netfiled this year using Simple Tax and received my refund within a week. It's on CRA's list of trusted software.


i don't that "trusted" is the right word

it's _certified_ which means it has been tested and passed by the CRA ...

all of these programs should give identical results ..

http://www.netfile.gc.ca/sftwr-eng.html


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## Canadian (Sep 19, 2013)

fatcat said:


> i don't that "trusted" is the right word


You're right, certified is a better word. I figure that CRA would have had to do some due diligence on the legitimacy and security of the software prior to certification, though.


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## jsuter (Feb 11, 2013)

Certified is the correct word. There are over 2500+ tests across dozens of fictional tax situations. You need to pass every single test to get certified—in other words, you need to have a 100% pass rate. As fatcat mentioned, each product should give identical results, however some products may differ in that they optimize certain credits for you (e.g. if you're married, figuring out who is best to claim your donation credits).

As for legitimacy, we do sign agreements with the CRA, but they don't perform a background check (to my knowledge). Same goes with security, which is why we try to make everything as transparent as possible. We put our names and photos on our website for this very reason.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of SimpleTax.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

jsuter said:


> Certified is the correct word. There are over 2500+ tests across dozens of fictional tax situations. You need to pass every single test to get certified—in other words, you need to have a 100% pass rate. As fatcat mentioned, each product should give identical results, however some products may differ in that they optimize certain credits for you (e.g. if you're married, figuring out who is best to claim your donation credits).
> 
> As for legitimacy, we do sign agreements with the CRA, but they don't perform a background check (to my knowledge). Same goes with security, which is why we try to make everything as transparent as possible. We put our names and photos on our website for this very reason.
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of SimpleTax.


i used you last year and have been recommending you ... i intend to also download studio tax this year and then the latest tax docs from my broker and prepare a separate return to compare the two programs and also as a double check on my work


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## jsuter (Feb 11, 2013)

fatcat said:


> i used you last year and have been recommending you ... i intend to also download studio tax this year and then the latest tax docs from my broker and prepare a separate return to compare the two programs and also as a double check on my work


Thank you. And we really do appreciate everyone's support from this forum. I tend to avoid replying here unless there's something constructive I can add. I want to be respectful that this is a place for discussion, not marketing.

And yes, please do compare us with others. We're always looking for ways to improve.


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## NewlyAwake (Apr 4, 2014)

I've used Turbo Tax for the last 5 years but wanted to give Simple Tax a try this year. I liked it except for one little "glitch": sometimes the results are off by a penny here or there. I discovered this when comparing the results to the paper return I'd prepared for one of my kids (before I'd tried Simple Tax). I double-checked my figures and the paper return was correct. At that point I stopped (haven't filed my returns yet), because I wasn't sure why there'd be two different results. I'm still undecided whether to finish up with Simple Tax or not.


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## jsuter (Feb 11, 2013)

NewlyAwake said:


> I've used Turbo Tax for the last 5 years but wanted to give Simple Tax a try this year. I liked it except for one little "glitch": sometimes the results are off by a penny here or there.


It's kind of like Excel: even though we only display the rounded two-decimal value, we keep track of the fractions of pennies. Sometimes this means an extra penny here or there. The CRA uses the fractions in their certification cases, but truncating the value on each line is also acceptable.

Hope this explains things!


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## Amira (Aug 6, 2013)

Add me to the list of new Simpletax fans. This was my first time doing my taxes online, and I hadn't done them myself in several years. I did them first in Studiotax and then Simpletax as a cross-check. Simpletax correctly transferred my spouse's tuition credits; Studiotax didn't at first and it took me a long time to figure out why. Studiotax tried but was unable to help me find the problem - I followed their instructions to the letter but the form they said would pop up by double-clicking on a certain line just refused to do so. After many reviewing sessions I finally saw I had to tick a certain checkbox.

Overall I would say I prefer Simpletax's "single web page" approach to displaying all the fields and forms, as well as the ability to see the impact on the refund as new info is entered. Studiotax requires a lot of flipping back and forth between the wizard and the forms, and one form did not appear in the available list at all.

So in the end I used Simpletax to complete the netfiling. I did donate to both, and plan to repeat the process next year.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i tried studio tax and found it really inferior to simple so i gave up about a quarter of the way in and finished in simple tax ... they have really got something going and i think will be doing ok ... true to their name, they have stripped away a lot of the fluff ... i am getting to really love the single page though it takes a bit of time to get used to the scrolling


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

fatcat said:


> i tried studio tax and found it really inferior to simple so i gave up about a quarter of the way in


What the ?????


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

dotnet_nerd said:


> What the ?????


I think for those that don't know tax forms and/or how to use them it might be confusing. I don't use the studio tax wizard and never tried simple tax so I can't compare what those would be like, it's straight to the forms for me. For an average persons return, T3/T4/T5 and other easy deductions/credits, just put in the data and you're done in 15 minutes. Of course a little reading on what has changed for each year doesn't hurt either.


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