I finished my taxes last night online and all that’s left is to submit them to the government.  I usually use the same online software but this year I decided to try two. 

Most online tax software companies will allow you to complete the whole tax return online and you only have to pay when you submit them to the government.

I completed both my husband and I’s return using UFile (Canada).   Usually, I get a refund.  Not a large one, but about $200 – $400.  There have been years where I have to pay but usually not more than $100.  This year, I saw that my husband and I combined owed $734.

I was shocked.  Both my husband and I changed jobs during the year, so I wondered if they deducted enough taxes from my pay, or my husband’s.  I am on maternity leave and not receiving my full pay so $734 is a hit to our budget.

So I then decide to try another software.  I used QuickTax‘s online tax filing system in order to compare the difference. 

 QuickTax is Canada’s version of TurboTax.

Well, to my surprise, combined we ended up owing $1175, which is $441 more.  Now this is a huge difference.  I went through the summary of both softwares and noticed that UFile found more tax credits for our family than QuickTax.  Also, most of the tax credits for QuickTax was given to my husband while Ufile transferred it to me, making a difference in the bottom line.

To be fair, I don’t know if UFile is more accurate than QuickTax.  I might submit my taxes as is and then get an assessment of errors from the Government. 

Which one is more accurate?  I’m not an accountant or an expert in tax laws, but….

Guess Which Software I will be Using to Submit my Taxes?

In previous years, when I received my notice of assessment, Ufile is usually off by a few dollars only.  So I am hoping it’s the same case this year.

Moral of the story:  If preparing your taxes online, try using two different software companies to compare what the results will be.