Canadian Finance Blog

TurboTax 2010 Review

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PST

TurboTax is out for the 2010 tax season and I’ve had a chance to try it out over the past week and put together a TurboTax review and giveaway. Intuit has rebranded their Canadian tax software from the previous QuickTax name. This was done to align all their global tax programs under the TurboTax name.

So other than just the name, what else is new? While only so much can change with tax software from year to year, TurboTax does have some improvements to it’s step-by-step guidance, including better tracking of where you’re at while filling out your return.

Another simple feature I found useful was the ability to flag pages to easily come back to them later. This helped me a couple times as I often find myself missing some number or piece of paper, but I would just flag it and move on to the next step.

While TurboTax Standard will cover the needs of most Canadians, there is also the Premier version that includes help with investments and rental properties and the Home & Business version that includes everything from Premier and also helps you maximize your business deductions and expenses. Keep in mind that the Standard version can handle investments and business income and expenses, but just as straight tax forms, not with any wizards or optimizers. You can compare TurboTax versions on Intuit’s site.

There’s also a TurboTax Basic. I’ve never tried it but it appears to be stripped down to a walk through for just T4s and donations. But considering it does have all the tax forms included, this could be an option for those looking for a step up from doing taxes manually on paper.

I recommend TurboTax and have used it to prepare my family’s taxes for the past two years now. It’s a great program and worth the money if you want the smoothest experience while doing your taxes. If you have a simple enough return, you might also consider the lower cost UFile or even the free StudioTax.

TurboTax Premier 2010 Giveaway

TurboTax Premier includes everything in Standard, plus powerful tools to help you easily claim investments & rental property income.

How To Enter:

To enter to win a copy of TurboTax Premier 2010, fill out the entry form below before the end of day on March 6th.

In addition to your first entry when filling out the contest form, you can get up to 5 bonus entries by doing any of the following:

Subscribe to the Canadian Finance Blog email, where you'll get each article, 7 days a week with no spam emails. Please make sure you use the same email when you enter the draw.
Follow Canadian Finance Blog on Twitter and add your Twitter ID in the entry form.
Tweet one of our posts during the giveaway period (you can find a Tweet button at the bottom of any post).
Like the Canadian Finance Blog Facebook page and add your Facebook name in the entry form.
Like one of our posts during the giveaway period (you can find a Like button at the bottom of any post)

This contest is open to anyone in Canada. The deadline for entries is Sunday, March 6th at 11:59PM MST and the winners will be contacted by email on Monday. There will be one winner, chosen with a random number generator from Random.org. If the winner does not reply within one week, a new name will be drawn. Good luck!