Canadian Finance Blog

TurboTax 2010 Online Review

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PDT

Last year was the first year that I had ever filed my own taxes. In previous years, my parents would take my tax information to our family accountant and she would helpfully let me know just what I was getting back. It was convenient, but it felt disconnected from reality. Coupled with getting married and moving across the province, I decided that it would be best if I learned how to do our own taxes. Thankfully, the internet has made just about everything easier – including filing taxes. So when I went to do my taxes there were a number of options available to walk me through the process. I ended up using QuickTax, which is now known as TurboTax. This year Tom was able to secure me a code to write a TurboTax review, which I used to file my taxes this year. I used the standard version of TurboTax Online, which would normally cost about $35 to file for both my wife and I.

What’s Changed

Unsurprisingly, besides the name change from QuickTax to TurboTax, not a lot has differed from this year’s edition of the tax filing software. I clearly remember a lot of the exact same screens from the previous year. Even better, the website remembers me, too. It was able to pull in last year’s data and fill in all my personal information, saving me a good 20 or 30 minutes of time inputting my name, address, phone number, etc. Coupled with previous experience with the exact same software, I was able to complete my tax return in about an hour. This is significantly less than it was the last time around, which is encouraging as I had mentally prepared myself for a bit of a slog.

What’s Good

The best part about tax filing software is that it does all the hard work for you. It simply asks you the questions that you need to answer, and when you’ve done the simple task of transcribing information from your T4 slip, you’re practically done.

In addition, even if the software seems simple, it was actually quite helpful when I came across a bit of a more difficult question. I was wondering whether or not I would be able to claim some of my spouse’s student tuition credit that she had carried forward from a previous year. Once I navigated to the appropriate section, I was able to click “help” and see if TurboTax was able to answer my question. Within that section of help, it had a FAQ, and one of those questions was just what I was wondering. Sadly, I am unable to claim student tuition credit that is being carried forward, but at least TurboTax did not leave me in the dark.

What’s Bad

Just like last year, TurboTax will often include extra “screens” which are actually just advertisements for additional services. While I understand that advertising is a required part of providing a free service, it was frustrating to think that I was getting ads on a product that I had “paid” for. I was better able to recognize and dismiss the ads this year, which meant I was not being held up for commercials during tax preparation.

A second complaint would be during the deductions section of the program. In order to simplify the questions being asked, TurboTax did not include all the information necessary for me to make an accurate statement. For example, the program asked me if I could claim a deduction based on paying union dues. I do pay union dues, so I selected that I could. However, once I got to actually making the deduction, it said that I could only make a claim if I hadn’t already claimed it on my T4, which I had. Not a huge deal, as I could simply click through to continue on, but frustrating when it happened twice.

Overall, TurboTax is definitely worth considering if you plan on filing your taxes at home and online this year, at least if you have a quick and simple return like I did this year. What tax software – if any – do you use?

TurboTax Online 2010 Giveaway

Thanks for reading the TurboTax review, and now we’re giving away 1 code each for TurboTax Online to three lucky winners. You get a code by email to use on the TurboTax website!

How To Enter:

To enter to win a code for TurboTax Online 2010, fill out the entry form below before the end of day on March 20th.

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This contest is open to anyone in Canada and will have three winners of one online code each. The deadline for entries is Sunday, March 20th at 11:59PM MST and the winners will be contacted by email on Monday. There will be three winners, 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!