I have been using TaxWiz for filing our tax returns for many years and this year, decided to test-drive QuickTax. Both the software products are from the Intuit Canada (famous for the Quicken personal finance software) stable. TaxWiz, which retails for $19.95, is much cheaper compared to QuickTax (costs $39.95). Here are my impressions on using QuickTax:
- It was pleasantly surprising to find that QuickTax was able to import the previous year’s tax file generated by TaxWiz, saving me the hassle of having to re-enter personal information like address, SIN number and other information like RRSP contribution room.
- I was annoyed to see ads in many of the tax screens. For instance, the RRSP information screen features ads from CI Funds. Despite its lower cost, I don’t recall seeing ads in TaxWiz in the previous years.
- Entering T4 information into TaxWiz was much easier. The TaxWiz T4 screen looked much like the T4 slip received from employers, so it was much easier to enter data. In QuickTax, I had to find the appropriate box to fill the numbers. It is not a big deal, but there is a greater chance of making a mistake.
- I was struck by how similar QuickTax and TaxWiz are. Both have forms that look like the CRA’s tax package. Personally, I liked TaxWiz’s method of showing the gross income, taxable income and refund summary in the status bar.
Bottom line: QuickTax claims to be Canada’s best selling software, but I cannot say that it justifies the higher price, when TaxWiz can accomplish pretty much the same thing. This year, TaxWiz is an even better deal, as it is $5 cheaper. Next year, I am going back to using TaxWiz and I’ll save the $20 difference.
