Looking at H&R Block’s Free Online Tax Preparation Software solution for Canadians
Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 10:51AM 
Tax season is definitely upon us and as we prepare to file our taxes, there’s much to consider. Most Canadians prepare and submit their own taxes or their employer does much of the preliminary work for them. For others, who own businesses or are self-employed, the process is more complicated and downright daunting at times.
27 million Canadians prepare and file tax returns yearly, 11 million of those do so online and 40 per cent of Canadians do their own taxes. H&R Block has pooled the expertise of Tax professionals to create a Free Online Tax Preparation Software solution for Canadians.
In the past, I’ve hired an accounting firm to sift through business-related expenses and investments in order to put together and file my family’s taxes for the maximum possible refund.
While accountants take care of everything, hiring them costs a considerable amount of money that could just as well go to cover other household or personal expenses.
It never occurred to me that there was software that could help me do this. I’ve always been afraid of screwing up a tax submission and not confident enough in software solutions to use them.
Remember, the deadline to file taxes in Canada is April 30th. For those who are self-employed and their spouses or common-law partners, the deadline is June 15th but if you have a balance owing for 2014, you still have to pay it on or before April 30, 2015. So the sooner you submit file your income tax, the better.
When I heard that H&R Block was now offering their Online Tax Preparation Software for free, I became interested in finding out more. While I always believed that tax preparation software was geared towards people who weren’t self-employed but H&R Block’s new tax software covers all types of situations and their Canadian tax expertise is something I felt I could trust.
Free online tax filing software is now available for all of Canada's 27 million tax filers. After more than 50 years of helping Canadians file their taxes, H&R Block, Canada's trusted leader in tax preparation, is introducing H&R Block Online Tax Software, the completely free (absolutely no hidden costs) online Do-It-Yourself (DIY) tax filing solution. H&R Block says their software is 100 pre cent free, which means that regardless of income, job, age or the complexity of the tax return, users don’t pay to use the service.
I'll be trying out H&R Block's free online tax preparation filing software and look forward to reporting back on the process user experience from the point of view of a complete newbie and someone who has never really used any software to file their own taxes.
Reader Comments (4)
I've used Ufile for years and it's about $16 every year... thinking of giving H&R a try this year as my taxes are dead simple. Just wondering what they are mining by having everyone rush to use their software for free... guessing as we don't read the EULA and carry on we're giving something away. Let us know how it goes.
Over 11 million Canadians prepare their own tax returns and that number has been steadily growing over the past few years. H&R Block Canada wanted to recreate the do-it-yourself tax preparation experience for Canadians to better serve their tax prep needs no matter their filing preference. If you have specific questions regarding the EULA you can always reach out to their customer service team who can provide info, here: https://www.hrblock.ca/support/
i used the free online filing. my return is DEAD simple. a T4 and 3 RRSP receipts. after following each page and steps, the end result was a $4300 refund. YAHOO... but wait. I just checked " my account" with CRA for an update. they have my refund coming to me at $1623. so what the heck went wrong??? i have to wait until the 16 to look at the reassessment. im not impressed.
it was a fast process, compared to when i used to do it with pencil and paper.....but i was NEVER out by thousands of dollars before!
Having just completed my taxes last night I have a thing or two to say about H&R Blocks Free online "service".
Let's start with "it's terrible".
For many years now I've used the free StudioTax program. It's ALWAYS had the exact same result as any of the other REPUTABLE services that I've used to double-check my work (doing it by HAND and UFile.ca). It's thorough, covering nearly every possibility. It works. And, if it ever throws up an error, save your work. Quit and reopen it. I've never lost work :). They work on a strictly voluntary donation system.
This year I thought, "H&R Block claims they offer free no-strings-attached tax preparation software. Let's try it."
Started it. Dutifully entered our tax information.
First hurdle. Entering capital gains was problematic. All of the entries were correct but they weren't increasing the total payable. Tried logging out and back in. Tried a different computer. Tried going through the wizard from A to Z. No such luck. Then, a few hours later the entries had disappeared (?)! Re-entered them. They appeared and the total was correct :).
Next hurdle, there appears to be nowhere to enter an amount to augment line 207. That's when I discovered HELP IS NON-EXISTENT. Yes, truly non-existent. Not one line written anywhere. You've got to CONTACT them for support (which they didn't respond to, and, even had they, I'm sure it would've cost $$$). Ufile.ca has a thorough search facility, IIRC--I'm mostly StudioTax now. StudioTax, while a little more barebones in terms of their help at least allows you to access EVERY SINGLE LINE on EVERY SINGLE FORM by finding the form and clicking on the line. Line 207 was trivial to enter. All I had to do is find line 207 on page 3 of the T1 form and click.
And, final hurdle, when I did get all the data entered in H&R Block I got a ridiculously HIGH tax refund for both my wife and me.
For that matter, even with the same numbers, I was able to get DIFFERENT values for the tax refund depending on the mood (yes, mood!) of the on-line software. Double checked the numbers. Saw no obvious errors so that's when I decided to download and install the trusty StudioTax--I should've done in the first place.
StudioTax allowed me to enter what I needed to enter in under half an hour for BOTH OF US. We've got a fairly straightforward tax season--income from two employers, child care, RRSP contributions, T5, T3, capital gains/losses, charitable donations, no income splitting, none of the Federal tax deduction bribes/advertising for this that and the other thing. The amounts owing for the one person and refunded for the other person were in line with my back-of-envelop estimate!
Filing was super simple. Didn't even have to leave StudioTax to file. Just click and it's automagically submitted :). In all fairness, I suspect H&R Block will do that too, though, of course you'll be playing eenie meenie minie mo with the final numbers you actually submit.
If the on-line H&R Block offering reflects on H&R's "professional" services I would recommend you NEVER EVER EVER go to H&R Block unless you have a burning desire to be audited. The on-line software, while slick, was a nightmare in the end. It's better to go with less flash than run the risk of making mistakes. Ufile.ca was (and may still be) a great choice if you're prepared to pay or if you earn less than a certain amount. StudioTax is free as are many other offerings (check out the CRA's website for details).