How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by kazinator on Friday March 15, 2019 @08:50PM (#19405680)

More or less has what?

Here it is copy paste from the CRA website:

There are several ways to send your tax return to the CRA. Ultimately, this may be dependent on how you decided to complete your return.

- By software (electronically) If you selected a NETFILE certified software, it will communicate directly with the NETFILE application servers and transmit all required information on your behalf directly to the CRA via the web service.

- By paper: Mail your completed income tax package to your tax centre.

- By phone: Follow the instructions in the invitation letter for File my Return that you received from the CRA.

"By software" means using certified software, like Intuit's TurboTax. This is the very racket they seek to protect.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by rcfox on Friday March 15, 2019 @08:59PM (#19405723)

So I use simpletax.ca. (It's free, but will ask for a donation after you file.) (Also, I don't work for them.)

In it, there's an option to login to the CRA via your bank account (oauth?) and it will populate a bunch of data for you.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by kazinator on Friday March 15, 2019 @09:08PM (#19405762)

Simpletax is a free service, but it's proprietary software, as far as I can tell. It's in the same category as TurboTax.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by rcfox on Friday March 15, 2019 @09:48PM (#19405883)

Okay, but I was responding to the question of "why can't the tax agency do the work for me?"

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