Taxwiz 2001

Last year I criticized the Spartan interface of Taxwiz, the software package from Taxamatic which prepares tax returns on a computer. A year later, thankfully, this problem seems improved. This year's edition, in fact, includes some graphic changes that, while not straying too far from the previous release, are undisputedly nicer.
Of course taxes are not exactly a problem of aesthetics, but rather compiling various forms in the easiest and least expensive way. From the latter point of view, Taxwiz is a certain success, thanks to its structure that offers intuitively clear online help for all the forms. As an additional bonus, this year Taxwiz comes bundled with Tax Tips for Canadians for Dummies, a small publication by CDG Books that includes some very interesting legal tax-saving advice.
The booklet is only a slim version of the original one, but in case you find a solution particularly interesting to your situation, you can always go to the nearest bookstore and order a complete version. Another novelty is that the spousal return is now more integrated into the program. As to the rest, the program is a little different from last year's version, and offers perfect reproductions of all the forms.
Taxwiz is ideal for beginners, thanks to the Interview method, where the program chooses the right forms to fill out based on the answers to some simple questions, but it is also well suited for more experienced users who can freely decide which forms they wish to use for their returns.
Taxwiz is a Netfile Certified software, i.e. after completing your forms you can file your taxes over the Internet to Revenue Canada (you must have received a Web Access Code from Revenue Canada to be eligible). Importing data from last year is a breeze provided you used Taxwiz 2000. Some complication is involved for those who used QuickTax from Intuit.
Like last year's edition, it's imperative to keep the CD in its drive for the program to work at all. Piracy aside, this is incredibly annoying and inconvenient.
Taxwiz is available for $24.95 and can be used for an unlimited number of tax returns. Taxamatic also offers the opportunity to do your taxes online, thus avoiding the purchase of the full program, which is $9.95 each return (free for those with income under $20,000). You can pay the $9.95 on the net, and if you don't want to use your credit card you can buy a Taxwiz To Go prepaid card in any authorized store.
As a wish list for next year, I'm hoping a Mac and Linux version of the software will also be available. After all, apples and penguins pay taxes, too.

For more information visit: www.taxwiz.ca

Publication Date: 2002-03-17
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1071