Product Reviews
February/99
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CanTax Contact: Sales Phone: 1-800-265-3800 Reviewed By: |
This is a great program for its street price. I commend all members to consider purchasing for preparation of their 1998 Tax Returns.
If you use the "Forms" approach which I did, the screen comes up with the T1 Jacket in the colour you expect from Revenue Canada. Selecting the line on the form for each item and double clicking; takes you to the schedule required. The number of forms available is beyond the use of the above average Taxpayer. If you need all these forms, you need a tax specialist to prepare your return.
Data entry, if you know where you are going is very easy. If you start on page one of the jacket and proceed downward, you should not miss anything. That part of the program that I was able to access was very user friendly. As you enter data, you can monitor your net tax position by reference to the Summary. According to the "box" you have available for assistance both software help; but, also Income Tax Act Help as well. If you have the book from Revenue Canada, all the better.
There is provision in printing to adjust the border if it prints to one side. There is a "test" page that you can print to help in alignment.
I was not able to access initially the CD-Rom through the program; and thus was not able to try out all of the help after installation.
There is a relatively simple way provided by the programmers for data entry called "Interview Plus". You identify what information you have to record following an interview questionaire. I found this to be a simply way for a basic return.
I was able to run the Tutorial from the CD-Rom by accessing the CD-Rom through "My Computer".
This program really "shines" in the Tutorial. I felt confident that I would not need to read the manual/help file after taking the tutorial complete with sound !
I started by doing a return for a single employed taxpayer. I then went to a married working spouse with self employment, home office, automobile expenses, income from rental property, capital gains and losses on the stock market, OHOSP payments, RRSP's, I tried to use every item that I could think of; and, when I went to the "diagnostics" I found that I had missed some.
The diagnostic checks for entry errors and considers possible omissions. The last part of the form provides a reminder of what items should be attached to the return such as T4's etc.
When you are finished, you can print your return and mail it to Revenue Canada; or, you can generate an e-file for processing by your local CanTax e-filer.
The program would only recognize the CD-Rom if it is identified as your "D" drive. I had my tape backup running as "D" and had to switch it to "T" in order to get the CanTax program to recognize the CD-Rom. This difficulty has been reported to CanTax.
All in all, an excellent program.