The Canadian tax system is one of the most complicated in the world, and one pretty much has to be an accountant to grasp all its intricacies, especially if you are self employed or own a business. The forms look so scary that many taxpayers prefer to pay an accountant to do this work. That fee can easily reach a thousand dollars or more, particularly if your business is incorporated.

If this pocket change is not worth your attention, please stop reading now! But if you are one of us mere mortals, you can easily save this money by doing it yourself. Perhaps, yourself is not the best word here. In the recent years tax preparation assistance software flooded the market. Different companies keep making it better, easier to use and cheaper every year. I personally use QuickTax Web, and I can tell you that even a monkey can prepare a T1 by using it! The program was designed to be dummy-proof and doesn’t require absolutely any computer or accounting knowledge.

It simply asks you questions and suggests the way you can pay less of increase your refund. It makes sure you don’t miss any savings opportunity by covering all possible areas which you probably wouldn’t even think about. The best part is that you don’t have to pay until you see the result and like it. As you move along, the program calculates your refund. When you decide to go ahead and generate your T1, the system will ask you to make a payment. Another benefit of using tax software is that it enables you to submit your return electronically. And this means that you can get your refund in just over a week!

When I did it for the first time myself, what amazed me most was that the CRA doesn’t require that you submit any supporting documents. They simply believe you! But I wouldn’t recommend you to cheat - being caught is not pleasant. And keep all the receipts, because you can be audited at any time later. In conclusion, the tax season doesn’t have to be stressful. And maybe at the end you will get a nice surprise – your refund!

Nikolay Sisan is a Certified Financial Planner and freelance writer in Vancouver.