Learn why so many Canadians are filing online

Transcript

I'm back, Dad! Oh, hi there How did it go? Very well - Emma is fast asleep… she loved the story that I read for her… Thanks for babysitting… You're welcome so… tonight's the night, right? Yep - tax time.

I brought all my stuff, including my trusty pencil sharpener and… Elizabeth.

E-lizab-eth? My trusty adding machine.

Actually, Dad, this year it's different.

We're going to file online! Online – you mean on the Internet? Yes.

Over 5 million Canadians are filing on line… and I found out today that there are some really good reasons why… Like… Like you get your refund much faster – as little as eight days if you also choose direct deposit into your bank account… Okay, Dad, why don't you visit the "Get Ready to File" page on the Canada Revenue Agency's Web site – we're going to use that as our guide as we go through this.

I'll just go and check on Emma.

Okay: … www.cra.gc.ca/getready All right… here's what she was talking about: "Get your refund faster… filing online is fast and easy… no-charge tax filing software you can find right here… "does NOT increase your chance of being audited", and - Aha! - This is the one I was worried about - "filing online is just as safe as banking online." Okay… So what did you find out, Dad? Well, I was a bit nervous when you started to tell me about all this stuff but in the end it seems like it's really not much trickier than banking online or paying bills online.

I can download and install this tax software… and it's pretty straightforward.

But there's one thing I'm still not sure of.

What if I make a mistake? Actually, the software does all the calculating automatically, so we won't even need to use … uh… Elizabeth.

It's really easy! Also, there's all kinds of help and how-to's on each step just in case we do get stuck.

So I guess it is time to try something different -- let's get at it, kid…