suter
Joined 14 years ago
Joined 14 years ago
Québec is a challenging province because of Revenu Québec and Bill 101.
The Canada Revenue Agency introduced an API this year that enables us to auto-fill much of the return: https://help.simpletax.ca/questions/how-to-use-afr.
I wish there was an easy, silver bullet answer for people who are behind on their taxes, but it really depends on each person's situation.
The better solution is to radically simplify the Income Tax Act. This would make the system easier for everyone and ultimately make products like ours redundant. It's the right outcome and one we'd like to see one day. Until we get there, we fill a critical gap. Free CRA software won't fix the problem and—I'd argue—would be a huge step backwards.
Are we crazy? Yes, but hopefully crazy enough to change the industry. We initially set out with the plan to charge a fee, but there is a long list of industry-specific reasons as to why we got a little more creative. Like any startup, we're experimenting with our business model.
Could we make more by charging a fee? Maybe. At the end of the day, we're happy building the best product we can and making it available to as many people as possible.
Ever since then, I was really frustrated with the state of tax software in Canada. The fact that over 6 million people still do their taxes on paper, and that most people turn to expensive tax preparers for even the simplest of returns, drove us to build http://simpletax.ca. We're lucky in that we have a non-practicing tax lawyer on board.
There is so much good technology can do in this space.
As we get more coverage, we'll add more symbols of trust right at the top of the page.
We're just getting started, so thanks for your feedback!
The app is—of course—on SSL.
We initially offered returns for a flat $10, but being new in this space, we found it was difficult to get attention and that many were still doing their taxes on paper because of the perception that they had to pay. We're hoping we can convince many of these paper filers to switch knowing that payment is optional, not mandatory.
https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/product/MNC73CL/A/siri-remote