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A tax company can be an accounting firm, a franchise storefront, an online preparer or a one person practice, and the CRA treats all of them as tax preparers. We can’t tell you which one is best, since we couldn’t confirm prices, reviews or rankings for any named firm. What we can do is show you how to pick one, and when you don’t need one at all.
Do you even need a tax company?
Maybe not. If your return is a T4, a few receipts and a RRSP slip, certified software will handle it, and the CRA says most software prepares a basic return for free when income is modest. A firm earns its fee when there’s a business, rental property, foreign income, a death in the family or a late return going back years.
Try a quick test. Run your numbers through the income tax calculator and the tax refund calculator. If nothing surprises you, you probably know your own return well enough to file it.
How do you choose a tax company?
Start with the CRA’s tax preparer directory, which lists preparers certified to file returns through EFILE. Certification means they can transmit your return. It doesn’t tell you they’re any good, so ask more.
Ask who actually prepares the return, what it costs before they start, and how they charge. Fixed fees are easier to compare than a percentage. Ask what they need from you (tax slips, receipts for credits and deductions, supporting papers) and what happens if the CRA writes to you afterward. Get the answers in writing.
Then look at how they file. You should get to review the return, and you’ll sign Form T183 authorizing electronic filing. Don’t sign a blank one. Keep your copy of it and your slips and receipts for at least six years, as the CRA advises.
What does the process look like once you pick someone?
You send your slips and receipts, they prepare the return, and you go through it before anything is filed. That review step is where you catch a missing slip or a credit you were expecting. Dev in Mississauga learned this the hard way: his preparer left out a T5 slip, and he only noticed because he read the draft line by line. Ten minutes of reading saved him an amended return.
Ask for a copy of the finished return and your notice of assessment when it arrives. If your refund looks far off from your own estimate, call the preparer before assuming the CRA made an error.
What should make you walk away?
A promise of an unusually large refund. The CRA warns that preparers offering that may be using questionable practices, and that some schemes take a share of the refund as their fee. Sound too good? Get independent advice before anything is filed.
Refund discounting is a separate thing. It means the preparer files your return and pays you part of your expected refund at once, less a fee. The Tax Rebate Discounting Act sets the fees, and the CRA administers it. The cost of getting money a few weeks early is usually worth a calculation, and the percentage calculator does it fast: divide the fee by your refund.
What if you run a business or a corporation?
Then the questions change. Ask whether the firm files T2 corporate returns, handles GST/HST and payroll, and how they’d deal with instalments. Our guides on the company tax return and the self employed tax return cover the dates you’ll want them to hit.
The corporate tax calculator gives you a rough tax figure to test their estimate against. If a firm’s number is far off yours, ask why. There may be a good reason, like credits our engine ignores.
Is a cheaper preparer ever the smarter pick?
Sometimes. If your return is simple, a low fee for a straightforward job is fine, and you’d be wasting a few bucks on a full-service firm. The risk comes when a simple price meets a complicated return. Say what’s in your return up front, including the side gig or the rental, so the quote matches the work. A fixed fee agreed in advance beats a surprise bill in April.
Where this information comes from
Everything here about preparers, EFILE, Form T183 and refund discounting comes from the CRA‘s page on using a professional tax preparer, and its page on beware of tax schemes. Statements about software come from the CRA’s certified software page. We made no claims about any company’s fees. This site has no link with the CRA or any firm.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find a certified tax preparer?
Use the CRA's tax preparer directory. It lists preparers certified to file returns through EFILE.
What is Form T183?
It's the form you review and sign to authorize a preparer to file your return electronically. Keep a copy.
Should I pay a tax company a percentage of my refund?
We'd be wary. The CRA warns that some schemes take part of the refund as the fee, so ask for a fixed price first.
Can I file for free instead?
The CRA says most certified software prepares a basic return free if your income is modest. Options vary by provider.
Which tax company is cheapest?
We couldn't confirm prices for any firm, so get written quotes from two or three.
- How Canadian income tax works: brackets and credits
How federal and provincial Canadian income tax stack up, what marginal and average rates mean, and how credits and deductions change your bill