Linux tax software

[Scott Allen]

On Sun Apr 18,2004 09:32:22 AM Stewart C. Russell wrote:
> As I'm pretty sure there are no native Linux tax programs, I tried
> ufile.ca last night. Its fancy JavaScript drop-down menus got all
> messed up under Mozilla 1.6, and Opera 7 wouldn't get passed its
> browser check.
> 
> Curiously, Mozilla 1.5 on our eMac worked just fine (even if it did
> try to install the windows version of Acrobat Reader first). I filed
> both of our returns  in about 90 minutes (total), for about $20.

I tried ufile.ca online this year because they specifically said they 
support Linux with Mozilla. It worked fine for me with Mozilla 1.3 
under Linux. I also did some of my return using I.E. under Win98 and 
also Netscape under Win2k without any major problems.

There were some small problems with browser window sizes that were 
easily corrected by resizing or scrolling. I noticed some cases where 
they could have performed easy error checks and given warnings, but 
didn't. While experimenting, I was able to claim net capital losses 
greater than my net capital gains. Also, they happily accepted RRSP 
contributions well beyond my limit for the year, even though the limit 
had been asked for and given to them. 
Overall though, I was satisfied with ufile.ca and will probably use 
them again next year.

On the other hand, I used taxwiz.ca previously for 2002 because they 
said they supported Netscape and I was hoping that Mozilla would be 
close enough. It turned out that Mozilla under Linux didn't work (after 
entering some data, clicking the button to accept the data didn't do 
anything, so you couldn't proceed) and the same thing happened with 
Netscape under Win98. Only I.E. would work. I continued with I.E. 
because I had been required to pay up front. Then, even with I.E., I 
couln't find a way to retain some of my RRSP contributions made in the 
first 60 days of 2003 for my 2003 return. I entered an online help form 
three times and got no reply, after waiting well over the recommended 2 
days each time. I finally found a support e-mail address on their web 
pages and sent my problem to them using it. Within a few days I got a 
reply. They said the way I had to do it was download a one time use 
offline version for Windows (at no aditional charge), along with my 
data, and use it. This worked, but by then I ended up filing late. 
Fortunately, I was owed money so it wasn't a big problem. Although I 
used NetFile, I found that the printed PDF copy of the final return to 
be only a close approximation of the real goverment forms and some 
values spilled out of the boxes that they were in. This year's ufile.ca 
PDF output was pretty much identical to the real forms including all 
the graphics.


-- 
** Scott Allen   scotta-cpI+UMyWUv9BDgjK7y7TUQ=@public.gmane.org **
**     Toronto, Ontario, Canada     **
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