Tuesday, January 22, 2008

2008 - Linux Income tax Software - NOT!

It is that time of year again where I search for a Linux version of Canadian income tax preparation software. This year it is even more pressing as no one now supports Windows 98 which is on our dual-boot machine. The machine itself is great for Linux, but, there is no way I will pay to 'upgrade' the O/S to XP and it definitely will not run Vista. I started my search in the stores reading the boxes of tax preparation software and noted that Win98 was not supported and when I went to the web sites it was confirmed again.

I figured I would go to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) to see what they had for certified software and if any company had a Linux version. You can see what is certified at the CRA. At this time no one supports Linux.

When I get some time I will probably send a short note to a couple of companies asking about Linux versions. I understand that they are a business, but, a sizable population is not being served and that in my less than humble opinion is a ripe market that would love to be able to prepare their taxes in Linux.

I looked at web based companies, but, I am unsure how much I should trust them with my personal information. It is a complete unknown to me on how they secure that information and what their backup/restore procedures are and how secure that is. Unlesss something comes up soon I will have to do my forms by hand or buy a refurbished machine with XP on it and dedicate that computer to just old legacy programs that are Windows based.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thomas: You've had the same experience as me. I've already approached Intuit the makers of Quicken and Quick Tax. They have not responded to my letters wondering about software for Linux and full of reasons as to why they should build software for it. I've been doing those things on an old Win98 machine.

Today I bought the 2007 Quick Tax and didn't read the box until I got home. Thank God I didn't break the seal. I'm tired of 2 machines and won't buy XP.

Anonymous said...

http://www.taxfreeway.ca/download.html
says it works on win98

Anonymous said...

You'd think someone would develop a java based tax software? It would then be portable on most platforms, and you'd just need yearly updated templates.. Oh well, guess fillable pdf's will have to do for now.