TurboTax Self-Employed and Partnership with Credit Canada to Provide
3 Million Self-Employed Canadians with the Best Tax Resources

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 25, 2018 /CNW/ - For the 3 million self-employed Canadians – including freelancers and independent contractors – tracking finances and preparing taxes can be a year-round challenge. To make life easier, TurboTax, Canada's #1 tax software, announced the availability of TurboTax Self-Employed, Canada's only tax preparation software specifically designed for those in the gig economy.

The financial situation for self-employed individuals is often different from traditional, full-time workers. Self-employed Canadians have to understand potential deductions, untangle business and personal expenses, and may even have to keep track of multiple streams of income. This year, tax preparation for self-employed individuals may be particularly daunting, as a recent survey commissioned by TurboTax Canada found that 60 per cent of self-employed Canadians are feeling uncertain about maximizing their tax return because of pending legislative changes.

"We understand that those who are self-employed have unique needs and a more complex financial situation," says Jeff Cates, President of Intuit Canada. "TurboTax Self-Employed makes their lives less complicated, and ensures they can be confident they're getting every business deduction and dollar they deserve this tax season."

TurboTax Self-Employed walks the user through their tax preparation in a tailored step-by-step fashion, automatically prompting them to enter all pertinent self-employed specific deductions and expenses to help ensure their return is accurate and they get their maximum refund. Like all TurboTax products, TurboTax Self-Employed is backed by the TurboTax Maximum Refund Guarantee so taxpayers can be confident they receive the biggest refund they deserve.  

Two additional solutions are available to offer TurboTax Self-Employed users additional guidance:

TurboTax Live Assist & Review Self-Employed is a new solution that provides live, on-demand access to tax and product advice as users prepare their return, then a full review of the completed return. For even greater personalization, users can access TurboTax Smartlook™, a one-way video technology to quickly connect taxpayers to a live tax or product expert. 

TurboTax Live Full Service Self-Employed enables self-employed individuals to have their taxes fully prepared, optimized, reviewed and filed by a TurboTax Expert on their behalf. TurboTax Experts have an average of 17 years' experience preparing taxes, and are available on-demand to take the stress out of tax time. TurboTax Live Full Service includes year-round audit support for added confidence.

As Canada's self-employed economy continues to grow, to an estimated 45 per cent of the Canadian workforce by 2020 according to Intuit research, many Canadians are finding themselves in an unfamiliar and complicated financial situation, and lacking resources that deliver to their specific needs. TurboTax is partnering with Credit Canada to provide self-employed Canadians with the resources they need to make tax season as stress-free and straightforward as possible.

"We're happy to be working with TurboTax Canada this year to encourage self-employed Canadians to navigate tax season with confidence and avoid the pitfalls of costly financial mistakes," says Laurie Campbell, Credit Canada CEO. "Partnering with TurboTax ensures that as the self-employed economy continues to grow, we can provide Canada's self-employed individuals with the tools they need to ensure they achieve success and security, particularly during stressful times like tax season."

Today's announcement underscores Intuit's commitment to helping power prosperity around the world for small businesses, the self-employed and consumers through an ecosystem of innovative financial management solutions. For added support, QuickBooks Self-Employed is a mobile app that makes it easy for the nation's freelance workers to stay in control of their business finances and help them prepare for tax time while on the go with effortless expense, mileage, invoice and HST tracking all in one place. Users of QuickBooks Self-Employed find an average of $4,340 in tax savings per year.

About Intuit

Intuit's mission is to Power Prosperity Around the World. Its global products and platforms, including TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint and Turbo, are designed to empower consumers, self-employed, and small businesses to improve their financial lives, finding them more money with the least amount of work, while giving them complete confidence in their actions and decisions. Intuit's innovative ecosystem of financial management solutions serves partners and 46 million customers worldwide, unleashing the power of many for the prosperity of one. For the latest news and in-depth information about Intuit and its brands, visit Intuit.com  and follow on Facebook.

About Credit Canada

Credit Canada is a non-profit credit counselling agency that provides a holistic approach to debt and money management through free and confidential credit and debt counselling, personal debt consolidation and resolutions, as well as preventative counselling, educational seminars, and tips and tools in the areas of budgeting and financial goal-setting. Credit Canada is Canada's first and longest-standing credit counselling agency and a leader in financial literacy, helping Canadians manage their debt since 1966. For more information, please visit creditcanada.com.

Survey Methodology

From December 5 to 11, 2017 an online survey was conducted among 1,206 randomly selected Canadian adults, 506 of whom are Millennials (age 18-34), 200 of whom are self-employed, and 500 of whom became new parents in the past year. Respondents are members of the Angus Reid Forum or LegerWeb panel. The sample was balanced on gender and region. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.82%, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

SOURCE Intuit TurboTax