Canadians who file their taxes with TurboTax are often confused by the different product choices available. Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, sells the product in five different flavours: Basic, which retails for $19.99, Standard, which sells for $39.99, Premier ($69.99), Home & Business ($99.99) and TurboTax 20 ($129.99). Intuit’s website comparing the features available in the different flavours recommends that the Premier edition is the right choice for someone who has rental and investment income to include in their tax return.
The TurboTax website also says that the the Home & Business edition is right for you if you are “a contract worker or self-employed & want to file personal & business taxes in one place”. A TurboTax customer who typically purchases the Standard version and had some business income in 2011 might reasonably infer that she will need the more expensive edition to complete her 2011 taxes.
But, that’s not quite accurate. All flavours of TurboTax will allow you to complete your taxes if you only use the forms method for preparing your taxes. The difference between the various TurboTax editions occurs in the extra help in the interview questions and in the number of returns (8 in Standard, 12 in Premier and Home & Business and 20 in TurboTax 20). So, if you are a TurboTax customer and are comfortable preparing Schedule 3 (Capital Gains or Losses in 2011) or T2125 (Statement of Business or Professional Activities), Standard can do the job for you.
