More Canadians Filed Their Tax Return Online This Year Than Ever Before

May hasn’t been kind to much of Canada this year, but we can all exhale a little bit with the tax filing deadline in the rear-view mirror. At least most of us can, and if you’re not one of “us,” it’s time to get moving.

Whether you have filed or are planning to file your return, chances are your medium of choice will be online. According to a recent press release, “close to 90% of those [tax returns] received this year, were filed online.”

It’s not only the actual filing that Canadians turned online for. Also noted by the release is that “A 21% increase in new registrations for the CRA’s online service portals, including My Account,” occurred in 2017.

These services have existed for several years and have seen an increasing number of Canadians hop on board. Now, hovering around the 90% mark, nearly the entire country partakes, save for a few holdouts.

The attraction of completing a return online is twofold. First, there is the convenience factor. Services like TurboTax provide built-in aid for laymen, streamlining the process and removing most of the guesswork. Second is the time-saving element. With the click of the button you can submit your return, which removes the in-transit period and wrong address variable that could potentially lead to a late return.

Also contributing to the time-saving element is the option of direct deposit. Those eligible for a refund receive their return “In as little as eight business days,” according to the release.

The merits of online filing represent a broader trend emerging in the finance world (and the world at large). The traditional paper-trail is giving way to a more user-friendly and expedited process, something we’ve seen with processes like billing over the past decade, and something we are beginning to see with auto insurance policies.