Here’s a diagram showing all the Canadian tax software options, almost everything is made by a Canadian company except two of the most commonly used.
Please stop using turboTax and H&R Block, you’ll likely save quite a bit of money by switching to one of the Canadian owned options too. (H&R Block charges $49.98 for a typical couple, Studio Tax charges $17.50 for up to 10 returns). GenuTax is completely free to use.
Links to each of the Canadian options are available on ShopCanadianStuff.ca
The graphic is originally from ShopCanadianStuff.ca/blog
Neither in Canada nor in the US do you need to pay a service to file taxes. All you need to do is get the forms and fill them out. People use these services because the forms are very long with many things to figure out, most of which don’t apply to most people.
I dunno about the US but in Canada you can download the completed form at the end before submitting it to the tax agency. Using this completed form can show you what you need to fill out yourself next year, assuming your circumstances don’t change.
There are some free ones in Canada, but even the paid ones are cheap I paid $15 for a license, it gives you 20 filings. I did 4 people so less than $5 each and the speed vs paper forms is worth it. However I hear Canada is moving to the system where they may do the taxes for you and you sign it.