WinTax Calculator

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on March 21, 2013

No one likes to pay taxes, eh? Translated from the original Canadian, that reads, "No one likes to pay taxes." While totally lame, our joke hinges on a fact of life for millions of people: They're Canadian. Specifically, they live, work, and pay taxes in Canada, a place so like its noisier neighbor to the south that it's all too easy to forget that lots of things are done differently up there. Such as paying taxes. WinTax Calculator from HRIS Consulting is a free tool for calculating Canadian payroll taxes. It can determine your tax on your salary, bonuses, commissions, and retroactive pay, and not just Federal tax but Provincial, too (including Quebec). It calculates CPP, EI, and other specific taxes and also creates reports. WinTax Calculator also offers user-defined earnings and deductions and saves employee information. The free tool calculates and saves payroll tax information for one user in any province, but paid upgrades are available.

It'd be hard to describe WinTax Calculator's compact user interface as anything but businesslike, but there's no doubt it's a face only a chartered accountant could love. We don't use tax calculators for their aesthetic beauty, though, and WinTax Calculator's tabbed, spreadsheet-like layout takes care of business. A Set Color tool simplified the process of color-coding cells. The program's Setup Wizard and Quick Start guide walked us through four steps: 1) Select "Province of employment"; 2) Select "Number of pay periods"; 3) Enter "Gross income for the period"; and 4) Click "Calc Tax" button. Simple enough, assuming you have all your data handy. WinTax Calculator provides example data and frequent explanations that make everything as easy as it can be, at least where paying your taxes is concerned. Some fields are mandatory, but the calculator covers everything else, or seems to -- only your tax preparer knows for sure! When in doubt, consult the very good Help file.

WinTax Calculator can maintain custom pay periods, verify SIN/Business Numbers, convert Net to Gross, and more. We're glad it's available. If you're tired of seeing plenty of tax tools for the neighbors but none for you, try WinTax Calculator.