FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 23, 2002

THIS IS THE YEAR Canadians discover the power and simplicity of online tax filing.

"In fact," predicts Malcolm Campbell, vice-president and general manager of UFile.ca, a professional quality online tax preparation program, "we think it will be a breakout year for efiling."

The Canadian Revenue Agency, the new name for Revenue Canada, is also looking for a significant increase in the number of Canadians using CRA's NetFiling system, says Campbell. This system enables taxpayers to email their returns directly to CRA.

NetFiling was introduced in 1999. Some 400,000 Canadians took advantage of NetFiling during its inaugural run. This number increased by 350 per cent to 1.42 million in 2001. This year, UFile is looking for at least two million Canadians to use CRA's NetFiling system, with "significant" increases every year thereafter.

"It's just a question of time," adds Campbell, referring to the U.S. experience, where 13.5 million taxpayers are expected to use IRS's online tax-filing system this tax season. "The number of people using the Internet to file their returns is increasing annually in the U.S. but Canadians are more Internet savvy than their U.S. cousins - so online filing is likely to be adopted by Canadians at an even faster rate."

Campbell sees this growing trend in Canada being driven essentially by the seven million plus Canadians who now do their returns by hand.

"Certainly Ottawa would like to see it and is encouraging Canadians to make the switch. For CRA," adds Campbell, "it makes a lot of sense. It's more cost effective, and for users, an escape-proof way to complete their returns without the usual mistakes that have bedeviled the people at CRA for decades."

Campbell also predicts that while much of the attention is focused on box tax programs, this emphasis will gradually change as consumers shift their attention to online tax preparation programs, like UFile, which are able to incorporate the latest tax changes as they occur and on the fly.

UFile's tax preparation program does this and plans further changes to make it the most sophisticated program in the market place today, he adds. UFile is based on the highly successful Dr Tax program, developed for tax professionals and backed by an impressive 14-year track record in a very demanding market. UFile incorporates this expertise at virtually every level.

How long does it take to do your return online? About 10 or 15 minutes for the average person.

Cost? One of the cheapest in the market today -- $12.95 for an individual return and just under $20 for an entire family.

Low-income seniors and students, in fact, anyone who earns less than $20,000 a year, go to www.ufile.ca and use it for free.

"The great thing about filing your return over the Internet is that it's in CRA's hands the minute you file it," says Campbell.