Group: LibrePlanet Ontario/FLCTPSP

Free/Libre Canadian Tax Preparation Software Project

From the Group:LibrePlanet Ontario#Projects section: The members of LibrePlanet Ontario have identified a need to have Free Software for the preparation of Canadian tax returns. This is the project co-ordination page for creating such software.

Add overall project naming suggestions here (you need a (gratis) FSF userid to edit this page):

• Free/Libre Canadian Tax Preparation Software Project fondly known as FLCTPSP - very descriptive and no trademark issues
• ImpôtLibreTax - no hits in Google, ImpôtLibre, LibreTax - name in use in the US
• do we need to trademark names?

The CRA certification process tends to split the overall project into two major components:

• non-certified - there is no requirement to certify software that submits on paper. We can develop the tax calculation engine without being certified for NetFile.
• certified - this requires a fairly high level of minimum function which the CRA certifies through test suites. Certification allows us to submit electronically and perhaps also to prefill information from MyAccount. ImpôtNet Québec is a separate electronic filing process with separate requirements to be determined.

Non-certified (base) Considerations:

• There is a huge amount of tax logic to implement and maintain, especially to get CRA certification.
• GHK believes the main challenge for this project is to figure out how to crowd source the tax logic. To build a system that accountants come to depend on and want to support similar to how corporations have come to depend on Linux and contribute to develop it.
• E-text exists for most if not all the T1 forms. E-text is an accepted official format for submission on paper that should be relatively straightforward to output. It may also be possible to parse a considerable amount of tax logic from the E-text forms.

Certification Considerations:

• As of 2016-07-02 Linux is not listed as a platform on the CRA Software Developer's Application for NetFile https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ubDH-ftX8jeWlmamNtUFlpeHc CRA only recommends proprietary tools for proprietary operating systems: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/ndvdls/netfile-impotnet/crtfdsftwr/menu-eng.html. There may be additional issues as we work through the application process.
• XML specifications are available for files but not for the protocol: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/rf/xmlspcs2016/menu-eng.html
• Suggest that the tax specification files and the protocol for sending tax files become another open data set: http://open.canada.ca/en/suggested-datasets
• The CRA coordinates for NetFile certification are:
  • CS-SH@cra-arc.gc.ca
  • Electronic Filing Services Section / Section des services de transmissions électroniques
  • Electronic Services Division / Division des services électroniques
  • 750 Heron Rd, 7th floor / 750, chemin Heron, 7e étage
  • Ottawa, ON K1A 0L5
• There is an online Government of Canada Employee Directory that may be helpful if we need to further understand the CRA's internal structure. For example: http://www.goc411.ca/en/27095/Bob-Connors