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Tax-Filer Empowerment Canada (TFEC), a national industry association dedicated to promoting the adoption of innovative and impartial tax preparation methods, officially launched on Wednesday in Ottawa.

The association’s eight founding members are some of the most recognizable names in the tax preparation and software industry. They are:

  • H&R Block Canada
  • Intuit
  • Thomson Reuters
  • Liberty Tax
  • TaxTron
  • American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights
  • Wolters Kluwer
  • Trilogy Software

By coming together as an association, tax preparers will assist in the continued evolution of Canada’s system of tax self-assessment – whereby Canadians file their tax declarations to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Revenue Québec (RQ) – in a manner that delivers the fairness, impartiality and efficiency that Canadians deserve when filing their taxes, TFEC says in a news release.

Last year, over 25 million tax returns were digitally prepared and filed with third-party software to the CRA and RQ, representing over 87% of all tax returns in Canada.

“This initiative will help to improve collaboration between the CRA and the tax preparation and software industry as well as leverage the innovation happening in the agency and this sector. We share a common commitment to improving services for Canadians by making tax-filing easier and more efficient,” says Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, in a statement.

“We look forward to working in partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenue Québec so that tax compliance will continue to evolve in a manner that puts Canadian taxpayer interests first,” says Chris Gray, TFEC’s newly appointed executive director, in a statement.