Transitioning a Dependant to their own Return when no longer a Dependant

[defrederick]

Greetings, I'm resurrecting an old thread from three years ago that still hasn't been addressed. What's the best way to transition dependants who have left home? Is there a carry-forward summary sheet I can use when I have to manually create a new return using all of my son's previous tax information? An option to create a new independent return when removing a dependant would be sweet and is actually expected from even semi-sophisticated software. 

 

I can't believe this was asked for three years ago and there's nary a hint of this functionality in your software. It's almost as if UFile assumes once a dependant, always a dependant.

 

It reminds me of the "import" function UFile had about 5 years ago that took you through opening your old software and manually copying/pasting different values into the new software. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't still the case.

 

Dan

[Howard S]

I have a grown child that is now independant - I would like to create return that reflects this but does not loose past data.

Did check last year and saw the thread requesting this.

 

This cannot have been ignored by Ufile can it? It is an important issue for me.

[DaveAt42K]

The need for an "File \ Export a Dependent's details to a new tax file" option is so obvious to anyone with children who are leaving home, that I can't understand why UFile hasn't provided this capacity before now.  It would be not difficult to provide.

 

Q: Can anyone representing UFile speak to this issue and say whether we can expect a solution in UFile 2016?

 

In reply to those who have commented on this issue:  I'm running UFile 2015 (Windows).  I've found no way to export a dependent's details from my current tax file.  The latter is a binary file, so I can't open it with a text editor and read or copy relevant sections from it, as I might if it were an xml-type file.  I think that all I can do is take note of those of my dependent's financial details (in my current tax file) that I will need in her own tax file), open a new tax file for her, and manually enter my now-ex-dependent's details into that file.

 

Maybe next year UFile will be more considerate of clients who have dependents who are moving out of the parental home or otherwise becoming financially independent.  To paraphrase Mr Trudeau, "Why not?  It's 2016.".

[Anatoli]

been asking for this 5 years ago

[Very Frustrated]

I have used UFile for about 7 years with mixed results.  While it speeds up all the manual recalculations, I'm pretty sure I spend more time trying to figure out how to change or add something to the return than I save from not having to do manual calculations/recalculations. 

 

My latest frustration is dealing with my daughter's return.  She has moved to a different province to attend grad school.  I've spent hours over this past weekend trying to figure out how to prepare her return to reflect her new address.  I have been told by UFile's support (in one of those support replies that doesn't actually answer your question, but provides enough hints that it isn't worth trying to pursue) that the system isn't designed to accommodate a non-dependent taxpayer on the same account.

 

I then spent a LONG time trying to figure out how to add a separate non-dependent taxpayer file to my account.

 

I have now spent a LONG time trying to figure out how to download her 2015 .tax file so I can upload it to the new account I created.

 

Having found this post (which seems to be telling me that I can't download it and have to enter all the information manually), I then spent a VERY LONG time trying to figure out how to post a reply to this message.  It kept telling me that I had to log in even though I was already logged in (and couldn't figure out how you could get to the support forum without being logged in in the first place).  So I would enter my UFile log-in credentials and it would tell me that my user name or password was not valid.  So I would try it again, and again.  So I decided that maybe the problem was that I was simultaneously logged in to UFile with multiple accounts (my family account and the account I had just created for my daughter) and logged out of everything before logging back in.  That didn't work.  Eventually, I figured out that the community forum requires a separate registration with a separate ID and password.  How goofy is that?

 

I then spent a LONG time trying to register for the support forum, because it kept rejecting my attempt to decipher the CAPTCHA (and each time it re-set the registration screen check box to "I DO want to receive crap spam email from UFile".

 

Now that I'm here, I will add my voice to those who wonder why (a) UFile does not support non-dependent family members on the same account (if you want to charge me another fee, that's fine) and (b) UFile no longer appears to support exporting .tax file data for upload into a different account or system.

 

If I've spent about 5 hours this weekend doing my family's tax returns (of which one I now have to completely re-do), I bet 3.5 of those hours has been searching to figure out the solutions to UFile technical problems.  It'd hard to imagine I've saved 3.5 hours of manual calculation/re-calculation time.

[Very Frustrated]

Just learned one more great feature about UFile: So as I mentioned above, I've had to create a completely separate account for my adult daughter.  And since there is no way to automatically transfer (or even export/import) the tax data from her old account to her new one, I'm having to manually enter it.  So I've opened both accounts in separate browser windows so I can copy it while viewing the old and new accounts side-by-side, and guess what?  UFile can't handle it.  If I have two accounts open simultaneously in different browsers, it gives me an error message that says "Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation".  The first time I got it, I thought it was just a random crash.  Then I realized when I flipped back and forth, I couldn't move between pages.  Any time I tried to change pages, I got the error message. So now I guess I'm going to go get my laptop and balance it on my desk to have one account open on my desktop and a different one open on my laptop, all because UFile can't seem to handle two accounts open simultaneously.

 

And just so this isn't just a rant post, I'll add, "let me know if you have any solutions for this".

[RoyToronto]

I have been using Ufile online for years.  My children are, or soon will be independent.  I would like to have them do their taxes soon.  Transitioning a dependent should be an option for Ufile customers, and such an option would allow Ufile to obtain new families who are likely to remain loyal customers.  I see someone asked about this years ago.  I would suggest it would be a welcome addition.

[Dean726]

Glad to see I'm not the only one in this situation.  Seems like a pretty simple feature to add -  does anyone at UFILE actually monitor these posts?  Posting to keep it alive just in case.

[kwaclaw]

Wow, I can't believe this. Have been using UFile for17 years!!!

My daughter has started to take over her own financial responsibilities, and I was totally convinced that transitioning her from a dependent to a separate account should be a matter of a few mouse clicks.

Does anyone know tax software that can do this? Its time to switch!

[Karen Pan]

Has Ufile developed a way to transition a student/dependent to an independent file and have the previous years data transferable to their current taxation year?? I don't want him to pay for his own Ufile account and not have this information available.

[ufileuser123]

wrote to Ufile online on this matter, automated response; not helpful.

called Ufile, received received assurance this was fixed; suggested that i download 2019 ufile to confirm; did not believe the helpdesk was truthful.

 

[CJ-tax]

Does anyone know if this has been resolved for 2019?  If I'm still stuck entering everything manually, I might be better off just going with another product.

[kswaen]

Has there been any advancement on this issue. It seems like it would affect an lot of people and shouldn't have been that hard to do.

[Mike Callaghan]

In that boat this year , three kids have finished university and now living on their own, need to seperate the family return

 

[TheTaxSmith]

Hello Mike and Others. As mentioned by Nawal Ufile doesn't support being able to clone dependants history/balances into a new separate file away from a family file. Maybe something Ufile will look at. I believe the issue is due to the format of the file and the way the data gets entered. The commercial big brother of Ufile (DtMax) easily handles the situation but it is built with a single Keyword and Data entry screen, really just a list of data. Ufile however had to appeal to the individual taxpayer that in many cases may not have the skill set of a CPA and the knowledge of tax laws. They built a more user friendly package that helps the users prepare their returns.

I would suggest that anyone needing to setup a new file for an individual that was previously a dependant that they pull up a "pdf" copy (preferably on a 2nd screen) of the dependant's prior year file and use it to get information to be entered into a current separate file. It is important to have copies of the NOA (Notice of Assessment) from the prior year to reconcile any unused/carryforward amounts from the NOA that need to be entered into the current file.  If you are in Quebec make sure you have both the Federal and Provincial NOAs as the unused/carryforwards can be different.

Just a suggestion.

 

[Caper10]

I too have been using Ufile for 8 years. Well, I see that many are running into the same issue I have. My son is finished university, so I am now trying to do his tax independently. I thought it was going to be a simple exercise where I carry forward my return, delete my spouse and me and make him head of family. Not so, thanks to TAXSMITH for the pdf  suggestion of opening the pdf file to extract the data to enter manually.

I agree that UFile should have an easy way to change head of family or import the dependent file data into a new tax file.

It looks like I will be doing it manually.

[jssyyj]

On 3/19/2017 at 4:23 PM, Very Frustrated said:

So now I guess I'm going to go get my laptop and balance it on my desk to have one account open on my desktop and a different one open on my laptop, all because UFile can't seem to handle two accounts open simultaneously.

 

And just so this isn't just a rant post, I'll add, "let me know if you have any solutions for this".

Open one session in an Incognito/Private Browsing window and the other in normal browsing mode. 

 

[jssyyj]

On 3/19/2017 at 4:23 PM, Very Frustrated said:

Just learned one more great feature about UFile: So as I mentioned above, I've had to create a completely separate account for my adult daughter.  And since there is no way to automatically transfer (or even export/import) the tax data from her old account to her new one, I'm having to manually enter it.  So I've opened both accounts in separate browser windows so I can copy it while viewing the old and new accounts side-by-side, and guess what?  UFile can't handle it.  If I have two accounts open simultaneously in different browsers, it gives me an error message that says "Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation".  The first time I got it, I thought it was just a random crash.  Then I realized when I flipped back and forth, I couldn't move between pages.  Any time I tried to change pages, I got the error message. So now I guess I'm going to go get my laptop and balance it on my desk to have one account open on my desktop and a different one open on my laptop, all because UFile can't seem to handle two accounts open simultaneously.

 

And just so this isn't just a rant post, I'll add, "let me know if you have any solutions for this".

On 3/19/2017 at 4:23 PM, Very Frustrated said:

So now I guess I'm going to go get my laptop and balance it on my desk to have one account open on my desktop and a different one open on my laptop, all because UFile can't seem to handle two accounts open simultaneously.

 

And just so this isn't just a rant post, I'll add, "let me know if you have any solutions for this".

Open one session in an Incognito/Private Browsing window and the other in normal browsing mode. 

 

[jssyyj]

Adding my voice to this request.  If automatically carrying forward the dependent's information to a new separate return is not technically feasible, I would expect uFile to provide a guide for doing this manually.

[JMC]

Very disappointed. If I knew that the kids would be forever link to my spouse and my account I would have not bought the software. Even if you put in zero income and not dependent (they spell it with an "a" and a "e" in the software!) UFILE still will not process not provide me a review of my taxes if there are any errors in the non-dependent children. I also just learned that to completely de-link them, I have to set up two new accounts for them and manually re-entry prior year's data. And then Ufile's mgt wonder why they have attrition. Very short sighted.  

[Anthony7787]

As a Ufile for Windows user with kids, I also would be interested in an export feature--we won't be doing their taxes forever....

[Geo123]

Hello Anthony7787,

Thank you for your suggestion, I will pass it on to the DEV team.

[chucky_ott]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:55 AM, Geo123 said:

Hello Anthony7787,

Thank you for your suggestion, I will pass it on to the DEV team.

 

No offense, but this feature has been requested forever and it's being passed on to the DEV team just now ?   I too am ready to sever my family tax return to individual files for my adult children.  But I'm using UFile for Windows and the feature is not available there either.

[p2024]

Hello,   I have just gone through this for one of our adult children.  We use the Windows version (up to four Netfile submissions) and install on our computer, as opposed to using the web version.  What I did is:

(1).  made a duplicate copy of the .u22 file from last year for the whole family, renamed it.  This .u22 file was _not_ used but I wanted a backup just in case ! (*).  (2). ran UFile 2023 and for the rest of the family, brought the original .u22 file forward, thus importing everyone's history, then deleted the former dependent, and carried on to generate tax returns for everyone but our young adult.  (3). for the young adult, ran UFile 2023 and starting from zero set up a new family comprising just that one person.  Entered name, address, telephone etc.  (4). To bring in the person's history, opened 2022 tax return pdf for that person and entered values on the UFile 2023 Prior Year Info (Line by Line) page.  (5). But not done yet!  The Prior Year Info page doesn't include lots of things which vary from person to person.  If you are doing this, look for tuition/education federal credit and provincial credit carried forward, RRSP limit from prior year, unused federal donations/gifts carried forward, and items specific to your young adult.  There could be different items for different people.  Basically, look through the 2022 pdf and when you have generated a draft pdf for 2023, look to see if any calculation is based on prior history.  Some of these items are on the 2022 Notice of Assessment in addition to last year's UFile tax return pdf.  (And by the way, the CRA appears to truncate the numbers so that fractions of a dollar are lost each year, so their values can be one or two dollars lower that the UFile tax return whose values are at the precision of a penny.)

I agree with everyone else who posted:  Modernizing the UFile code to have the ability to turn a dependent into a family head should have been done years ago, and come on, the software to do what I just described above can't be very complicated on the scale of what is already there!  UFile decision makers, what are you waiting for?

(*) Making a duplicate copy of 2022 at the outset was just done out of prudence.  If for some reason I wanted to go back and run UFile 2022 to check something for the former dependent I would use the copied file so as to not unwittingly change the history for anyone else in the original .u22 file.  Avoidance of Murphy’s Law, in other words.

 

 

[Geo123]

Hello p2024,

Thank you for your suggestion. We will submit this to our development team for review.  The development team will decide if a suggestion is implemented for a future release.  The development team is continuously evaluating client feedback to improve the UFile experience.
We appreciate comments and feedback from our clients.
Thank  you for being a loyal UFile customer.