Online Tax Filing Catches On In 2001 With Greater Success Planned Next Year

Toronto, April 27, 2001 - Despite being a relatively new option on the Web, filing taxes online is catching on with 35% of Canadian Internet Users who say they plan to file their taxes online this year. This is according to a recent study conducted by Ipsos-Reid and sponsored in part by National Post Online.

The study of 1,000 regular Internet users proves that the Web is poised to play a much greater role with respect to tax filing, with a whopping 52% planning to file their taxes online in the future. Not surprisingly, filing online is more easily accepted by those who have been connected to the Internet for three years or more, at 37%, and a significantly higher percentage of frequent online shoppers said they plan to file online this year.

This news comes on the heels of findings released by the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency, showing that of the 13 million who have filed taxes this year, one million have done so using their computers.

"As the deadline approaches, the convenience and efficiency of filing online will be attractive to a good percentage of the remaining 10 million Canadians yet to file," said Marcie Sayiner, Senior Research Manager with Ipsos-Reid. "As for the reasons why Canadians prefer not to file online, the clear majority (72%) still prefer to file through an advisor and, for one in three, issues of privacy and security remain a concern."

According to the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency, paper remains the favorite way of filing, although mailed-in returns have decreased to 7.8 million, from 8.7 million last year.

Of those who plan to file their taxes online this year, there is an almost even split across gender and age, with those aged 55 and years up almost as likely to file online as those aged 18-34 years (at 39% and 34% respectively.) Regionally, more Canadians in the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario and BC will file online in 2001.

"An even split across age and gender is almost unprecedented for a new online feature such as this," said Sayiner. "While those planning to do their taxes online in the future are predominately between the ages of 18-34, the fact that this tool is already so broadly successful is an indication of its predicted ongoing success with Canadians."

Given this broad appeal, online sites such as National Post Online have recognized the traffic building and revenue potential the online tax tool can afford. National Post Online recently added an online tax filing function to their site for the 2001 tax year, direct from their home page, through a simple-to-use tax program powered by TaxWiz. The national news site has chosen to offer this functionality in attempt to save users both time and money when filing their taxes this year.

"National Post Online users are long term savvy veterans of the Internet, as well as online buyers, which is why we felt this initiative was perfect fit," said Martin Byrne. "This year was a test-launch that has met with great success. Given the predicted number of Canadians planning to file online in the future, we look forward to building on this initiative next year."

National Post Online is promoting this new service nationally in print and online, and has made it highly accessible throughout the site via online banners and buttons. National Post Online continues to form new and innovative partnerships since its re-launch last June, and has successfully positioned itself in a competitive marketplace with its outstanding content strategy, offering comprehensive and relevant news and information, alongside in-depth special reports and interactive features.

The "Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report" is the largest, most comprehensive and authoritative source of its kind about quarterly Internet trends in Canada. The results are based on two separate data collection instruments. In the first, 1,000 web users from Ipsos-Reid's Canadian Internet Panel are surveyed online. Panelists are chosen through random telephone surveys conducted on an ongoing basis across Canada. Results are complemented by a further 1,500 interviews via telephone with Canadian adults in order to verify results of the panel, and track issues among non-Internet users. The most recent quarterly results were collected in March 2001.

These data are statistically weighted to reflect the population proportions of regular online users by online expertise and regional distribution. Our panelists represent approximately 12.4 million Canadian adult Internet users who are online for one hour a week or more (there are a total of 15.3 million adults who have Internet access). With a national sample of 1,000 and 1,500 (for each component), one can say with 95% certainty that the overall results are within a maximum of 1772.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire population of Canada's regular online users been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population.

Established in 1979, Ipsos-Reid is Canada's leading market research and public opinion company. Its is best known for the Angus Reid Express Poll, the most widely quoted source of public opinion in the country. Founded by Dr. Angus Reid, Ipsos-Reid has conducted extensive market and social research in 80 countries and in 40 languages, and serves clients around the world through more than 300-professionals and 1,000 data collection staff in eleven offices. The company is a member of the Paris-based Ipsos Group, ranked among the top ten research companies in the world.

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For more information contact:
Marcie Sayiner
Senior Manager
Ipsos-Reid
(604) 893-1603

Marianne McBean
Senior Marketing Manager
National Post Online
(416) 386-2752