E-signature, built in
Upload the return, place the fields, send. The client signs in their browser with no account. You get a signing certificate with the full audit trail, and the signed PDF files itself into their folder.
For Canadian personal tax practices
Half a T1 season is admin.
This does that half.
The slip arrives and ticks itself off the list. The return moves itself when it is sent and again when it is signed. The signed copy files itself under the client. A signature that goes quiet gets chased without anybody remembering to.
From $15 a month, billed annually. Unlimited users. E-signature included. No card to start.
- 8stages, from in progress to filed
- 0per-seat fees — add your whole team
- 1place a client's return actually lives
- CAdata stored and backed up in Canada
By the second week of April, the spreadsheet is lying to you.
Not deliberately. It is just that the T4 arrived by text, the engagement letter was signed in someone's inbox, the fee was e-transferred on a Sunday, and none of those three things ever made it into the row. So the sheet says forty returns are outstanding when eleven of them are done, and the only way to find out which is to ask.
T1 Manager exists because the answer to “where is this return?” should not require a conversation. Every stage a return passes through is recorded when it happens, by the thing that happened — the client uploading their slip, the signature coming back, the fee being marked received.
What runs itself
Nobody presses anything.
- A client uploads their T4 The request is ticked off and the outstanding list gets shorter. Nobody opens an attachment, renames it, or crosses anything out.
- The signature request goes out The return moves to Sent for signature by itself, and the board stops showing it as something waiting on your firm.
- The client signs The return moves to Signature received, and the signed PDF and its certificate file themselves into that client's folder.
- A signature goes quiet It is chased for you — during office hours, in your timezone, a fixed number of times, and then it stops and tells a person.
- Every night The database and every document are backed up, encrypted before they leave the building, and the backup is verified by restoring it.
- The season closes Last year becomes read-only on its own. A filed return cannot be quietly edited in a season that is finished.
Guided demo
Walk one return all the way through.
This is the real interface, with sample data. Click through and watch a return go from “waiting on slips” to filed and paid — the same seven steps your season is made of.
2025 season — work
12 returns| Client | Stage | Assigned | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amrit & Nisha Gill | In progress | GP | — |
| Wei Chen | Waiting for info | DS | — |
| Ravi Sharma | Ready for partner | GP | — |
| Ellen Novak | Completed | DS | $180 |
Wei Chen is waiting on two slips. Nobody has to remember that — the stage says so.
Request documents — Wei Chen
From Smith & Co Tax <[email protected]>
Hi Wei,
We’ve started your 2025 personal tax return. To finish it we still need your T4 and T5.
You can upload them here — no password, no account:
smithco.t1manager.com/upload/…
Thanks,
Smith & Co Tax
Your firm’s name, your reply-to, your e-transfer address. Merged in for you, so no template can go out with somebody else’s details on it.
Wei’s upload page
Link openedPDF T4-2025-chen.pdf
✓
JPG t5-photo.jpg
✓
A phone camera is fine. The link expires, and it only ever opens this one client’s request — there is no account to create and nothing to sign in to.
Send for signature — Wei Chen
Sign here
Signing is part of the product. There is no second bill and no third system holding your client’s return.
Wei Chen
Signature received- 10:02 Request sent to [email protected]
- 10:14 Link opened — Toronto, ON
- 10:16 Identity confirmed
- 10:17 Signed
- 10:17 Signed PDF filed to Documents → Wei Chen
The stage moved on its own, and the signed return is already in their folder. Nobody filed it.
Fee — Wei Chen
T1 personal — 2025$180.00
Received by
E-transferCashClover
Received or not, and how. No invoicing ledger to keep in step with a bank account.
2025 season
Total clients128
In progress34
Completed81
Fees received$14,580
Outstanding$2,340
Derived from the work, not typed into a summary. It is right because it cannot be anything else.
How it works
Eight stages. No “on hold”, no invented status.
A return enters the board when you start it and leaves when it is filed and paid. Four of the eight stages advance by themselves, because the thing that moves them already happened somewhere else in the app.
- 1
In progress
Someone is working on it.
- 2
Waiting for info
The client owes you something, and it says what.
- 3
Ready for partner
Prepared, waiting on review.
- 4
Send for signature
Reviewed. Staff hand it off.
- 5
Sent for signature
Automatic when the request goes out.
- 6
Signature received
Automatic when the client signs.
- 7
Fees received
Marked with how it was paid.
- 8
Completed
Filed, signed, paid.
What comes with it
All of it, on every tier. There is no add-on pricing.
Client upload links
Ask for a T4 and the client gets a link that opens one page. Phone photos are fine. No portal account, no password reset in March.
Intake questionnaires
Send the year’s questions before you start — marital status, moves, new dependants — and get answers attached to the return instead of in a thread.
A folder per client
Everything filed under the person it belongs to, searchable, with a zip export of any of it when a client asks for their file back.
Households, done properly
Counted per individual return, grouped by family everywhere it matters. Spouses and dependants sit together without being one record.
Seasons that close
Last year is read-only. You can look at it, and nobody can quietly change a filed return in a season that is finished.
Your whole team
Unlimited users on every tier. Invite the preparer you hire in February; take their access away in May. It does not change your bill.
Mail that is yours
Connect your own mailbox and every message goes out from your firm’s address, with your letterhead and your e-transfer details merged in.
Security
You are holding other people’s SINs. So are we.
This is the part of a tax product that should be boring and specific rather than reassuring and vague. Here is exactly what happens.
A key per firm
Social insurance numbers are encrypted with a key belonging to your firm alone, held separately from the database it protects. One firm’s key cannot read another firm’s data, and destroying it is what “delete our records” actually means.
A schema per firm
Your practice is a separate database schema, not a column with your name in it. A query that goes wrong returns nothing rather than somebody else’s clients — the difference between a bug and a breach.
Backups that are checked
Nightly, encrypted before they leave the building, and verified by restoring them — not by ticking that the job ran. A restore is rehearsed monthly against the offsite copy, because a backup nobody has restored is a hope.
Data in Canada
Your clients’ records and their documents are stored and backed up in Canada.
Signing you can defend
Every signature carries a certificate: when the link was opened, from where, when identity was confirmed, and when it was signed. Append-only, so the trail cannot be tidied up afterwards.
Your data is yours
Export any client’s whole file as a zip whenever you want, without asking us. Leaving should cost you an afternoon, not a negotiation.
Pricing
Per firm, by volume. Never per seat.
Billed annually, in Canadian dollars. Add your whole team on any plan — a preparer you hire for February does not change what you pay.
Solo
Up to 100 returns a season
$15/monthbilled annually
$180 a year, billed annually
- Unlimited users
- E-signature included
- Client upload links and intake questionnaires
- Document library with zip export
- Nightly encrypted backups
Practice
Up to 250 returns a season
$25/monthbilled annually
$300 a year, billed annually
- Everything in Solo
- Unlimited users
- Season reporting and per-staff workload
- Time logging and fee tracking
- Priority support in season
Firm
Unlimited returns
$40/monthbilled annually
$480 a year, billed annually
- Everything in Practice
- Unlimited users and unlimited returns
- Multiple offices on one account
- Onboarding help with your client import
- Priority support in season
Your first three months are free
On any plan, with no card to start. Long enough to bring your client list across, run real returns through it and decide with evidence rather than a demo. We are telling you the price now rather than later, because a trial that never mentions money is just a bill you have not seen yet.
Start your three monthsQuestions people actually ask
What is T1 Manager?
T1 Manager is practice management software for Canadian personal tax firms. It tracks every T1 return through eight stages from in progress to filed and paid, requests missing documents from clients, collects e-signatures, files the signed return automatically, and reports what the season has earned.
How much does T1 Manager cost?
T1 Manager costs $15 a month for up to 100 returns a season, $25 a month for up to 250 returns, and $40 a month for unlimited returns. Every plan includes unlimited users and e-signature. Prices are in Canadian dollars and billed annually.
Is e-signature included, or is it extra?
E-signature is included on every plan at no extra cost. You upload the return, place the signature fields, and send it. The client signs in their browser without creating an account, and the signed PDF is filed into their folder automatically. There is no separate signing subscription.
Do you charge per user or per seat?
No. T1 Manager is priced per firm, by return volume, and every plan includes unlimited users. A preparer you hire for February does not change your bill, and you are not paying for them in August.
Where is my clients' data stored?
In Canada. Client records and documents are stored and backed up in Canada. Each firm's data lives in its own separate database schema rather than sharing tables with other firms, and social insurance numbers are encrypted with a key belonging to that firm alone.
How are social insurance numbers protected?
Each firm has its own encryption key, held separately from the database it protects, and SINs are encrypted with it. One firm's key cannot read another firm's data. Destroying that key is what makes a firm's stored SINs permanently unreadable, which is what a deletion request actually requires.
What happens to my data if I leave?
You can export any client's complete file as a zip at any time, without asking us. Leaving should cost you an afternoon rather than a negotiation.
Can clients upload documents without creating an account?
Yes. When you request a document, the client gets a link that opens one page where they can upload from a phone or computer. There is no account, no password, and the link expires. It only ever opens that one client's request.
Does T1 Manager prepare or file the return with the CRA?
No. T1 Manager is practice management, not tax preparation software. You keep preparing and EFILING returns in whatever you use today; T1 Manager handles everything around it — chasing documents, tracking the stage each return is at, signatures, fees and reporting.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. The first three months are free, on any plan, and no card is needed to start. After that it is $15, $25 or $40 a month depending on how many returns your practice files.
How long does it take to get started?
About two minutes to create your firm and sign in. You get your own address, an empty season, and the eight-stage pipeline already set up. There is a CSV importer for bringing your client list across when you are ready.
Set your firm up in about two minutes.
You will have your own address, your own data, and an empty season ready to start. Bring your client list when you are ready — there is an importer for it.