SpidNums and TaxCycle: what each one actually does
A fair comparison for Canadian practices — what TaxCycle does well first, then where the two differ.
TaxCycle is the Canadian tax-preparation suite, now Xero-owned, with enormous mindshare among Canadian T1 and T2 preparers. SpidNums is the better fit when a Canadian firm wants flat USD $1,200-per-firm-per-year pricing, white-label branding on every plan, deadlines generated from Canadian rules rather than from generic recurring tasks, and client data hosted in Canada. Here is the honest breakdown.
What TaxCycle does well
This section comes first deliberately. TaxCycle is a serious product with real customers, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is not worth reading.
- TaxCycle is a genuinely excellent Canadian tax-preparation product with deep T1 and T2 coverage and strong EFILE workflow.
- Enormous mindshare among Canadian preparers — many firms would not consider changing, and reasonably so.
- Its client-facing signature and workflow features cover part of the ground practice management occupies.
- Now part of Xero, with growing connection to the ledger side of the stack.
Where the fit differs
These are differences in model rather than claims about missing features. Where a capability is not listed for TaxCycle, that means we did not verify it — not that it is absent.
- Layer: TaxCycle prepares and transmits returns. SpidNums does neither. SpidNums manages the firm's clients, recurring obligations, stages, owners and deadlines around the preparation work.
- Coverage: a firm's deadline load includes GST/HST cadences, payroll remittances and non-tax engagements that never touch the tax engine.
- Branding: SpidNums presents the firm's brand across the app, client emails and engagement letterhead.
- Pricing: SpidNums is a flat per-firm fee independent of return volume or seats.
Pricing
TaxCycle does not publish pricing we could verify, so this page does not state a number for it — ask the vendor for a current quote. SpidNums is a flat USD $1,200 per firm per year with every feature included, including white-label branding.
Side by side
| Compared on | SpidNums | TaxCycle |
|---|---|---|
| Prepares and transmits returns | No — works alongside your tax engine | Yes — T1, T2 and EFILE |
| Firm-wide deadline management | CRA-native: T2 six-month clock and earlier balance-due date, GST/HST by client cadence, fiscal-year-end reminders | See vendor |
| Non-tax engagements | Bookkeeping, payroll and advisory work tracked the same way | Focused on tax preparation |
| Client-facing branding | Full white-label on every plan — app, emails and letterhead | See vendor |
| Pricing | Flat USD $1,200 per firm per year, all features included | See vendor |
What SpidNums is, plainly
SpidNums is practice management for Canadian accounting firms: the client list, the services each client buys, the deadlines those services generate, the person who owns each one, and the engagement letter that defined the scope. It is not a general ledger, it does not prepare or transmit returns, and it does not calculate payroll — those stay in the tools your firm already files with.
The list below is the complete set of claims this site makes about the product. If a capability is not on it, we do not claim it.
- Multi-tenant white-label branding per firm — name, logo, colours, emails and letterhead
- Colour-coded SLA deadline dashboard ranked by proximity
- Aggregated reminders across tasks, service cadences and fiscal year-ends
- E-signed engagement letters with a public, no-login client portal
- Per-tenant Google Workspace integration
- Client portal
- Staff roles with confidential-client gating
- Canadian-hosted data (Supabase ca-central-1)
- Flat USD $1,200 per firm per year, all inclusive
- CSV/XLSX client import and export
Questions worth asking both vendors
Comparison grids converge because feature names converge. These six questions separate products that look identical on paper, and they are worth asking of TaxCycle and of SpidNums alike.
- How is a deadline generated — from a rule tied to the client's fiscal year-end and reporting period, or from a recurring task somebody configured by hand?
- When a client's filing cadence changes, is that one field or a rewrite of every future date?
- Whose brand does the client see on emails, on the portal and on a signed engagement letter — and on which plan does that become true?
- Where is client data hosted, and is tenant isolation enforced in the database or only in the application? Get the answer in writing.
- What is the total annual cost at three seats and at ten? Ask for the total, not the per-user figure.
- What comes across on migration, and what does not? Clients usually move; documents, notes and completed work usually do not.
Who should choose TaxCycle
Every Canadian firm preparing returns needs a tax engine, and TaxCycle is one of the best available. This page exists because people search for the comparison — but the honest answer is that SpidNums does not replace it and should not try to.
If that describes your firm, take the other product seriously. If it does not, the practice management overview covers what SpidNums does in full.
Switching
Nobody should switch from TaxCycle to SpidNums — they do different jobs. Firms add SpidNums as the workflow and deadline layer and keep preparing returns where they already do. Client lists import by CSV or XLSX.
SpidNums imports and exports clients as CSV or XLSX. There is no direct migration connector, so historical documents, notes and completed work do not come across automatically — plan the cutover around a period boundary rather than mid-season.
Frequently asked questions
Does SpidNums replace TaxCycle?
No. SpidNums does not prepare or transmit tax returns. TaxCycle is a tax-preparation engine; SpidNums manages the firm's client list, recurring obligations, engagement stages and deadlines around the preparation work.
Can SpidNums and TaxCycle be used together?
Yes, and that is the intended arrangement. SpidNums tracks which returns are due when and who owns each file; the returns themselves are prepared and EFILEd in TaxCycle or whichever Canadian tax engine the firm uses.
What does SpidNums cover that a tax engine does not?
Non-tax obligations and the work around the return: GST/HST cadences, payroll remittance schedules, month-end bookkeeping close, engagement letters with e-signature, client records, staff assignment and a firm-wide view of what is overdue.
Is TaxCycle Canadian?
TaxCycle is a Canadian tax-preparation suite, now owned by Xero. Its T1 and T2 coverage is built specifically for Canadian filing requirements, which is why it has such strong mindshare among Canadian preparers.