Wave is great for invoicing, but receipt tracking is an afterthought. See how ScanForTax's purpose-built receipt scanner compares for Canadian professionals.
Wave is a solid free accounting tool, but its receipt scanning is limited to photo uploads with manual data entry. ScanForTax is purpose-built for receipt management with AI-powered OCR, automatic CRA T2125 categorization, and line-item extraction — the features that actually save you time at tax season.
See exactly where each tool excels — and where it falls short.
| ScanForTax | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt Scanning | ||
| AI-powered OCR | ||
| Line-item extraction | ||
| Confidence scoring | ||
| Bulk scan processing | Planned | |
| Mobile camera scan | ||
| Email receipt forwarding | ||
| CRA Tax Compliance | ||
| Auto T2125 categorization | ||
| 21 CRA line items | ||
| GST/HST/PST split | Manual | |
| Per-item categorization | ||
| CRA-compliant 6-year retention | ||
| Reports & Export | ||
| CSV export | ||
| Excel export | ||
| QuickBooks IIF export | ||
| Year-end tax summary | ||
| Monthly category reports | ||
| Dashboard & charts | ||
| Accounting Features | ||
| Invoicing | ||
| Payroll | Paid add-on | |
| Bank connections | ||
| Double-entry bookkeeping | ||
| Income tracking | ||
AI-powered OCR
ScanForTax
Wave
Line-item extraction
ScanForTax
Wave
Confidence scoring
ScanForTax
Wave
Bulk scan processing
ScanForTax
PlannedWave
Mobile camera scan
ScanForTax
Wave
Email receipt forwarding
ScanForTax
Wave
Auto T2125 categorization
ScanForTax
Wave
21 CRA line items
ScanForTax
Wave
GST/HST/PST split
ScanForTax
Wave
ManualPer-item categorization
ScanForTax
Wave
CRA-compliant 6-year retention
ScanForTax
Wave
CSV export
ScanForTax
Wave
Excel export
ScanForTax
Wave
QuickBooks IIF export
ScanForTax
Wave
Year-end tax summary
ScanForTax
Wave
Monthly category reports
ScanForTax
Wave
Dashboard & charts
ScanForTax
Wave
Invoicing
ScanForTax
Wave
Payroll
ScanForTax
Wave
Paid add-onBank connections
ScanForTax
Wave
Double-entry bookkeeping
ScanForTax
Wave
Income tracking
ScanForTax
Wave
While Wave serves a global market, ScanForTax is purpose-built for Canadian tax rules and CRA compliance.
Every receipt auto-categorizes to the correct CRA T2125 line item — all 21 expense categories, ready for filing.
Automatically separates recoverable GST/HST from non-recoverable PST — critical for ITC claims that other tools miss.
A Costco receipt with 20 items gets each one categorized separately — office supplies, cleaning, food — to the right T2125 line.
Export year-end summaries to QuickBooks IIF, Excel, or CSV — formatted and categorized, ready for your accountant or self-filing.
Every tool has strengths. Here's where each one excels.
ScanForTax uses Mistral AI OCR to extract every line item, tax amount, and merchant detail. Wave only lets you upload a photo and manually enter the total.
Every receipt is automatically sorted into the correct T2125 expense line. Wave has generic accounting categories that don't map to CRA forms.
Export directly to QuickBooks format. Wave locks you into their accounting system with no IIF export option.
A Costco receipt with office supplies, cleaning products, and snacks gets each item categorized separately — not possible in Wave.
Wave includes invoicing, payroll, bank connections, and double-entry bookkeeping — features ScanForTax doesn't offer (by design).
Wave's free plan includes unlimited invoicing and basic accounting. ScanForTax's free tier focuses on receipt scanning with a 15-scan monthly limit.
Wave lets you forward email receipts to auto-import. ScanForTax currently requires camera scan or photo upload.
Wave is a free accounting and invoicing platform popular with Canadian small businesses. While it offers bookkeeping and payroll, its receipt scanning relies on basic photo uploads without AI-powered OCR or automatic CRA categorization.
Get up and running with ScanForTax in minutes.
Export your receipt data from Wave as CSV (Reports → Transactions → Export)
Sign up for ScanForTax and scan your receipts going forward
Use ScanForTax's AI scanner to re-scan any original receipts you still have
Your CRA-categorized data exports cleanly to QuickBooks, Excel, or CSV
Start scanning now — your first 15 scans are free, no credit card required.
$250,000+ in receipts already processed by Canadian businesses