Taxes, taxes! I'm out of the loop!

[salsabike]

Turbo Tax is excellent. The IRS used to make you pay to file online--I think this is the first year they're doing it without a fee. That's what we did this year. Turbo Tax and online filing.

[Pax]

No, I mean FREE - links from the IRS site to sites that have the forms and do the calculations. There's a whole list of 'em. You have to have income less than 56,000 - but hte one I clicked on will even do the business form C. ( http://citizentaxfree.com/ )

But you're right about $35 ... and online would mean I could get it now

Free is for your Federal return only, the State will run you around $14. Like Zen, I use TaxAct and it works just fine.

[indysteel]

I've used Turbo Tax for about four years now and agree it's fairly idiot proof.

I will say that they kind of screwed up my state taxes this year though. Some Indiana counties had some property tax issues that resulted in a tax rebate issued in 2008 for taxes that were assessed in 2006 and payable in 2007. Turbo's calculation for the deduction I was able to take this year was very overstated. After reading the state's instructions repeatedly, I could only conclude that the program was wrong. I ended up doing my state taxes on my own.

So, while I think these programs are very helpful, if something doesn't look right, you should double check the calculations.

[reddDesign]

I used turbotax this year with no problems. Did have to opt for the one that cost mulah since I had a 1099. What a pain in the rear.

Other then that, quick, easy, saves time methinks.

[Geonz]

My brother happened to call and he explained to me that the guvmint told the sofwtare companies that if they wanted guvmint cooperation, they had to get people doing their taxes online, to the tune of five online filings per software license sold. So, it makes sense that folks making less than 56,000 a year might be less likely to fork over the bucks anyway... Im going to see if I can do free first...

[mayanorange]

I have used turbo tax software for years, but this year tried the online thing. I had a 1099, so Turbo Tax wanted me to shell out the $50 again, but I saw TaxAct would be like $20 even with state e-file, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was about as easy as Turbo Tax- lots of q&a things, pretty straightforward. I definitely recommend it.

[Tuckervill]

I've used TurboTax for at least 10 years and never had a problem. I do buy the premier package because we have rental property. But, the cost of the program is the same as hiring someone to do it, so it is deductible. If you don't have any specific circumstances that require it, the free online version works fine, too.

My 15 yo had income last year, and paid in $2.49 in taxes, so we used the free program on the IRS website (1040EZ) back in February (mostly a civics lesson!). Today it occurred to me that he had not received a check for his refund. So when I mentioned it he said, "I got an email from them." What did it say? "I don't know, I didn't read it."

The civics lesson is NEVER IGNORE THE IRS! lol.

Karen