The IRS offers a service called Free File to all tax payers with an adjusted gross income of $54,000 or less. Directly from the site:
With Free File, you can:
• Get a faster refund, in as little as 10 days with Direct Deposit.
• File your taxes any hour of the day or night.
• Save paper—and that helps all of us.
And, with Free File you can relax because you’ll:
• Benefit from Free File’s automatic checks for accuracy.
• Receive a quick confirmation within 48 hours that your return was received.
• Know that your return is safe and secure.
Free File is also available in Spanish and is so easy you can do it yourself.
Why pay a tax prep business hundreds of dollars when you can take the time to do it yourself for FREE? Peep this. Every year, they give a bunch of seasonal employees 4-6 weeks of training, then call them experts. I call them data entry specialists because all they do is take your tax forms and plug the information into a software program just like everyone else.
I won’t even mention the exorbitant fees associated with rapid refund checks. When you e-file and opt for direct deposit, it only takes 10 days to get your money. Please wait 10 days! You’ve survived without the money all year long, so 10 more days will not kill you. The $150+ you save is a month’s worth of groceries.
Many states also offer FREE options to file your state taxes. The Federal Tax Administration has a neat little tool to help you find out if your state is one of them.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and the topic of various tax filing services came up. I mentioned the IRS Free File, as well as TaxAct because it’s free for all filers - regardless of AGI. And guess what she said? She’d rather go to [insert big box tax filer] because it’s only $60.
*blank stare*
Everyday, I realize there are just some things I’ll never understand.
