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does anyone know of a free, legit service to do on-line income tax returns ?

I use Turbo Tax online myself.

http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

blebs wrote:I use Turbo Tax online myself.

http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

they have a free version ?

i found one that worked for me, thanks blebs

we looked at the tax software at office depot,staples,etc,etc,and the software was $45 to $50,
and I called H&R block and we had our fed & state returns e-filed with them for $41,for $41 it was well worth the less time & trouble for me.

Dan wrote:we looked at the tax software at office depot,staples,etc,etc,and the software was $45 to $50.

Its best to get them online directly, can usually get what you need for 20-25 bucks.

YARDofSTUF wrote:Its best to get them online directly, can usually get what you need for 20-25 bucks.

well,like I said,$41 at H&R was well worth the time/headache savings.

it's like the $25 for oil changes at Firestone,not worth getting dirty for 25.

Before I got married I had several investments that required seeing a CPA for my taxes. But for the last 7 or 8 years they've been pretty clean cut so the wife and I just go down the street to H&R.

I always get a friend of the family that does mine, simple and I give her about $30 to do it.

It depends on your income level. For me, I'm poor enough to use the free Turbo tax edition. If your not in that category, seek alternatives.

I filed my taxes with H&R on Feb 3rd,and I got the direct deposits today ! pretty fast

Once you're older and have investments, mortgages, business costs.....it's well worth the trip to a professional accountant. If you're single, rent, all that basic stuff...whipping out the 1040ez is simple. Get fancier than that...and paying a professional accountant $200-$250 bucks usually nets your much larger returns...it more than pays for itself. Or if you owe..you'll owe much less. I've hard a lot of horror stories about the cheapo tax franchise places...they barely train their short time hired help for a few weeks just in time for tax season. I wouldn't want some kid that had 3 weeks of training on taxes to be doing my taxes. I'd rather have a seasoned fully certified accountant.

Those free online services....or turbo tax...you'll see what they guarantee..."We guarantee our calculations". Hmmm..think about that for a minute....so...really..they can only guarantee that 2 plus 2 equals 4. Yay! What they don't know about is how to work with your data to get you the largest return possible.

Which would you choose:
*Pay someone 25 or 50 bucks to get say....800 bucks back
*Pay a good accountant 250 bucks to get say...1500 or 2000 back?

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Once you're older and have investments, mortgages, business costs.....it's well worth the trip to a professional accountant. If you're single, rent, all that basic stuff...whipping out the 1040ez is simple. Get fancier than that...and paying a professional accountant $200-$250 bucks usually nets your much larger returns...it more than pays for itself. Or if you owe..you'll owe much less. I've hard a lot of horror stories about the cheapo tax franchise places...they barely train their short time hired help for a few weeks just in time for tax season. I wouldn't want some kid that had 3 weeks of training on taxes to be doing my taxes. I'd rather have a seasoned fully certified accountant.

Those free online services....or turbo tax...you'll see what they guarantee..."We guarantee our calculations". Hmmm..think about that for a minute....so...really..they can only guarantee that 2 plus 2 equals 4. Yay! What they don't know about is how to work with your data to get you the largest return possible.

Which would you choose:
*Pay someone 25 or 50 bucks to get say....800 bucks back
*Pay a good accountant 250 bucks to get say...1500 or 2000 back?

yes,true,but mine is easy,my house is paid for and I only have a 401k,that's about it for me.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Once you're older and have investments, mortgages, business costs.....it's well worth the trip to a professional accountant. If you're single, rent, all that basic stuff...whipping out the 1040ez is simple. Get fancier than that...and paying a professional accountant $200-$250 bucks usually nets your much larger returns...it more than pays for itself. Or if you owe..you'll owe much less. I've hard a lot of horror stories about the cheapo tax franchise places...they barely train their short time hired help for a few weeks just in time for tax season. I wouldn't want some kid that had 3 weeks of training on taxes to be doing my taxes. I'd rather have a seasoned fully certified accountant.

Those free online services....or turbo tax...you'll see what they guarantee..."We guarantee our calculations". Hmmm..think about that for a minute....so...really..they can only guarantee that 2 plus 2 equals 4. Yay! What they don't know about is how to work with your data to get you the largest return possible.

Which would you choose:
*Pay someone 25 or 50 bucks to get say....800 bucks back
*Pay a good accountant 250 bucks to get say...1500 or 2000 back?

Which would you choose:
*Pay someone 25 or 50 bucks to get say....800 bucks back
*Pay a good accountant 250 bucks to get say...1500 or 2000 back

If your returns are high, you might want to also use a tax adviser to help you adjust your tax withholding (or do it yourself to save on the fee of the adviser). So you don't end up overpaying the government on taxes again. Come the end of the tax year, it is a better sign if you have a small return. Instead of giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan, you could put that extra money in an IRA.

jeremyboycool wrote: If your returns are high, you might want to also use a tax adviser to help you adjust your tax withholding (or do it yourself to save on the fee of the adviser). So you don't end up overpaying the government on taxes again. Come the end of the tax year, it is a better sign if you have a small return. Instead of giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan, you could put that extra money in an IRA.

Oh definitely...I always did that back in the simple days....I'd rather have an extra 100 bucks a week in my paycheck and get a small return than have a lot of taxes taken out only to get a big return. That's easy basic tax 101 stuff. But once you own properties, rentals, and have reasons for business expenses....things get a lot more complicated and creative.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Oh definitely...I always did that back in the simple days....I'd rather have an extra 100 bucks a week in my paycheck and get a small return than have a lot of taxes taken out only to get a big return. That's easy basic tax 101 stuff. But once you own properties, rentals, and have reasons for business expenses....things get a lot more complicated and creative.

Regardless of how much you got going on, getting interest on your money is more profitable then not getting interest on your money. Especially if it is tax deferred compounding interest.

Once you enter the write off zones, you need someone to do your taxes for you. You can spend days reading tax codes and still not know what your entitled to. I used to be in that category until illness showed it's ugly face.

I've been using Turbo Tax for the past 6 years.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Once you're older and have investments, mortgages, business costs.....it's well worth the trip to a professional accountant. If you're single, rent, all that basic stuff...whipping out the 1040ez is simple. Get fancier than that...and paying a professional accountant $200-$250 bucks usually nets your much larger returns...it more than pays for itself. Or if you owe..you'll owe much less. I've hard a lot of horror stories about the cheapo tax franchise places...they barely train their short time hired help for a few weeks just in time for tax season. I wouldn't want some kid that had 3 weeks of training on taxes to be doing my taxes. I'd rather have a seasoned fully certified accountant.

Those free online services....or turbo tax...you'll see what they guarantee..."We guarantee our calculations". Hmmm..think about that for a minute....so...really..they can only guarantee that 2 plus 2 equals 4. Yay! What they don't know about is how to work with your data to get you the largest return possible.

Which would you choose:
*Pay someone 25 or 50 bucks to get say....800 bucks back
*Pay a good accountant 250 bucks to get say...1500 or 2000 back?

Hell I wish my accountant charged 250.00. He charges me anywhere from 1200.00 to 1500.00