SUBMITTED: Sunday, May 11, 2008
POSTED: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Do FreetaxUSA, Free1040now, or TaxAct on line. Click "no" when the software asks you to upgrade to "deluxe" and all that. Some states do not have free eFile on their website. One taxpayer emailed me and said it was only 10.00 to do BOTH Federal and State on FreeTaxUSA. Turbotax is 30.00; TaxAct is 17.00; 32 if you wish to print your State return as well as eFile Fed and state. H& R ripoff's taxcut is 45 and there have been complaints about the software and even the accuracy of the software. Several States do not charge on their website to do income taxes. So you may be able to iFile {eFile} the State return for free. If the IRS accepts your return, you should get your State back in 5 business days {except NY} and your Federal in 10-15 business days depending upon how late in the season and what date you actually submitted the return or they received via U.S. postal mail. This also depends upon the software not messing up. You have to keep checking to make sure it went through. I've bought very expensive software before {Drake } and it didn't go through. I got all kinds of lies and excuses for why it didn't go through, depending upon which rep answered the phone.
The solution is not to go to shysters whose motivation is to fleece you: what I call the boiler room operators: HR Block, Jackson-Hewitt, Liberty {owned or previously owned by Mr.Hewitt and a few others} Block is the only one that is not seasonal, but it turns for many reasons that that is not a plus for Block. I'll
be discussing H&Ripoff under the heading of H&R Block. You can do your taxes yourself unless you are in a complicated situation - a proprietorship, partnership, lot of real estate deals with depreciation, foreign taxes and regulations, own a mutual fund - along that line.
If you are not comfortable, get on the National Association of Enrolled Agents- naea.org - web site. Click on "Find an EA". Type in your town, state or zip code. Enrolled agents do not work cheap, but your taxes will be done right and they will go with you if you are audited by the IRS. Not always are they lawyers but have the power of attorney with the IRS. Enrolled agents are professional tax practitioners who have technical expertise in the field of taxation, and are licensed to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service at all administrative levels. Moreover, enrolled agents are the only tax practitioners required by Federal law to maintain their expertise through continuing professional education. Tax attorneys and CPA's used to have that requirement, but lobbied and no longer are required. It was too hard for them to pass the EA examination and to maintain their EA certification through continuing professional education. A CPA is worthless to the taxpayer unless that CPA is an Enrolled Agent. Note all the scandals. Accountants can't account. Ask an accountant to do taxes for a taxpayer who lived in 3 different states last year. They cannot without a computer, unless they are EA's. I've been to seminars where the EA's did the 3 states by hand! The reason is that the computer is not going to try to find the lowest aggregate Federal and State income tax liability overall. Lawyers lose on your behalf and lose radically. Bankers are insolvent. Journalists can't report: they never tell the truth. Economists can't predict recessions and depressions. There have been ZERO scandals in the vast majority of enrolled agent chapters since the founding of the NAEA in 1982. In other words, do not recommend Block!
http://www.naea.org