My First Enjoyable Tax Reckoning in Years

There are three things I wish I'd known about sooner:  Electric Tootbrushes ($100 is not a lot to spend if it prevents 3 root canals), The Birthday Party (this 80's Australian rock band is the blueprint for The Jesus Lizard and several entire punk rock record labels), and finally, tax preparation software.

I must be the last guy on earth to discover this way to make tax time easy.  Tuesday I spent from 3 to 5 pm in the friendly, capable hands of a tax robot, who, for a mere $13 asked me numerous probing and helpful questions.  Why leave home!  Many are the years when I had incompletely filled out tax forms or lacked correct paperwork.  This year I had zero stress and learned a lot from the robot.   And buying Turbo Tax must cost more than $13, yes?From now on, doing tax paperwork is the one thing I won't try to learn about at the library.

Comments

[Cordelia]

My understanding is that if you grossed less than 50,000 total, then you file federal returns free on any software. I think there is even a program on the IRS site. It's the state filing that gets you, and yes, Turbo charges much more if you buy their whole package. I haven't read many reviews of Tax Act. So it felt trustworthy ?

[Denise]

Turbo Tax does a free tax return too. I have never made much money and this year was the worst, being unemployed.
I have been using this for several years. Since I never pay, I look forward to tax time.

[Amy]

Yes, TurboTax has a free, online version. Just be careful to not click anything about doing your state return. It's EXTREMELY difficult to back up and get your federal that you've spent so much time on, then, without paying for a state return. And you don't need the state return in many states. It's very easy to just copy from the federal and make the few changes (unless you have some complicated scenarios).

[Waz]

I did my 2008 taxes by hand, and it was horrrrrible. 2008 was the year I moved from Pittsburgh to California and received a bazillion 1099 misc forms. (I screwed up my calculations and paid an extra $300 in taxes. I was pleasantly surprised to get a $300 check in the mail about a week ago.) Definitely doing Turbo Tax for 2009!

Also... electric toothbrushes aren't that expensive! I think mine cost under $15. Each AA battery seems to last a really long time too.