It's Tax Time!
written by ertlnet
at Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Do I hear a collective groan from everyone out there? Yep, it's time to gather all your financial paperwork and crunch those numbers!
Good news! Several companies offer free filing if you meet certain criteria! In years past, I have used both TurboTax Freedom and H&R Block TaxCut. Now that I own my own business, things are more complicated and I have to pay for software. Now I use TurboTax Home & Business and have been pleased with it.
TurboTax Freedom
To qualify for free federal tax preparation and filing using TurboTax Freedom Edition 2008, you must meet one of the following criteria *
- Earned an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for tax year 2008 of $30,000 or less; or
- Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); or
- Served Active Duty Military with AGI of $56,000 or less.
- You must qualify for free federal tax preparation (above); and
- The state(s) must participate in the state FFA. States (AL, AR, AZ, GA, ID, IA, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NY, ND, NC, OK, OR, RI, SC, VT, WV)
Free if you earned $56,000 or less AGI and were 50 years or younger on December 31, 2008. State e-file is $29.95
TaxAct freefile
You qualify for free tax preparation, printing, & efiling if your age is between 19 & 55, and your AGI is $56,000 or less. State e-filing is $13.95
You can find more free tax preparation sites on the IRS website.
Another tip - many times you can print a copy of your state taxes and mail it in. It takes a little longer, but I usually don't get enough back in state taxes to justify spending the money to e-file.
If you need more advanced tax preparation or don't meet the criteria for free preparation, here is a list of major software titles and the lowest prices I could find.
TaxAct
Online 2008 Standard Free online prep (1040, 1040A & 1040EZ) and federal e-filing. State e-file is just $13.95.
Online 2008 Deluxe $9.95 federal, optional state is $7.00
TaxAct Ultimate $16.95 free filing for federal and state.
TurboTax
Deluxe direct from Intuit $29.95 (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)
$38.99 from Buy.com (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)
Premier direct from Intuit $49.95 (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)
$59.99 from Buy.com (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)
Home & Business direct from Intuit $74.95 (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)
$59.99 from newegg.com (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)
$10 TurboTax Rebates can be found here. It says "participating retail stores", but the FAQ indicates online stores are participating as well, but I can't find a list. It's worth a try if you have to buy the software anyway!
TaxCut
Premium Federal + e-file $34.95 $32.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)
Premium Federal & State + e-file $49.95 $45.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)
Home & Business $79.95 $70.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)
Don't forget to purchase through ebates to receive 1% back from buy.com and 2% back from newegg! (plus $5 for new members)
