The fine folks at TaxCut mailed me a CD again this year. I almost installed it.
I have used a computer program to do my taxes (TaxCut and TurboTax before it) for at least a dozen years. In the beginning they were sort of crude and it was more a novelty and a math check than anything. As each year went by they got better, they asked questions in plain English, you no longer had to read the form, read the explanation in the instructions, scratch your head, guess. It was almost fun to do your taxes.
I don’t remember what TaxCut cost last year, but this year they wanted $50 for the one that includes Federal & State and that apparently was my tipping point because I didn’t want to spend that much. I downloaded the 1040 form and instructions off the IRS site and then because we were out and about yesterday I ducked in the library and picked up a paper copies too (it is so much easier for me to read the instructions while filling out the form instead of flipping windows back and forth.)
Today I investigated the possibility of filling them out online for free, but they were limited to people making less than $53k which left us out. Then I found that both of the major players offered free online software and e-file for federal (will charge for doing the state though ~$30.) I picked TurboTax Free and in less than an hour I was done.
Admittedly ours is a piece of cake, we can’t even itemize anymore because our home mortgage interest is so low now, but I’m sure it will take longer to do the state on paper tomorrow.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 102
Are you in NC or SC? SC “piggybacks” it’s taxes so that if you print the 1040 from TurboTax, you basically look on line such and such and fill in the blank. Use a calculator and it should be very easy. I suspect NC is the same way.
SC. We picked up the SC book at the library too. I filled out the long form last night and it took me like 30 minutes to do the job. Most of that time was spent reading the instructions figuring out what some of the tax terms meant.
When we came home from the Post Office after dropping the envelope in the mailbox, I was putting the paperwork away I noticed that I could have filled out the SC short form and I wouldn’t have had to worry about whether any of that stuff on the back page of the long form applied to me…