by Guest Writer Diva Winterheart

A Taxing Time of Year

Yes, it's time for taxes again. Some people don't mind this time of year because it means they get money back from the government. For many though, tax time is stressful and laden with worry over how much they will have to pay, not only to the government but also to the guy who prepares their return. However, tax time doesn't have to be such a chore any more. If you prepare your taxes yourself, there are a plethora of tax websites where you can prepare and file your return online. There are also several very good income tax preparation software packages you can purchase.  If you don't do your taxes yourself but are tired of the often high cost of having a tax preparer do them for you, you can easily start doing them yourself with the help of these websites and software. You don't have to be an accountant, an enrolled agent or a licensed tax preparer to be able to do your taxes.  What you need is a willingness to organize needed documents, a computer, and some free time.  If you have all your documents in order, your next step is to decide whether to do your taxes online or with tax preparation software.

Tax Preparation Software

Once you've decided to buy tax software, you'll have several choices available to you. One, you can purchase and download the software online. Two, you can go to a store like Best Buy, Staples, or Office Depot and purchase the package. Some stores offer instant rebates or mail-in rebates. These rebates can sometimes cover the entire cost of the software so that, in the end, you've gotten it for free. The three big names in tax preparation software are Intuit's Turbo Tax, H&R Block's Tax Cut (which used to be called Kiplinger's Tax Cut) and 2nd Story Software's Tax Act. You can research each of these at their website. At this time of year there are also a lot of tax software reviews online.

Here is a link to Consumer Search's review of these software programs: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/personal_finance/tax_preparation_software/fullstory.html Here's the website for each of these products, where you can buy the software for download or for shipping: Turbo Tax http://www.turbotax.com/ts/products/learn_more_software_products.html Tax Cut http://store.taxcut.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main?SP=1&PN=45&sid=1478&cache_id=0 Tax Act http://www.taxact.com/products/index_personal.asp

Tax Preparation Online

The interesting thing about online preparation is that all of the above companies also have online services.  You'll find them right at the main site: Turbo Tax http://www.turbotax.com Tax Cut http://www.taxcut.com Tax Act http://www.taxact.com There are other companies you can use to do your taxes online that are just as good as the three above and can cost much less. If you're not afraid to do your taxes online you can save a lot of money and time. You can arrange to get your refund deposited directly in your account (this takes about a week or two) or mailed to you (takes about a month to six weeks but is still faster than mailing your return in and waiting for a refund to be either direct deposited or mailed back to you), or you can spend a little money and get a RAL (Refund Anticipation Loan). A lot of companies are using Santa Barbara Bank and Trust for RALs and they are fairly inexpensive if you're in a hurry to get your money. Their fees are on a sliding scale that depends upon the amount of the refund. The bigger the refund the bigger the fee. Some of the online companies that do returns and e-filing will also let you have your filing fee deducted from your refund or RAL so you don't need a credit card to process your return. Here are some online tax return companies. Make sure you check them out to ensure they are reputable. This year, I used Tax Brain and my refund has come and gone already!  I've also used Turbo Tax online and Tax Act online in the past. http://www.taxbrain.com http://www.expresstaxrefund.com/ http://www.taxengine.com http://www.easy-efile.com http://www.webtaxservice.com http://www.completetax.com http://24hourtaxrefund.com http://www.irs.com  (NOT the federal government!) http://www.hrblock.com http://www.onlinetaxes.com http://www.fileyourtaxes.com http://www.eztaxreturn.com http://www.efs.com Be aware of the following things if you're going to do your taxes online or with software and are going to e-file. 1. Most companies charge for e-filing. Check out the filing charges before you start. 2. Check to see if your state has free e-filing. California has free e-filing through the Franchise Tax Board's website for qualified filers.  http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/efile/freechart.asp 3. Make sure that the company you use has secure pages for the transmission of your personal information. If you don't see the padlock or don't see information about their security, either question them about it or move on to another vendor; there are plenty of them! 4. Compare pricing thoroughly or review a consumer site that does a comparison. Some of the software packages give you free e-filing with your purchase but only for federal. 5. If you plan to use this method for your state taxes as well, check to ensure that the site or software you want to use supports your state and whether there is an additional fee for state filing and/or an additional fee for state software. If you're looking for answers from the government, here's where to go. The also have a list of companies that do e-filing.  You just plug in your zip code. http://www.irs.gov Another place to look for tax answers is: http://www.1040.com If you spend a little time doing your homework on the tax filing options out there and you have your tax related documents in order, you can make doing your taxes a quick and painless process! And you can get your money back before everyone else has even filed!