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Ok, this is about as far from "truck talk" as you can get, but, since most of you are pretty computer-literate....
I've been filing my own taxes online with commercially-produced software for years now...I was part of the original "test" group of the paperless filing returns a few years back. Well, now that they've added the Direct Deposit thing, wow!
I got my state refund deposited into my bank account in 4 days...and my federal refund in 8 days. Now that's the way the system should work!!
Well, actually Kyle...the way it should work is that you DON'T get a refund. Nor should owe anything...Why let the Feds use your money all year?
Oh man!! I feel my rage against taxes coming on!! I better go. Glad you got your returns quick. Next year, change it so that you break even at the end of the year. You don't need that goverment "bonus". You could have let the money earn interest all year IN YOUR ACCOUNT!
Don't use any of the free filing systems. Make sure your software lets you pay for it or doesn't have go-between! Why?
Two reasons:
1. The fee is tax-deductable
2. Read the fine print. In exchange for the free filing, you give the company the right to use information contained in your tax return for marketing purposes.
Think about the sensitive information in your return!
I've been a Turbo Tax user for quite a few years but wouldn't recomend them anymore. This years version splattered AOL and other various icons all over my desk top. Just what I need, more junk to manually delete.
>Well, actually Kyle...the way it should work is that you
>DON'T get a refund. Nor should owe anything...Why let the
>Feds use your money all year?
>
>Oh man!! I feel my rage against taxes coming on!! I
>better go. Glad you got your returns quick. Next year,
>change it so that you break even at the end of the year. You
>don't need that goverment "bonus". You could have let the
>money earn interest all year IN YOUR ACCOUNT!
This idea works good if you have the discipline to put a little extra into savings in case you end up owing taxes. I would rather let uncle sam keep a little extra and look forward to a return, than to possibly owe him.
Tried Turbo Tax for first time. Get a big box filled with lots of ads for various services and one disk. Load it up and find out what you purchased is just a "shell" for the operating system. According to the instructions they encourage you to "check for tax change updates". In essence, the meat of the program is not even on the disk, but has to be downloaded. Mine took over 40 minutes to download, which tells me there wasn't much on the disk for $30.00. Works fairly well once everything is in place. Video clips are annoying and you soon learn to skip past them after one viewing. If you do an itemized return have an extra ink cartidge on hand, as it churns out lots of forms.
Try going to http://www.taxslayer.com. You can download the program for free, it's complete and accurate. You only pay 9.95 when you e-file your federal (and if allowed in your state) state returns. The 9.95 fee covers both. I used it this year and was very happy with it. Had my refund direct deposited and got it in less than a week.