Taxes are due Monday April 18th 2016. If you
haven’t filed, at least file an
extension by Monday. Suggest you send an estimated payment with the
extension request to avoid interest and penalties. Did that successfully when
self employed and records were misplaced during our move.
All is not lost if you haven’t started. Did my own taxes and
my sister’s taxes last weekend. Online tax software is wonderful and free if you earn less than $62,000. Very affordable for everyone else as well.
SCAM ALERT - the IRS will only contact you by mail.
Ignore any scammer who calls, texts or emails you. The IRS will not arrest you
without giving you time to repay first. Anyone who wants a prepaid card or
Bitcoin is trying to Steal from you.
Hang up and don’t answer them. See more on irs.gov
website.
The big 3 tax software companies are TurboTax, HR Block and TaxAct. Used 2 out of 3 online software
over the weekend to file taxes.
TurboTax used over
ten years, except when had a CPA for my business. Very simple yet detailed
questions to get you every deduction you deserve. Support, descriptions, and researching
tax / system questions has improved every year. Millions love TurboTax. There are different levels and prices depending on
the complexity of your return. As an employee with a home mortgage &
charities was simple. Even had a discount through credit union & Costco
this year.
Only annoyance this year was the upselling as you answer
questions. Patiently had to say no upgrades and did not need audit protection. Did
have one technical issue, which has happened before. Imported a form from my
bank to save time. During the review before filing that form caused an issue.
Had to delete the imported form and type the data in by hand to resolve it.
Overall give TurboTax
a 9 out of 10 and highly recommend
it.
My sister earns below the poverty line, but is self-employed
and rents out a room. She has the most complicated taxes. Last year used TurboTax to file her taxes, but this
year could only do the EZ/A form for free. Would have had to upgrade to a
higher level. Had to use another software for her taxes.
She had used TaxAct
before, so tried that instead of paying. TaxAct
has a great feature, importing a PDF of last year’s taxes. That saved a lot of
data entry and time. The questions were basic and easy to understand. Referred
to last year’s tax forms, and was able to complete & E-file her taxes on the first try (for free).
Highly recommend TaxAct
for preparing your taxes, especially if you are below $62,000 income. Give TaxAct 8 out of 10.
HR Block has
online tax software with a great reputation. Do not have personal experience,
but expect it is as good as TurboTax
and TaxAct. E-filing your taxes online is the way to go. The other benefit of
online software is always having the latest software and security updates
versus buying a disk.
Don’t panic. Get your W-2’s, bank statements, and charitable
deductions together. Then sign in to one of the big 3 online services. If you
get stuck on a question, search inside your software. Next Google the question,
including your software name. Someone has figured it out before you. You can be
done with taxes in a few hours.
Hope you even get a tax return this year.
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