| There's only one thing that is nearly as bad as paying | | | | pay an additional $36.95 to do my California state |
| taxes: Doing your taxes. And to make matters worse, | | | | taxes, so my total cost for TurboTax is $86.90. |
| the IRS has made tax filing so complicated that hardly | | | | Definitely costs a lot more than free! |
| anyone can just pick up a form and a pen to file to | | | | Next I went to the oldest name in tax help: H&R Block. |
| complete their return. Thus, a huge industry of tax | | | | While H&R Block is best known for their thousands of |
| preparation services has arisen, making it far easier to | | | | tax centers around the country (remember when they |
| do your taxes, but of course much costlier as well. | | | | used to have one in every Sears?) their At Home |
| Many of these services are now offering free online | | | | product is a decent online alternative. As you'd |
| versions of their software. Since paying to do your | | | | suspect, the free version applies only to those with |
| taxes just adds insult to injury, I wanted to test them | | | | very simple tax returns. My rental properties again |
| out to see how they performed. I of course also | | | | force me to pay $49.95 for the Premier version, and I |
| wanted to know how much these free services were | | | | have to spend and additional $29.95 to prepare and file |
| really going to cost me! | | | | my California= return. At least my 'free' return here |
| Before we get started, here's a bit about my tax | | | | cost a few dollars less than it did with TurboTax - only |
| situation: I live in California and am married (and happily | | | | $79.90. |
| filing jointly) with two little dependents (a.k.a. my kids). I | | | | Finally, I decided to try out TaxACT, which advertises |
| usually take the standard deduction instead of itemizing. | | | | that it is "Free for Everyone." Guess what? This |
| While I rent my primary residence, I do own some | | | | actually seems to be true! While my California state |
| rental properties. I have no investment income to | | | | tax return does cost $14.95 (including free state efile), |
| report this year. | | | | the federal return really was free, and even handled |
| The first place I started was with the biggest name in | | | | the complex transactions required for my rental |
| tax preparation, TurboTax. The Federal Free Edition | | | | properties (though not quite as smoothly as TurboTax |
| looks and functions just like their offerings, and includes | | | | did). |
| free federal e-filing as well. Unfortunately, Federal Free | | | | While it is no surprise to discover that you can rarely |
| Edition won't handle my rental properties, so I need to | | | | get something for nothing, I did prepare my taxes for a |
| upgrade to the $49.95 Premier version. I also have to | | | | lot less money this year! |