January 28, 2002

10:04 PM

E-Filing Your Taxes This Year?If your adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, you can file your taxes with Quicken Turbotax on the Web and waive the $19.99 filing fee through their Tax Freedom Project. Who says that all the good free web goodies are gone?
posted by tpoh.org (13 comments total)

I've used Quicken for the Web for the past few years to file my taxes, but this is the first year that I've dropped into the "free filing" income bracket. I think this is the first time I've ever had my taxes done and sent before the end of January. Feels good.
posted by tpoh.org at 11:19 PM on January 28, 2002

I tried the free filing thing last year. I hope they've upgraded the site a bit since then, as it was such a pain that I ended up pulling out the pencil and calculator and doing it by hand. If you make less than $25,000 per year, odds are your taxes aren't all that complicated anyways.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 11:23 PM on January 28, 2002

Why is commercial softwre required for net-based tax payment? I don't do web development day-to-day, but it seems to me that there shouldn't be any insurmountable obstacles, and the reliance on commercial software to file on-line really rubs me the wrong way.
posted by NortonDC at 4:26 AM on January 29, 2002

The need for commercial software is simple: liability. TurboTax must get the tax laws right if they want you to file your taxes with them. Their product is incredibly detailed, asks hundreds of questions and literally walks you through everything you might need to file.

I think this is still one of the greatest products on the web. I have used it to file since '99, last night I ran through all of my taxes (federal and state) in less than an hour.

Now I'm just waiting on that big refund check... =-)
posted by FullFrontalNerdity at 5:14 AM on January 29, 2002

There will always be room for helper applications and guides.

What I want is the ability to submit completed forms with standard/free tools on the 'net.
posted by NortonDC at 5:30 AM on January 29, 2002 [1 favorite]

Last year I used the Turbo Tax on the web, yet something just didn't seem right with my return ammount. So I took it to the library where they offer to do your taxes for free, and guess what, I got almost double my money by having someone do it by hand and not an automated form. If you have all sorts of tax deductable things like school, loans, what not, take it to someone who knows what they are doing so you can get the most back.
posted by thebwit at 6:15 AM on January 29, 2002

I've been using online tax lodgement in Aussieland for a couple of years - ours is a free service available to everyone, provided by the Govt. complete with helper files. I think it's a fantastic service and one of the best 'deconfuzzlement' manifestations I've encountered on the internet.
posted by peacay at 6:21 AM on January 29, 2002

Here in Illinois we can I-File for free (state filing) using the State's website. It would be nice if the IRS did the same thing - at least for those whose taxes are simple enough.

That being said, last year we filed our federal taxes with TaxSlayer ($9.95 - state filing for free if you need it) and received our return in the second week of February.

You can get a list of IRS efile partners from the IRS site.
posted by Qubit at 6:30 AM on January 29, 2002

I'm with NortonDC on this one - Quicken can do whatever they want, but we should be able to file our taxes electronically with the IRS, free, regardless of complexity or income.
posted by yesster at 7:00 AM on January 29, 2002

A slight amendment: I want the ability to fill out and submit forms over the 'net with standard/free tools.

Using free tools to submit forms that require commercial software to fill them out gets us nowhere.
posted by NortonDC at 7:34 AM on January 29, 2002

Whatever you do, don't file your taxes on the Web. Spend the fifteen bucks and buy TurboTax or Tax Cut and you won't have thebwit's problem. The software installed on your home PC is a lot more reliable and accurate than the Web-based version. I've filed electronically every year it's been available, and each year when I've done a preliminary check on the Web it's been way off from what my actual filing was when using the home PC version.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:27 AM on January 29, 2002

I've used TaxACT for the past 3 years without a problem. I download the free version, print out the completed forms and mail it in. I agree with NortonDC completely. Why do we have to pay to save the IRS some money? We should be able to submit completed forms electronically for free.
posted by dragline at 10:10 AM on January 29, 2002

Is the reported discrepancy (mr_crash_davis, for example) possibly due to the "free" service taking a cut of the refund, like the "walk-in-and-get-a-check-instantly" places do?
posted by yesster at 12:54 PM on January 29, 2002