Good and bad news for Tax Day USA

[thatcrazycajun]

The good news: After three successive nights of trying, during the first two of which I found, late each night, that I needed one more piece of information or form not obtainable outside of weekday business hours, my 2007 tax returns have been filed, federal and state, with a few hours to spare. (Yes, I'm one of the procrastinators...but if you know me at all, this should not surprise you; there's a reason they call me "Last-Minute" Leger.)

The bad news: Because part of my income was through 1099-basis contracting last year, the IRS considers me a business owner and dinged me for over three Benjamins in self-employment tax.

Good: Thanks to TurboTax Online 's "ItsDeductible" feature, I was able to wipe out most of said self-employment tax through my donations of used computer equipment and money last year to charity. I wound up only owing a total of $58 to Uncle Sugar for the year.

Bad: Upgrading to TurboTax Online Deluxe to use said feature, the website said at the outset, would only cost $39.95. Sounds like a bargain for saving hundreds in taxes owed, right? Indeed it would be...except that they also charge you $34.95 for filing the state return. Which they don't bother telling you until the end of the process, when the filing is done and the tab is presented to you. Just a teensy bit deceptive, guys, don't you think? Final tab for services: nearly $80 on top of said taxes owed.

Good: I actually got a refund from the state of Jawja.

Bad: The state refund totaled $3.

Good: Thanks to Junior's stimulus package, I will be one of those getting $600 checks in addition to whatever refunds are earned.

On the whole, I think I got off reasonably well...and another months-long-standing financial headache is put to rest. But you better believe the folks at Intuit Inc. will be hearing from me about their little omission of key pre-upgrade information.

Comments

[jannyblue.livejournal.com]

you better believe the folks at Intuit Inc. will be hearing from me about their little omission of key pre-upgrade information.


They were doing this last year as well, so I opted to do my 2006s by hand. Took me about 4 hours... At my then payrate that's only about $65, which is cheaper than TT wanted.

This year, with the move and the PART YEAR NYC RESIDENT *ominous thunderclap* issue, I decided it was worth it to pay someone.

I found out I paid about $30 more than the national average ($207), but I got back about $1000.00 total.

And I didn't have to pay ANYONE... well, except H&R Blockhead...

[hms42]

For a number of years now, I have been using TaxCut and just use that.... The filing fees for eFiling have gone up over time, where its cheaper to just prepurchase the package with filing included next year. (Saw my NY refund just in time for the April convention, Federal arrived before the March one).

I nearly went with Turbotax (non-online version) back in 2002, I think, but before I installed it, they had the bad PR of the included spyware and I refused to use it.

Harold

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

Next time, use Tax Act. (www.taxact.com). It's free, and it's free to e-file through them.

[ici1011.livejournal.com]

I've used TaxAct for years now and it's not expensive. The program costs about $20 a year and you can do state and federal all in one. The federal e-file is free and the state is only $8 more. You can also do friends' taxes as well with it. Plus, it imports all your information each year so you don't have to reenter anything, including W-2 information unless it's changed.
Glad you finally got it done. I filed mine back in February and spent it already. I'm looking forward to that rebate. Hope it arrives in time for Mobicon.

I guess you didn't hear,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

but residents of Fulton County (where you live) actually had up until May 19 to file due to the tornado.

Re: I guess you didn't hear,

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

That only applies to residents who can demonstrate that they or their property suffered storm damage, from what I understand.

Re: I guess you didn't hear,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

don't think so. I could be wrong. YMMV.

[harmonyheifer.livejournal.com]

We actually were a bit slow to figure out that not only was Turbo Tax not a very good bargain any more, but because of a dust-up with the IRS over my inheritance from Leonard's estate a couple of years ago, we discovered that it was cheaper not just in the short run, but the long run to get a good tax preparer to do our taxes. The lady we now use is amazing, and she has saved us a lot more than 80 dollars in honest mistakes.

The best part is that if we ever get in the black again and have money we want to invest, our tax lady comes with a four decade long track record of running a friend's family estate and trust fund. She has kept it solvent through thick and thin. She knows how to help her clients invest wisely and looks over the top of her glasses with librarian-like disapproval at the less conservative and stupidly risky antics of investing. She has saved the estate of my friend's grandfather from extinction more times than I can keep track of. My friend thinks she walks on water, and the more we use her services, the more I understand why. I hope she never retires.

Anyone who can not only go three rounds with the IRS and win, but get them to pay interest because the screw-up was theirs, is someone you want on your side.