My Positive Experience Using TurboTax

As tax time draws near, I am sure you are thinking about how you are going to file your 2008 Federal and State tax returns. Who will do your taxes? A CPA (Certified Public Accountant), an EA (Enrolled Agent), or better yet, will you be completing them yourself and filing electronically via the internet? If you are considering self preparation of your returns along with e-file online, there are several things you need to consider. First, you will want to find quality software that you can rely on to calculate your taxes correctly. If you have been researching alternative ways to e-file next year, surely you are overwhelmed with all the programs and websites that now offer e-file services. Be sure to only use software that offers customer support and guarantees their services. I hope that as I share my experience using TurboTax to file my 2007 returns, some of your questions about the product will be answered.

First I would like to point out that this program is very user friendly and can be used by anyone regardless of any previous tax knowledge. The simple question and answer survey provided gathers all the pertinent information from you in order to calculate your taxes. The standardized interview questions are much like the questions you are asked when you have your returns professionally prepared. However, filing your tax returns with TurboTax online will cost you much less than filing with your local tax office or CPA (Certified Public Accountant). This program allows you to import data and you can easily save your work if you need to step away for a while. When you return it is as simple as logging back into the website and you can pick up where you left off. They offer customer service in case you run into problems and they provide tax calculators and tips on their site at http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/.

There is a fairly new free file program available for taxpayers that make less than a certain amount during a tax year. Visit the Internal Revenue Services' website at http://irs.gov to see if you qualify. If so, TurboTax® can handle that for you also. They have several different tax preparation software packages to fit your needs and their prices are very affordable. You can expect to receive your refund in as little as 8 days when you choose to direct deposit. For additional information and frequently asked questions visit the websites below. Happy 2008 tax filing and do not forget the April 15^th deadline.

Resources:

TurboTax® - http://turbotax.intuit.com/

Internal Revenue Service e-file - http://www.irs.gov/efile/index.html

Internal Revenue Service Free File - http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html