The Internal Revenue Service offers you the possibility of preparing and filing your income tax return for free through their program FreeFile. If your adjusted gross income was $54,000 or less for the year 2007 you qualify for this program.
You adjusted gross income is not the same as your gross income, so don't discount the possibility of you qualifying for this just because you earned more than that last year. For a detailed explanation of how to calculate your AGI check out the information here.
If your adjusted gross income is higher than $54K, still take the time to check the list of companies supporting this program. You can find good values for online tax preparation and filing. Just for a sample:
- FreeTaxUSA charges just $9.95 for helping you prepare and file your taxes online. You don't have to install any software, everything is done via an online account. I have used this in the past and was very satisfied with it. The reason I stopped using this last year was because I made contributions to a Dependent Care Account during 2006 and this online preparation website didn't support that. But it supports owning a home.
- Both TurboTax and TaxCut offer online preparation and E-filing for simple tax returns for $14.95. You will have to pay additionally for their State return prep and filing services. What do they consider a simple return? a simple return would be if you file form 1040EZ and rent your home.
If anything, check out the IRS's FreeFile program and see if you can find a tax preparation website that suits your needs. You can try most of these offerings for free. Again, I am not paid to endorse any company.
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4 comments:
Helpful indeed! I'll come back to this post once I get all of my W2s.
I have a question (feel free to respond or don't or use it as a post):
When is it a good idea to seek a tax professional for filing taxes? What are some scenarios that are too complicated for filing taxes yourself?
Case in point: 2007 is my weirdest tax year yet. I got married, moved to a new state (and have income in both), freelance income from a third state (nothing witheld from that), and have six different jobs between DH and I during 07.
Do you think I could still figure my taxes (and not overpay) using Turbotax or something similar? Or should I see a CPA this year?
Can you deduct the cost of the tax prep/filing service? Or does that apply only if you itemize?
BTW, what are the benefits to itemizing deductions or just taking the standard deduction? Arg... I have so much to learn.
Great series! And, please continue to post more!!!! I'm one of those really weird people that gets excited about doing our taxes every year!
I am loving this!! Great information to know!! So glad you did make y=this into a series:)
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