How To File Your Taxes on TurboTax

The first time you do your own taxes is often a nerve-wracking experience. You worry that you are going to miss something and get hit with a steep penalty from the IRS. Fortunately, you can use www.TurboTax.com to file your taxes yourself with confidence. Follow the tips below to learn How To File Your Taxes on TurboTax.

1. Gather Your Paperwork.
Getting your financial paperwork, including your W-2 and 1099 forms, together before working with TurboTax is a critical first step. Being organized at the start will save you a lot of time as you proceed

2. Check the Cost.
If your taxes are simple and you have only W-2 forms and bank interest statements to include, you may be able to file for free. Use TurboTax to determine whether or not you qualify for free filing by answering some simple questions as prompted by the program.

3. File Your State Taxes.
Federal taxes get most of the attention in the media, but you also need to file state taxes. Fortunately, TurboTax transfers all of your details to the appropriate state tax forms to save you time.

How To File Your Taxes on TurboTax
Photo by JeepersMedia

4. File Electronically.
TurboTax 2015-2021 lets you quickly and easily file your taxes online without needing to print and mail forms. The program walks you through deductions, credits and obligations to help you get the maximum refund to which you are entitled without risking penalties. Sounds like the perfect solution for many families and individuals across the country.

Get TurboTax Free Tax Filing

Most taxpayers already know about TurboTax Free Tax Filing, but in case you have not, then you need to find a way to learn more about the software as soon as possible. The free version of the software will save you a lot of money in accounting fees while making tax filing easy. It will help you calculate how much you are required to pay as well as the tax refund owed to you by the IRS. There are federal filing options and state filing options that send the return to the IRS for you.

The main disadvantage of hiring a tax accountant to do your taxes is that you will be forced to pay a lot of money for the service and might get some good advise on how to file yours taxes next year. The worst thing about it is that these professionals never give a quote in advance; they complete the work then quote an obscene amount. Charging for every Schedule D transaction makes you never want to trade a stock again in your life.

TurboTax Free Tax Filing
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There are many other reasons why you should choose TurboTax Free Tax Filing. First and foremost, you will never have to worry about finding a professional to do your taxes for you. Secondly, the software enables you to file accurate returns even when your tax situation is somewhat complicated, and you can do that from the comfort of your own home. If you need a more sophisticated version for your business, you can easily upgrade your software, but the free version is absolutely fine for the vast majority of taxpayers. With all these offerings, it is easy to see why Turbo Tax is an industry leader.

Other tax programs also offer free tax filing options, including Tax Slayer, H&R Block and TaxAct. Almost always, there is an income limit to get the free version and you’ll need to pay for any state or city tax returns you need to file.

What Do The IRS And Your Ex-Girlfriend Have In Common?

You Don’t Want To Hear From Either One Of Them

What does getting an email from the IRS and getting an email from your crazy ex-girlfriend have in common? They are both something that you don’t want to open. The best advice is, don’t. If you get one of the IRS emails, it is best to not open it, or even altogether ignore it. We all know that the IRS is anything but a friend of yours, so why would they be sending you an email? They probably wouldn’t. It is just one of the latest scams that impostors are trying to pull off.

Exterior of the Internal Revenue Service offic...
Exterior of the Internal Revenue Service office in midtown New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scammers know that when you see the IRS come up on any document, your first reaction is fear, and the second is that you had better answer it quickly to avoid penalty. When you use Turbo Tax 2013, you will have direct access to the IRS email, but they will never have a reason to reply unless it is an auto response. As a general rule, if you ever receive an email from any company asking you for personal information, don’t answer it. Any doubts you have about its authenticity, which there should be many, can be addressed by contacting them directly. If you are the one to contact them using official channels, than you can feel secure about any information that you supply to them.

It is best, if you receive IRS emails, to pick up the phone and contact them directly. After all, nothing ever gets settled through email, you will have to follow up any issue with a live representative anyway. So, it’s best to do with that email what you would with your ex-girlfriend’s, ignore it.

IRS Tax Fraud Increasing

IRS Tax Fraud Increasing

Identity theft linked to IRS tax fraud has been increasing. However, according to a recent government report, the IRS is actually unaware of the number of persons who are running scams on the system.

Based on a study from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a watchdog that collaborates with Congress, between January and September 2012, there were approximately 642,000 incidents of identity theft which involved tax fraud, which is 62 percent more than 2011. The report further stated that during that same period of time, the IRS would have paid some $754 million in refunds that were suspicious.

The report also shared that returns that involve identity theft are hard to track. The IRS informed the GAO that it is unable to determine why and how this is happening. American taxpayers who have been victims of identity theft and false returns, may experience delayed refunds and have to pay additional costs for re-filing, in addition to the tons of paperwork.

The Government Accountability Office is an imp...
The Government Accountability Office is an important information-gathering agency for Congress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, the tax and fraud professionals advised that this problem in increasing because it is easy to run the scam via electronic filing such as turbotax 2011. Once scammers have someone’s Social Security number and name, they can apply for the refund to be transmitted via direct deposit. Therefore, it is difficult for the IRS software to determine the legitimacy of the returns that are filed.

This problem is estimated to burden the US Government by billions of dollars. CNBC reported that the IRS inspector general forecasted an estimated $21 billion that could be paid out over the next five years in tax refunds that are fraudulent.

One of GAO’s directors, James White, shared with The Huffington Post that this problem is hard to solve and partnering with the banks could be one of the solutions. During the first nine months of 2012, 116 banks reported information to the IRS about over 193,000 accounts that were linked to tax fraud. White further stated that this type of crime is hard to catch and measure.

The IRS was able to block an estimated 262,000 fraudulent tax returns in 2011. However, according to CNNMoney, approximately $5.2 billion was lost to identity theft.