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.

Married Filing Separate vs. Filing Jointly

I have spent the entire Saturday analyzing my tax returns, both Federal and State, first I did a Joint return with the Federal we came out even that is we do not owe the tax man and he owes us very little, not even enough for a very good bottle of wine. However with the sate that was different we owe almost five hundred dollars, so I decided to evaluate the option of Married Filing Separate, at the back of my mind I know that in the Federal Tax return this is the most expensive option, but there could be savings on the State return.

I allocated all the income between my wife and I, that is whatever income is attached to her social security number belongs to her, then I analyzed the Schedule A deductions, this gets a little tricky, like the mortgage interest expense and Real Estate Taxes is attached to my social security number therefore I had to split those between us. Expenses such as medical, dental, eye glasses we have our separate bills for the year and as faith would have it all the medications are mine. I had to pay special attention to the medical expenses because we are residents of Ohio and there is a credit for medical expenses on Ohio Tax Line 47. Please note there are many good Tax Return software on the market which could have done this automatically, if I had use one like TurboTax it would have taken me a lot less time, but it snowed today and I am confined to the basement of our home.

After refiguring both federal and State, the result shows it would be a very bad idea to file Married Separate for the Federal return, however on the State return was completely different, we both ended up with small refunds instead of a liability of almost five hundred. On our combine return filing joint we had an effective Tax Rate of almost 5% while on the Married Filing Separate return my effective tax rate is 4.5% and hers 3.5% although collectively we have a total higher rate on the Separate returns we did not owe any State Tax as in the Joint Return which has a lower rate.

I was very amazed and I checked it several times, then I logged on to the State of Ohio Tax Web page and entered the information for two separate returns and Walla I was right all that work pays off sometimes it is better to File Married Filing Separate for the State return. Although I am not a Tax Expert I found the process was not that difficult our return was a simple clear cut return with just my wife and I, can I claim the dog?, OH the dog belongs to my youngest child Dang remember a pet is not a dependent.

Monitoring your Federal Tax Refunds via your iphone.

Amazingly the IRS has embraced modernity (in one area at least) and it is possible to now check your tax status via your iphone, android phone or tablet device. An organization which seems to creak under its own antiquated history and seems to patch up its rules and regulations every year rather than innovating and moving forward has actually brought out something worth getting hold of!

The IRS2Go app was released earlier in the year for the purposes of allowing people to quickly and easily check the status of their tax refund. All the app does is simply access the mobile form of the IRS website. Once there all you need to do is fill in your social security number, then your filing status and the exact amount of your refund, and the IRS will do the rest of the work, finding your details in its database and then telling you exactly when you can expect your refund to arrive. All of this is done over an encrypted and secure connection.

The app also allows you to sign up for IRS tax updates and the IRS newsletter (whoopee!) which arrives daily during tax filing periods and monthly for the rest of the year. It also directs you to the IRS twitter account which sends out advice, tips and facts about everything tax related. Finally, it also includes an option for calling straight through to the IRS via a single button.

Best of all, the IRS2Go is a free app and can be downloaded from both the Android Market and the Apple App store.

Alex is a freelance journalist and financial blogger. He loves to write about football and jazz but spends most of his days writing about mortgages, credit cards and payday loans.

Checking a Status On Your Taxes

After filing taxes, people want a way to check on the status of their refund.  They want to know exactly when they will be getting their money back so they can put it to good use. There is an easy way to check on the status of the refund.

  1. To check on the status of your refund, you should first visit the website www.IRS.gov that is provided by the IRS.  This site is very helpful in this means and for answering any questions there may be. This site is available all day every day during tax time.

  2. For those who E-file their taxes, they can start checking on their status 72 hours after the filing is done.  For those who do paper filing, they can do it three to four weeks after the filing has been sent in.

  3. To check on a refund status, you need to provide three things for the website to identify who you are and what refund is yours.  These three things are your SSN, your filing status, and the amount you will get back.

  4. Once you track your refund, the website can tell you that it has been processed already, is still being processed, or that something needs to be changed so that it can be processed.

  5. All the customization and personalization makes the answers and the information personal to the individual.  This is very helpful because it helps people with anything they need help with.

  6. For people that are visually impaired, there is software on this website that helps them to use it, too.  There is something for recognition and even Braille sometimes where compatible.

  7. When a person does not have internet access, they can call the toll-free number 800-829-1954 to get the same information that the website offers.

  8. Another great thing that the IRS offers is the smartphone application called IRS2GO, which is also helpful.