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The Almighty Buck The Internet

IRS Tax e-Filing Experiences? 60

Posted by Cliff from the will-you-do-it-again-this-year dept.
jdrogers asks: "Last year I e-filed for the first time and it was by far the worst tax experience of my life. It was expensive. It was often hard to interpret the meaning of the 'easy questions' designed to determine my tax status and I found that the questions often led me to answer incorrectly. Two of my three state and federal returns were sent back to me due to errors. This year, there are many options for cheap or free e-filing. How have other Slashdot readers fared and which websites offer the best filing experience? What did you love or hate about it? And most importantly, which one should I use this year?"
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IRS Tax e-Filing Experiences? More

IRS Tax e-Filing Experiences?

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  • I filled out my taxes at HRBlock.com in under an hour, paid them 20 bucks for it, and got my returns within a week. Let them do the math :)
    • i paid $10 for tax cut (and got MS Money free. Don't laugh, i love it!).

      I used to do them by hand, but last year I had some capital gains (not very much, though :), and trying to understand the IRS directions was not an option.

      Also, it makes it a lot easier to play with the numbers, and determine in real time how much I can contribute to my IRA.

      If *I* ran a business whose sole purpose was to collect money form people, I would sure the fuck make it easy for people to pay!

  • Of the last 5 years, only one have I not done my own taxes with TurboTax (I bought my first house, and moved state-to-state, so I wanted a professional's help that one year), and done the e-file thing. Never have I had any problem whatsoever. My refunds have been promptly direct deposited, I have not been audited, it wasn't expensive (I bought TurboTax deluxe, which reimburses the costs of filing if you fill out the refund form), and was generally a Good Thing[tm].

    It sounds very much like you have a very

  • I e-filed this year (or attempted to *) and I have only good things to report. Mind you, I used TaxCut, not TurboTax (boot-sector evilness avoided!) * My father-in-law accidentally claimed my wife as a dependent, so that kinda put a kink in the e-filing.
  • I've e-filed for the past 2 years (H&R Block one year, home software the next). No problem either time. I got my refunds quickly, and I never had any trouble.

    jason
  • I've e-filed for (I believe) the last 3-4 years and I've never had a problem. Got my refunds back quickly (especially with direct deposit.) If you have a simple return (no exemptions, dependents, etc. as in my case) e-filing is great. Otherwise, you might might want to get some help to make certain thigs are done correctly.
  • I've e-filed for the past three years and have never had a problem with it at all. My refunds were fast, and I found the system easy to use. I completed both federal and state in about 30 minutes each year.
  • WARNING: I work for Global Tax Network, so I'm very bias when it comes to filing taxes electronicaly!!

    Well, I have some experience with this issue... There are online web applications that collect your tax information floating around the 'net called Tax Organizers. They basically consist of many questions to determine your status, and they also collect your wages, etc so your taxes can be prepared for you. That said, I'm currently responsible for designing/maintaining/coding the online tax organizer at w [globaltaxnetwork.com]
  • I used TaxAct for the 3rd year in a row and had no problems. Federal filing was free and the State was $7.95. Feds deposited my refund 11 days later, state always takes between 2 & 3 weeks (should be deposited Friday). TaxAct pointed out things I would have missed otherwise and saved me about $800.

    Helpful hints:
    1. Get a federal booklet. It will answer many of your questions.
    2. www.irs.gov. It's there, use it. Their FAQ page at http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html [irs.gov] has lots of good info.
    3. Check for a loca
    • I've used TaxAct twice, and also had no problems. Last year they didn't let me do my state return online, but this year I guess my state got its act together, and I got my state return two days ago (about a week after filing). The federal still has not been direct deposited, but based on last year will probably be by Monday. I'm very happy with the service -- they found some student loan money to deduct that I had completely forgotten about, making my refund a much happier puppy. Also note that I found out
  • I've been using turbo tax for ever.

    I have been efiling for as long as it has been around.

    The last 4 years have been easy. Turbo tax makes sure all is OK and 10 days later, pop, money in the bank.

    This year the IRS finally has their act together for getting your status online accurately.

    Turbo tax has rebates for all the filing fees.

  • I've used TurboTax (the online version) for 3 years with no problem. Granted, my taxes are also relatively simple (a couple of W-2s, some taxable interest, and some dividend income), so I can't personally recommend it for anything complex, but if your financial picture is as simple as mine, TurboTax online only takes maybe an hour to go through and is quite painless.

    Of course, I live in a state that only sort of supports e-filing (I still have to fill out a form, sign a voucher, etc. and mail it), but tha

  • I used TaxACT on-line this year. That's before I noticed that my spam folder is brimming with spams promoting it, but I'm hoping those aren't connected to TaxACT themselves. Anyway, it didn't cost much (about $8 each for federal and state), and I got both of my refunds (totalling over $13,000!!!) in a matter of a couple of weeks.
  • I have been using web based services for 4 years now. granted I have no money, so it only takes an hour, but it does work. Yes I have the proof of it.
  • is to not file taxes.

    It's worked perfectly so far.

    Of course with the government monitoring everything these days this post probably screwed me over.

    • Im tellin ya, if you ever get any letters from the irs, hit up taxliberator.net, its my fathers site, he is a paralegal, and recently worked with a US air pilot who got a nasty letter about owing a nice chunk of money, he sent in only 1 letter and got one back saying "You are correct, you do not owe anything" He has also managed to get a bank account, home owners/auto insurance and a job with no SSN, he hasnt used it in 11 years. He also got 100% of his inheritance when his mother passed away, using NO SSN

  • Most comments I've seen so far relate to those making relatively large amounts of money, at least enough so that they can measure their taxes in 5 figures. So if most of Slashdot has enough income that a 1040EZ is out of the question, I may as well be disregarded.

    However, as noted by other people, it's free to file a 1040EZ online. There are multiple sites that offer the service and all of the one's I've seen utilize SSL. Once more, as already noted, the return is processed faster than a paper retur

  • I've been using turbotax.com for four years. Would I still be doing that if it weren't super easy? And thanks to some changes, I got my MD return direct deposit this year.

    Who cares if they are evil? I thought we were supposed to choose the best tool for the job. In my case, it's turbotax by a landslide.

    If you really have an odd situation, why not go to HR Block or Jackson Hewitt. Let them figure out your taxes and do the efiling for you.

    Also, is it possible you are the luser who screwed up? Or the states
  • I have been using TaxAct at http://taxact.com [taxact.com] for the last couple of years now.

    I used their web interface the first year, but then switched to their installed version in later years.

  • I used Turbotax this year (first time user), and I filed electronically, I have to say it was the most straight forward experience I have had doing my taxes ever. Of course I do know things like filing status, and standard deduction versus itemized deduction, etc ... and honestly, I think that it is important that you know about some of these things if you do your own taxes, and you need anything more than a 1040EZ to do them. Yeah yeah ... I know, Turbotax writes into you boot sector, etc ... but thats a
  • Before 2000, I did paper, it was okay, I got my refund in 1 1/2 weeks.
    Last year I filed by telephone, got my refund in a week.
    This year I used quicktax, they say I will get my refund in a week.

    I file well before the deadline (so I get my money sooner).

    The problem with tax software is the deductions aren't quite as straighforward, it is hard to make sure you get everything. (ie Spousal tution tax credit transfer).

    I think it is best to do them on paper, transcribe it into software, file by phone whatever,
  • I'm saving them money on data entry... why can't I e-file directly with them? Why must I go through middlemen who charge fees?

    It's as if the IRS wouldn't accept paper tax forms directly from me, but required me to take them to a scribe who, for a fee, would copy them onto a new tax form and mail them to the IRS...
    • I think the reason why is that they don't want to compete (i.e. put out of business) the existing tax prep software market. If they did come up with their own e-filing software, they would be putting a million (billion?) dollar a year industry out of business.
      • The IRS wanted to write their own online tax prep software because it would save the government several $M/year. When the tax prep companies heard about this, they lobbied Congress to stop it. The result is a partnership with industry to provide free tax returns. In exchange, the companies get to send you popups and spam trying to get you to buy their deluxe tax return packages, and charge for state returns.

        The pop-ups don't bother me too much, as they are providing a free service. What does bother me
        • What you say makes total sense.

          You bring up the fact that the IRS software would be more efficient since they have, among other things, our W-2's. If that's the case, then why do we have to mail in copies of our W-2 to the IRS with our tax return. If they already have them, then shouldn't they be able to look it up based upon my SSN or something?

          My speculation is that the IRS either doesn't receive the W-2's or they aren't readily accessible in whatever filing system they have.

          Also, why is it we don't
  • They have a nice easy tax form online. It's free to do state taxes (in California) and a small fee ($10?) to do federal. I did the Federal 2 years ago and it was pretty painless, even compared to the EZ form. This year alas, I've a much messier tax picture, and will be visiting someone soon to have them do it for me... real soon now....
  • I used TurboTax.com [turbotax.com] two years in a row, and it worked well both times. My tax situation is uncomplicated, so all I've ever used was the 1040EZ form. TurboTax.com this year took me about 30 minutes to file my fed and state taxes, which included paying them a fee. The service was smart enough to ask me questions about a special tax credit available on my state return. My state refund was automatically deposited in after 2 days. The fed refund took longer, about 7 days IIRC. For my records, I got PDF files o
  • I've used Turbo Tax for the Web 2 of the last 3 years (with one horribly unsatisfactory visit to H&R Block - I never want to talk to them again), and it has been flawless. Many investment firms for stocks/mutual funds and credit unions have discounts for it (I got 50% off of the Federal price through Vanguard), and I have been very pleased. Despite the activation crud the downloadable version has, I haven't had any complaint with the Web version, and I've gotten my refunds very quickly (no extra charg
  • Ok, I know you wanted cheap...but this is overall pretty cheap in my opinion. I pay about $120 to have both state and federal returns prepared. This includes capital gains stuff, tuition credits, some royalties I get on mineral rights, and my regular income which is erratic because I only work during various times of the year. I usually need 3 or 4 extra IRS forms beyond the regular 1040, and it would take me quite a number of hours to do it myself.

    The tax preparers are really good and they know lots o

  • I have filed electronically the last two years. It was an excellant experience. I prefer the home software method, because I have access to all my previous years' tax info, which allows the software to be even more predictive. I also like the fact that the software I used(TurboTax Deluxe) allowed me to enter estimated income, deductions, etc. for the upcoming year, and told me what to fill out on my W-4s to prevent either having a huge return or large payment to make on April 15. Also, TurboTax Deluxe inclu
  • To summarize: dont use credit cards to pay taxes as you bill be charged as a shop owner dont use software as you pay for it use an accountant if your situation IS complicate enough. personally I use my calculator, pen and paper. I usually end up around 4AM but avoid the round trips to paid preparers who always have more questions. cheers. mic

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