Income Tax Tag: preparation

TaxAct Free is now available to those who want to efile their federal 1040EZ tax refund online, and, TaxAct Free is also available to everyone else who files federal taxes including 1040A and 1040 long forms!

TaxAct has been providing free IRS tax filing for the past 10 years.  No matter your income tax situation, married, single, easy, or complex, TaxAct Free IRS federal tax return preparation software has you covered. Free TaxAct means that you can:

• Prepare your IRS tax return FREE
• Print your IRS tax return FREE
• Efile your IRS tax return FREE
• No income restrictions

Upgrade if you like to TaxAct Deluxe or TaxAct Ultimate editions, however, TaxAct Free edition is fully functional, includes the Deduction Examiner and walk-through videos. It costs nothing to try out TaxAct Free online, and this tax software is also available for download and CD by mail. Visit our TaxAct Free web page to learn more or to get started.

IRS today confirmed the opening of their e-file program for 2008 federal income tax returns. The official IRS e-file open date is January 16, 2009.

IRS e-file program began as a pilot project in just 3 cities back in 1986 with just 25,000 tax returns filed electronically that year. Each year the number of tax payers choosing e-file continues to grow, with almost 90 million IRS tax returns e-filed last year according to published IRS statistics.

Among a dozen other things, the IRS also said the following today:

“…the error rate is so low for e-filed returns. In fact, the error rate is significantly reduced from 20 percent with paper returns to about 1 percent with e-filed returns.”

“Taxpayers who use e-file and who choose direct deposit can receive their refund in as few as 10 days. That’s because with e-file, there’s no paper return going to the IRS. And with direct deposit, there’s no paper refund going to the taxpayer.”

So not only does e-file deliver your income tax refund money faster than mail in tax forms,  those who e-file usually don’t make any errors. No doubt that income tax preparation software is partly responsible for the reduction in tax form errors. And we must note also that Turbo Tax and Tax Cut are quoting “in as few as 8 days” as the number of days for which you can receive your IRS income tax refund.

Free File, Free Efile, or Free E-file what is the correct terminology for sending your federal 1040EZ, 1040A, or 1040 income tax forms to the IRS online? The official IRS.gov website uses the term “Free File” in links and wording as, let’s say, their very own product used to file your federal income tax returns for free online. Within the same sentence on the IRS.gov website you will notice the use of the word “e-file” in all lower case letters. The word e-file is used not just by the IRS but also by income tax preparation service providers to mean the electronic transmission of your prepared income tax return, free or otherwise.

Free E-File, not to be confused with IRS Free File, technically means that the electronic transmission of your income tax return is free. This tax year many of the income tax preparation service providers have increase their free service offerings to include free tax preparation along with their free e-filing service. What this all means is that if you like Turbo Tax or Tax Cut, they too offer free e-file and tax form preparation services in a software product that you may prefer over the IRS Free File product. It costs nothing to try Turbo Tax Free, Tax Cut Free, and new for this year Quicken Free which bundles well with Turbo Tax.

-Income Tax Pro

Those who file IRS income tax form 1040EZ and don’t need much help with their taxes can prepare and efile for free in 2008 using H&R Block Free edition online. H&R Block Free makes it quick and easy to prepare your form 1040EZ income tax refund, automatically checks for errors, and carries an accurate calculations guarantee just like the rest of the H&R Block income tax preparation services. If you have a more complex income tax filing for 2008 and need tax help and advice, try H&R Block Signature from $79.95. H&R Block Signature allows you to prepare your income tax return online with the help and support of an H&R Block tax professional. Complete the income tax return yourself online, then, an H&R Block income tax professional will review, comment, edit, sign, and efile your 2008 income tax return for you. Didn’t file your income tax return in 2007 or even 2006? H&R Block Signature tax professionals can consult and help you file past year income tax returns as well. Visit our H&R Block tax service review web page for more information.

-Income Tax Pro