It’s unfortunate that people filing simple tax returns are often prime targets for national tax preparation chains who advertise low fees for at 1040EZ. But once you’re in the door, you may find additional fees pile up and what you thought would cost $39.95 actually costs you $100 or more.
Don’t let that happen to you. The fact is, you can do your own taxes. Last year 40 million people did their own returns with software. And here’s where this gets really interesting – there are free options out there to help taxpayers like you keep more money in their pockets where it belongs.
Filers with simple returns should know about these free options:
- If you have an adjusted gross income of $57,000 or less, you can prepare and e-file your taxes through the IRS Free File program available at www.irs.gov.
- Taxpayers who don’t qualify for the Free File Program can use TurboTax Online Free Federal Edition at www.turbotax.com. There are no income or eligibility requirements. It’s designed especially for people filing simple federal taxes.
There are also some great tax resources available online where you can get more information or even answers to your tax questions. We like Don’t Mess with Taxes, Tax Girl and WalletPop if you are looking for tax information. If you have questions you need answered, TurboTax Live Community offers instant answers from other TurboTax customers and tax experts. And if you are a Twitter user, you can get answers to your questions on Twitter from @TeamTurboTax.
Best of all, these free tax resources mean you don’t have to spend your hard-earned money on something you can do yourself. They don’t call it an “EZ” for nothing!