Need resources for doing our own taxes

[momtolgd]

So we've procrastinated doing our taxes until March again...and DH wants me to look into how we can just do them ourselves. Our taxes are pretty straight forward...one income, 3 kids, college loan interest/bank interest deductions... But I'm not sure where to find out how to do it and get the forms. We usually just go to H&R Block.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for finding this out? Thank you.

[asher]

We used taxslayer.com this year OL. They offer free filing for military families. It was the first time I did it OL by myself & it was really very easy.

[karensk]

To download forms:

http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html

These are pdf files. You can either
(1) print them out and fill in the forms by hand, or
(2) fill in the forms online, numbers as well as text, and then print them out and sign them; mail them in.

We did the latter last year.

The IRS offers free online filing, too, up to a certain income limit.... http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

HTH!

[readwithem]

You might try Turbo Tax, we've used them in the past with great success. I think it's about $50 but if you look online you might find it cheaper :)

[CindyPTN]

The last two years we've used the online filing option from the IRS. It's been easy. I remember there being a long list to choose from last year. Oh, when you hit the Start Now button in Karen's post it pops up with your options.

[Alisa]

I have used taxact for the last two years. It is listed on the irs site as a reputable online tax prep site and I have found it easy to use. It cost 16.95 to file fed and state taxes which they will charge to a credit card you provide. I received our refunds within a week of filing. If your taxes are as strait forward as you say they are just like ours so once you have all of your information together you can be finished in an hour or 2. They also store your info so it will be even quicker next year.

Hope this helps!
Alisa

[angela in ohio]

If you want your refund quickly: I used the H&R Block website and had ours direct deposited. It cost $14.95 for the federal (we can file our state online for free,) and we had our direct deposit in 8 days. I don't know how user-friendly it is, as I used to do tax prep for a living, but it seemed easy enough to me.

[KristineIN]

I think dh also used the free IRS tax filing. We had our refund in just over a week.

Kristine

[jail warden]

TaxCut is free for those under a certain income limit. I have done taxes for family and so I know quite a bit, but I think it's user-friendly and for your circumstances should work just fine.:) HTH!

[Plaid Dad]

You might try Turbo Tax, we've used them in the past with great success.

Same here. We do our taxes using their online service, and it ran us slightly over $40 this year for both federal and state e-filing. We got our refunds quickly, too! It's well worth the money to me to know that the forms will be done correctly and without math errors. :o

[HootyTooty]

Another vote for turbo tax, they have different type of programs depending on how complicated (or easy) your info is. For us, we don't have any major assets aside from our house, so we used the $14.95 version. Also you although they charge extra filing or your state refund you may want to check your state's tax website, where I live (VA) they have free filing online.

ETA: Turbo Tax also saves copies of your taxes for ever year you do it with them.

[momtolgd]

I ended up doing them with tax act online...and they are finished! I even did our school district taxes online. Thank you all for the recommendations! Yay! :D