I guess I can lightly glow with some amount of pride- I just finished my 2006 tax returns.
I would have liked to do my taxes for free, and I probably could have, by e-filing my federal return, and then doing my state returns by hand and mailing them in. But I was a tad worried about doing my state taxes right, because I worked in two states during 2006. Also, I’m lazy. So I paid for the whole she-bang.
Last year with TurboTax*, my taxes (one federal and one state) cost me $48.05 to e-file. Did I manage to do any better this year? Yes, yes, I did. The big thing this year is “free federal filing!” but then everybody catches you by making you pay for your state returns. Fooey! Like I said, I didn’t actually manage to work around this – I just shelled out my money and grimaced.
On a tip from Flexo, I checked out TaxACT. I was drawn in by their Online Deluxe + State deal for $15.95. What I really liked about this was that it offered to give me a nice worksheet to use when I fill out my financial aid paperwork. I didn’t bother to look at how much it would cost me for the second state’s return, which ended up being $12.95.
So…
I Could Have:
Used TaxACT’s Standard edition and done my federal return for free.
Paid $12.95 for each state return.
For a total of: $25.90
But Instead, I:
Used TaxACT’s Deluxe + State edition for federal and one state: $15.95
Paid $12.95 to file the other state’s return.
For a total of $28.90
So was the financial aid worksheet worth the extra $3? In hindsight, no, not really. It won’t save me more than a few minutes on my paperwork, especially considering my mother likely won’t use TaxACT, so I won’t get a nice worksheet like it for her half of the paperwork.
The good news? I’m done with my taxes, and it cost me over $20 less than last year. I call that a win!
*Affiliate link. Because I can.
philskaren says
This was my 2nd year using TaxAct and it’s been nice and easy and cheap too! Highly recommend.
Koby says
Stephanie, you should check out our tax pricing tool on http://www.tax-compare.com You fill out our short questionnaire and then our pricing tool shows you which product from 4 different tax software companies meets your needs. Then you can easily compare the products on price, ease of use, etc.