Need recommendations for taxes - FAST!

duchess15

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It's been a week since my mom died. I found out today that the guy that does our taxes - died.
Now I have to find a way to do my taxes and fast. I was going to try and do it myself by paper since I basically have the same stuff as last year. I'm just afraid of making a mistake.

Does anyone have any experience with other tax companies or programs online that are really easy and not that expensive? These past 3 weeks have been stressful and this did not help.
 

weldrwomn

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Hubby and I use H&R Block. The seem to do a pretty good job, but they are a little pricey. I figure that it is worth a little bit more to have a reputable company that knows us do our taxes. They haven't screwed up for us yet anyways.
 

mrblanche

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Unless you think you owe a ton, file for an extension. Better that than messing it up in a hurry.
 

crazyforinfo

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I use H & R block online. Hubby's income was just below the free amount to file. It's really easy. The state I did through the state's website instead cause it's free.
 

marianjela

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I used to use TurboTax online, but this year I used TaxAct online. It was cheaper and had no hidden costs. If you dont have a lot of deductions, it's very easy to do them yourself.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

How do I file for an extension and where?
you should be able to get a form at the post office & send it from there. as long as it's postmarked by 4/15, it's acceptable.
go before then tho - lines on that day are UNBELIEVABLE!
 
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duchess15

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Originally Posted by laureen227

you should be able to get a form at the post office & send it from there. as long as it's postmarked by 4/15, it's acceptable.
go before then tho - lines on that day are UNBELIEVABLE!
I will probably mail my passport out tomorrow, so I will pick one up there.
 

carolpetunia

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Be careful of scam artists: they charge you a percentage of the money you're getting back, then disappear and leave you to deal with it when the IRS later comes asking about the illegal deductions they took in order to artificially increase your refund and, thereby, their commission.

And although the IRS has a free help line, you cannot count on anything they tell you -- they are NOT required to be RIGHT! And if they're wrong, YOU pay the price. (Why we allow our government to function this way, I do not know.
)
 

jellybella

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Originally Posted by Catkiki

I used TurboTax.... It is fast and easy..
Ditto. Most of the folks at H&R Block are using basically a souped up turbo tax. The deluxe edition with state tax included was less than $50 and my sister did her taxes with it too. Our taxes are medium-hard (we have rental income and DH has foreign stock, I have an inherited IRA).

I believe if you file for an extension, you'll still need to pay anything owed now (which IMHO is ridiculous -how do you know what you owe if you aren't done with the return
). Anyway, if you usually get a refund, then it's not an issue.
 

margecat

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Liberty Tax Service. Don't know how good they are, but they are national. There's one on my way home, to which I'm going after work tomorrow. (They'e the company that hires kids to dress up as the Statue of Liberty, and wave to people.)

I've always done my own taxes; tonight, I spent 2.5 hours trying to figure out my Federal; according to it, we OWE them over $2000; we should be getting a refund (mortgage interest, real estate tax, etc.). I'm so frustrated! Last year, I messed up, but in our favor; the IRS sent us a nice refund in May. Still don't know what I did wrong!
 
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