Has anyone ever used any free income tax software to file their return? I was looking to buy some cheap software to do income tax for myself and maybe some family members...most of the tax stuff should be simple and then I saw a software called Tax Act - http://www.taxact.com/index.asp and all I need to do is just form 1040 but I am kind of hesitant about free tax software. So has anyone ever used tax act before?
I've used tax-act online the last two years. Very easy. No problem at all. They are trustworthy. They are an IRS recommended service so I feel quite comfortable using them.
It's just an electronic version of the tax forms that does the math for you. You could probably create something similar with Excel. I use TaxCut. $10 for the basic program, since there is no state income tax in TX, plus a free e-file with a mail in rebate. It also does all the deductions and credit calculations.
Thanks for the feedback. I have a $10 gift card to circuit city so I was going to go there to see if I can just get some cheap tax software..if I cant find anything then I ll try this free tax act.
I have used taxact.com the past two years, and when I e-filed this year I had my refund in my bank account 4 days later. I love it!
I went ahead and bought TaxCut Standard....filled in all the info and it gave me my return amount. I saved the data without e-filing and downloaded Tax Act just to compare. After filling in all the info the Tax Act refund amount is $100 less than TaxCut. I double checked all the W2 info - everything is correct. The only thing I am not sure about is a 1099-Misc form that I have because I got paid for some ads that I have on my website. TaxCut sort of makes more sense when it comes to entering data for the 1099-Misc form and they have a worksheet which is an exact replica of the form itself. With TaxCut I couldnt find a 1099-Misc worksheet. I basically had to fill out 1040 Schedule C worksheet even though I am not self employed and dont have my own business. Now I dont know which program is right
You kinda contradicted yourself there. Did you mean to say that Tax Act didn't have the 1099-Misc? It all depends on what your preference is. If TaxCut is giving you $100 more, I say go with it. If there was a mistake somewhere, I don't think the IRS is going to make a big deal about $100. I use TaxCut because it's what I bought back in 2003 and I didn't even know about TaxAct. It imports all my data from the previous year, so I get my taxes done in about 30 minutes.
Tax Act has an area to fill in 1099 information, because I've had to do it both years I've used it. I used HRBlock.com this year to compare and it came up with the exact same return numbers as taxact.com, but taxact was free compared to H&R's 30 bucks. You should double check and see if you are overlooking taxact's 1099 input information.
Which form did you fill out in Tax Act for the 1099 info? I dont have my own business and I am not self employed. I am only getting some extra money from the ads on my site but I dont consider that a job. However Tax Act wants me to fill out the info for my business but this is just extra income. On the 1099-Misc form that I got in the mail the only thing that was filled in is box #7.
