File your tax return online for free

January 26th, 2009 | Posted in Taxes

The IRS has now made it much easier to file your taxes online. You can now get your federal income tax return prepared and filed online for free if your AGI is $56,000 or less. They do this through partnering with a number of tax software companies. You no longer have to go out and pay for tax software to do the job, unless of course you prefer to do it that way. These companies collect all of your tax information during an online session, prepare the tax returns, and then e-file them with the IRS – all free of charge. E-filing is the quickest way to get your tax refund; giving you the option to receive it in 10 days by direct deposit. Most of these tax software companies charge about $12.00 to do the same with your state taxes. This is because most state revenue departments don’t offer free e-file. On the other hand, you could simply file your state tax returns the old fashioned way (by filling out the tax forms and mailing them in) and not have to pay for state or federal. State returns are usually easy to do since you often just transfer the information from your federal return onto your state return.

Tax Act and Tax Hawk have both reputable companies that have lots of experience in e-filing personal tax returns. They would be my first two choices for filing my taxes for free online.

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