Apr

4

Electronic Tax Filing

Posted by cameron

April 4, 2007 |

I have filed my Federal and State taxes electronically for quite a few years now, but I’m becoming frustrated with prices. Don’t get me wrong, I really like filing electronically, it’s the cost of filing that is irritating me. It used to be that the price of Turbo-Tax included one free electronic filing. I would download State and pay for State separately and pay to file electronically separately. Now my State is rolled into the software and there is no “free” electronic filing in the price. But the software is more expensive this year and now I am paying the complete cost of filing separately also, which is almost $30, just to file. That is too much. I might just revert to paper filing since it will only cost me printing paper, ink, two envelopes and postage stamps. It will be considerably cheaper.

The truth is that I like the approach of filing electronically. Click a few buttons with your mouse and presto, your done. “Check back in 48 hours to find out if your forms have been accepted,” says the on-screen message. So I check back in 48 hours and both Federal and State are accepted. Approximately 10 days later my State rebate check is here. Who would have thought any government agency could move that fast. Federal rebates take 3-4 weeks.

The IRS strategy of reducing cost through electronic filing means they don’t have to mail out all those tax books and they don’t have to enter all that data into their computers when the forms arrive. The cost avoidance is probably huge. The problem is they have placed the success or failure of this strategy into the hands of a few companies like Turbo-Tax. If Turbo-tax chooses to raise prices then people like me will opt out and start sending paper again. Turbo-tax itself is not cheap. The cost of the software is starting to make me think twice about using them. I am beginning to think it will be cheaper to have someone else do my taxes for me. As Turbo-Tax starts to back me into a financial corner I am left to wonder how wise is the IRS to put their cost saving strategy in the hands of private companies. I’m scratching my head over this one. It’s a great idea with a questionable solution.


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

<< Post Navigation >>

« « Solar Energy Technology – Follow The Money | Container Gardening » »



-->