There was a time when filling up my taxes and submitting them to the IRA was the most painful thing I could imagine. I mean, many were the days when I feigned sickness or lay in bed the whole day wallowing listlessly just so that I could avoid this chore. But the coming to age of online tax returns, especially the filing of them has put the spring back into my step.
The first time I heard about online tax returns was when my accountant told me about it. Apparently his firm, that processes the tax returns of several individuals like me was among the first few organizations that was chosen for a trail test of the online tax return process. If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, please be informed that lazy people like me were still going to use the services of accounting firms to get our taxes in order. So whether online tax returns became a reality or not, I was still going to use the services of the said accounting firm! In any case, he was the first person to tell me all about online tax returns and he was fairly bubbling with enthusiasm when he told me about it.
Of course, you must remember that this was in the early days of the Internet and many of the capabilities we take for granted nowadays, simply didn’t exist back then. But even at that time, it was a revolutionary concept to be able to file online tax returns. A lot of water has flowed down the bridge since then and nowadays, most of us take online tax returns for granted. It is no longer the disruptive technology that it once was and more and more people have grown up not knowing what a time saver it truly is. Nowadays for instance, it is well and truly possible for an individual to get onto a portal, file for online tax returns, connect to another service provider to get salary and benefits details, integrate the two and then simply press a button to submit the compiled document to a software that calculates the tax, the returns and even tax saving techniques and tips – all for your benefit, simply in a matter of minutes.
But for those of us who learnt about online tax returns relatively later in our lives, it continues to be a novel concept that ranks right up there with the ingenious minds who developed a concept like the Internet in the first place.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Income Taxes
2006 is over and a new year has begun. This means that tax season is upon us. Even though we have months until our tax returns are due, it is never a bad idea to get started early. If you are preparing your own tax returns like millions of other Americans, you might want to start gathering up all of the pertinent documents so that when the 15th of April rolls around you are not overwhelmed, under the gun, or out of time.
Working on your own income taxes has become increasingly easier. There are many pieces of software out there these days that can help you prepare returns for your income taxes. One of the most popular pieces of tax software is TurboTax. Millions of people will likely use the software to prepare their tax returns this year. This piece of software and others are reasonably priced and widely available if you want to go this route.
If you do not want to purchase tax software to help you figure your income taxes this year, you can always file your returns online on one of many web sites. Whenever you are entering personal information, and your income taxes are certainly sensitive, please be very careful and attentive when searching for a web site. Because you will be using your name, address, social security number and other sensitive and important information, it is important that you only share this information with secure and reputable web sites.
If you belong to the group of Americans who prefer to have a professional work on their income taxes, you are in luck. There are many agencies out there that can prepare your returns for you and most of them you already know by name. H&R Block is a large and well-known agency that can prepare your returns for you for a reasonable fee. Although they may not be as thorough and aggressive as a certified public accountant would be, they can do the job and relatively quickly.
Working on tax returns and figuring your income taxes does not have to the difficult. There are many agencies, people, and pieces of software out there to help you. You may even live in an area where knowledgeable people will assist you for free. There is such a service in my hometown at the local library every spring. If you do not have such a resource at your disposal, I suggest that you look around at the different pieces of software because I believe you will find one that makes this task seem much simpler and easier to accomplish.
Working on your own income taxes has become increasingly easier. There are many pieces of software out there these days that can help you prepare returns for your income taxes. One of the most popular pieces of tax software is TurboTax. Millions of people will likely use the software to prepare their tax returns this year. This piece of software and others are reasonably priced and widely available if you want to go this route.
If you do not want to purchase tax software to help you figure your income taxes this year, you can always file your returns online on one of many web sites. Whenever you are entering personal information, and your income taxes are certainly sensitive, please be very careful and attentive when searching for a web site. Because you will be using your name, address, social security number and other sensitive and important information, it is important that you only share this information with secure and reputable web sites.
If you belong to the group of Americans who prefer to have a professional work on their income taxes, you are in luck. There are many agencies out there that can prepare your returns for you and most of them you already know by name. H&R Block is a large and well-known agency that can prepare your returns for you for a reasonable fee. Although they may not be as thorough and aggressive as a certified public accountant would be, they can do the job and relatively quickly.
Working on tax returns and figuring your income taxes does not have to the difficult. There are many agencies, people, and pieces of software out there to help you. You may even live in an area where knowledgeable people will assist you for free. There is such a service in my hometown at the local library every spring. If you do not have such a resource at your disposal, I suggest that you look around at the different pieces of software because I believe you will find one that makes this task seem much simpler and easier to accomplish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)