Time To Do Your Taxes? Some Services Charge More The Longer You Wait!

Right around this time of year we start thinking about doing our taxes.  Doing taxes is never any fun, especially if you’re expecting to have to pay  extra like I am this year.  It’s natural to want to try and put it off as long as you can.  Don’t put it off too long, however, as many of the more popular tax preparation services, as well as many storefront tax services will start charging more at the end of March!

Our tax situation this year is a bit more complex this year because of the extra income I’ve been bringing in from this blog, from selling logos, and other sources.   It’s more complex, but we’re still doing our taxes on our own.

For the past few years I’ve been using an online tax filing service to do my taxes called TaxSlayer.com.  It’s an easy to use website that walks you through doing your taxes, step by step.  The most I’ve paid to file taxes using Tax Slayer is $9.95.   Not too bad!

TaxSlayer.com is a part of the federal government’s free-file program that allows many taxpayers to prepare and file their taxes online – free of charge:

The Free File program provides free federal income tax preparation and electronic filing for eligible taxpayers through a partnership between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Free File Alliance LLC, a group of private sector tax software companies.

To be eligible to file your taxes for free, in most cases you would need to fit under these criteria:

• In most cases, Free File online tax preparation and e-file services are limited to taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income of $56,000 or less.
• Make sure the tax preparation software you choose will allow you to file in your state.

So get on those taxes, and get them done before the fees go up!  And don’t end up like Willie Nelson – who didn’t pay his taxes and had to pay millions in back taxes, fees and fines! Here’s Willie from a H&R Block Super Bowl Commercial.

For some 2009 Tax Tips, check out the IRS Tax Tips portal!