When I started filing my own taxes a few eons ago, I did it all myself on paper. You may recall picking up two tax packages from the post office, so that you had one to do the rough work on, and one to fill out as a final draft to send to the government. I didn’t really mind doing it because I always got a refund back then, and my taxes were simple.
Things change as you get older.
Now I have a love-hate relationship with tax time. I am one of those strange people who love numbers and charts, and my taxes allow me to keep a handle on our family finances. However, as I got married, had more children, and became self employed, our taxes were not as simple to do. I eventually reached the point that I couldn’t accurately do it all on paper anymore, but I still wanted to handle them myself.
Thank goodness for tax software!
Being able to my taxes at home on my own computer is a God send. I no longer have to calculate and recalculate, I just have to enter in the information and look at the results! All tax software is not created equal though, and I’ve had to try out several different ones over the years. I need something that allows me to do several returns so that I can do my husband’s and son’s taxes too. I need a program that includes tax needs for small businesses, and I really need something that will walk me through it step by step. I want to be able to get help from a real person when I need it too. Ideally I would like to find this software without spending a fortune.
That’s not asking too much, is it? I mean, we have to do it every year, so it should be as painless as possible!
This year I’m going to use H&R Block online. It is FREE! You can’t go wrong with that, so I will be trying it and sharing my experience with all of you! Check back soon to see how it went!
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