It is tax time again. I’ve already done three people’s taxes. I think I have two more to go. It is always an interesting time of year. People grumble about having to do taxes and/or pay taxes but oddly enough I don’t mind doing them.
Okay so this year I’m super busy but still I’ve managed to get in and do them. I discovered this year that you can go to www.irs.gov and fill out your forms online and efile without there being a charge. This is great for those people who know how to do taxes.
Most of the vendors who assist with taxes – H&R Block, Tax Act, Turbo Tax – all charge. In some cases they charge a lot of money. With the federal government getting on board with the online efile you are able to have the instructions open and the forms open and work on your taxes. Or if you’re a paper and pencil type person you can print out the form – work on the taxes but still go back to the efile and enter the numbers in to the forms. Then file electronically to get your refund (hopefully) faster.
In Wisconsin, the department of Revenue also has free efile. So you can go on the site (I always search for WI Dept of Revenue) and go to their site. Look for efile and it will be a matter of just filling in the correct information.
Again with this, you can go online and print out the forms first if you are more comfortable working with paper. Then go back in and enter the information for electronic filing.
What is the point of electronic filing? That’s easy – it is faster. I don’t have to mail it in and wait. They get it today and I get a payment in about two weeks. With direct deposit I don’t even have to go to the bank – I can just watch for it in my account.
My own taxes are done but I have two more people to help with filing. I didn’t find out about the free efile on the irs site until after I was done with my taxes. This year I ended up paying $15 for my federal taxes to be done. I won’t be doing that again. I’ll use as many of the free services as I can from now on.