Tax Return

Take a look at the calendar ... this is the week to get that tax return done!

No matter how many times I promise (to myself) that I'll get the tax return finished early, it always seems to come down to the first two weeks of April. And this year is no exception. April 15th looms and my tax return has yet to roll out of the printer.

Thankfully, my tax return preparation chores are just about complete. I need to chase down a couple of figures from the bank and I'll be ready to file, with days to spare before the deadline. Thank heavens for TurboTax! I remember the days before tax return software, but not fondly. Once upon a time in the East, in the days before the advent of TurboTax, I prepared my return by hand. It was a grueling task.

And then there was the year that I went to a tax return preparation center ... things were complicated that year. As I recall, it was the year we bought our first house, and I was overwhelmed with all of the extra figures. So I sought the advice of professionals. Or what I thought would be professionals ...

We rolled into the storefront with our shoe box full of paperwork, to be greeted by a preparer who seemed even younger than were were (and we were still pretty young back then). I recall that this did not give me a feeling of confidence. On the contrary, it gave me a feeling that was quite the opposite of that portrayed in the tax preparation company's television commercials.

It seemed like the preparer had recently taken a step up from flipping burgers.

The preparer did an acceptable job on the tax return, I suppose. But the fee we paid to have the preparation done seemed unreasonable. When we walked out of there, wallets all the lighter, I vowed to take a better path in subsequent years.

I discovered TurboTax the next spring... and have been a satisfied TurboTax user ever since. While I've considered other software packages over the years (such as TaxCut), I haven't had the real urge to switch.

While I opt to buy the TurboTax CD every year, I am intrigued by the companies (including Intuit) that offer tax return preparation over the Internet. That's a pretty cool idea, IMHO. If you haven't started your tax return yet, you still have time to get it done. At the very least, an online tax preparation service can save you a trip out to the store ...