I have a confession. I only JUST filed my taxes. I swear I have an excuse. I was waiting for months to get an obscure form from my old employer. So even though I was almost ready to file before then, once I finally got the paperwork, I lost all my motivation.
But I just hopped onto TurboTax and finished everything up, e-filed, and called it a night. (Of course I called it a night. What else would I call it? :P)
And good news! I’m getting a refund (yes, I think it’s good news).
I’m getting $10 back from the federal government, and a nice $443 from Massachusetts.
As an added bonus, I was able to file for free this year, because I won a TurboTax giveaway on Twitter through Vanguard.
But if you’re a slacker like me (i.e you waited until the last minute), and you want to file your taxes on the cheap, I’ve compiled a bunch of options from around the internets.
I’ve actually posted a list of discounts/options for a few years. You can find my posts from 2009 and 2011.
So, there’s going to be a bit of copy/paste action below, with updates and new discounts I’ve found thrown in.
TurboTax Online Discounts:
First off, if you have a really easy return, you can use their free version for your Federal returns, and it looks to be ~$40/state filing, though you could probably get it cheaper using the next discount.
Fidelity: Save 25% off Federal and State products. In addition, you can access the “Basic” version, a cheaper blend between the free and Deluxe versions. I initially filled out the “Basic” version, then “upgraded”, and saw that it made no impact on my returns. So I’d recommend going with the Basic if you can. (yes, I did that a few years ago, but this time I did it on purpose since I knew I was going to get TurboTax for free)
Bank of America: Save 35% off Federal products.
Chase: Save 35% off Federal products. Not sure if you have to pay your taxes with your Chase card to be eligible.
Vanguard: If you’re a Vanguard Customer, you can get 25% off Federal and State products. It looks like they also have the “Basic” option available. Unfortunately, unlike the Fidelity discount, it looks like you have to be a Vanguard customer.
Those are the best discounts I’ve found. You can also get a bunch of different discounts (depending on what version you pick) through RetailMeNot.com.
I’ve used TurboTax every year since graduation, but there are plenty of other online options.
They have a good free federal option, as well as a relatively cheap fancier version (deluxe) at $9.95 or deluxe federal + state return for $17.95. I’m not as familiar with their product, so anyone with experience with TaxAct, let me know what you think of it.
If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is less than $57,000 you can use one of these tax preparation sites for free. If you want some help figuring out which site to use, you can answer a few questions to narrow down the list. Some companies just offer free Federal filing, but some also offer free State filing as well.
If your AGI is more than $57,000, you can still e-file for free. You can access the forms you need and fill them out through FreeFile by following the link here.
Also, for my fellow Massachusetts people, I came across this part of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue website where you can fill out and file your taxes for free.
One of the options for: people with low AGI (below $31k) OR Active Military with AGI below $57k OR if you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit, TurboTax offers a the “Freedom Edition” which is free for federal and free or discounted for state (depending on your state of residence).
Recent Comments