Tax Preparation Software Saves You Time & Money
With the start of tax season here upon us, many people are looking at using tax preparation software. Though still a novelty as recently as five years ago, tax prep software has become big business offered by many well known names.
There are a number of reasons that ‘do it yourself’ tax software has taken off despite tax forms that seem to get more complicated, with that in itself, perhaps being one reason. As more and more people have begun using’at home’ tax software, news of use has traveled virally as more people now feel comfortable with it’s use as others confirm it’s validity. Accountants, as with many professionals, have slowly been raising their rates and the cost for an individual or family tax return has become a significant expense in many cases. This is especially true for small businesses.
Pulling Your Hair Out at Tax Time by Nick See
Another significant problem is that many qualified accountants get inundated by their larger corporate clients, and individuals as well as small business clients get shuffled to the rear. This is somewhat understandable from the accountants standpoint, but this doesn’t help aleve the stress and concern of the smaller client. In fact this just increases their frustration level.
They all offer the ability to e-file your taxes which is a big advantage and cost savings, since you now don’t have to worry about sending by certified mail, not to mention that you should receive your refund much quicker. Plus they all offer the ability to do your state returns also, usually for a small extra charge.
What’s even more amazing is that the price from most the leading vendors is almost nothing or even free for a basic federal filing. But the price for even the full blown version from most the bigger names is less than $120.00. That’s less than an hours time with most accounting firms. Some services also offer phone or online support if you have questions while using the software.
The result is that you’re now seeing the online tax services and software reach far beyond just filing your tax returns and tax preparation software as more of them now offer everything from retirement advice to family tax strategies. Even industry leader H&R Block is now strongly pushing its ‘at home’ service for even investors and rental property owners. Both them and industry leader TurboTax spend heavily on promoting their product during tax season.
You can expect to see the market for tax preparation software continue to grow as the features continue to grow, as well as the fact that you can now download it right off the interet in just a few minutes doesn’t hurt either. The net result is that the software can save you both time and money. Price is no longer prohibitive and as more and more people become familiar with the products and what they offer then I expect to see this market continue to grow.
