Best wishes on Tax Day

Are you filing your taxes today? Did you file them earlier? Have you already received your refund?

For the last several years, I’ve purchased a TurboTax disk to do my taxes. It’s worked pretty well. I was able to get my questions answered from its customer service without too much trouble.

However, last year, TurboTax informed me that it wouldn’t be making disks anymore for my model of computer.

So, I tried the online TurboTax.

It wasn’t that great. The customer service was lack luster. I was unclear about self-employment tax. Several representatives didn’t seem to know anything about it. Fortunately, I found a representative that was knowledgeable; self-employment tax was her specialty.

Not only did she help me with that question, she reviewed my entire return and helped me file it.

One great thing: TurboTax asks for your net income for the previous year when you file. Since I organized some of my paperwork recently, my 2019 tax return was handy.

What am I going to do next year? I’ll probably try H&R Block again. I used it one year when my taxes were more complicated than usual. I was outraged and wrote an article about it. The problem was I couldn’t get information about what my taxes might cost.

Now, I know it charges about $100 a schedule. Next year, I’ll be willing to pay that much because I spent hours and hours trying to get information from TurboTax on how to finish my taxes.

My biggest tip on preparing your taxes? File all the papers that come in right away. It’s one thing that serves me well. When it’s time to prepare my taxes, all the paperwork is filed. I don’t need to hunt around for the papers I need or call to get replacements.