Believe it or not, one of the best online tax preparation resources is the IRS. You’ve got to watch your “.govs” and “.coms” though. “Irs.com” is a cleverly disguised informational site fronting for an online tax preparation service. Despite the official-looking building the bare-bones look, all clicks lead to the multi-tiered submission options that may get your taxes to the real IRS, and will put a little cash in their pocket at the same time. I think the actual IRS.gov site looks a bit better, to tell the truth, and that is where you’ll need to go to get actual tax information from the government.
Www.irs.gov has gotten better every year at spelling out their procedures and rule changes in plain English. They have finally chosen to begin with the assumption, as the rest of us do, that preparing tax returns is destined to be a confusing process. Just as their telephone interaction has improved, so has their website. It’s designed for the consumer, not the accountant and it’s a good place to start.
H&R Block is something of an eight hundred pound gorilla in the tax preparation game; not only have...