I efiled for the first time

You are late to the party!

In 2017 (for Tax Year 2016), over 51,763,000 taxpayers prepared and efiled their Federal tax returns themselves as of April 2017.

► https://www.efile.com/efile-tax-return-direct-deposit-statis...

I am self-employed. I found fairly early on I could pay someone $200 to do my taxes or $100 for the software and state e-filing. Easier, quicker, and cheaper.

My wife and I have for years gone to the same guy at the same H&R Block office and had our taxes done there by him. I could probably do the state and federal myself but the city tax return (of all things) is a nightmare. So anyway, he prepares all three returns and e-files the federal one. To save a little money, I mail the state and city returns. We file in very early February and for the last couple of years we've received our federal refund exactly seven days after the return was filed.

Phil

Been efiling almost ten years. Refund back in six days.

Once was asked for receipts, but no problem. We made unusually high charitable donations, after my mother-in-law's death. Sent receipts and brief explanation and all was good.

A couple of years ago I found that the FREE tax software I use will actually download all the required tax info from the government site and insert all the info into the tax return. That is, if you've e-filed for previous years.
No more entering all the info from the forms sent by snail mail.

I make sure I take enough justified deductions to owe money every year. Why give the govt a free loan?

I use Turbo tax though others are probably good too. I usually pay for audit protection. If you have a lot of deductions that the IRS could want to look at later the price of about $60 is worth it. I got audited for a dumb mistake and they hired an accountant to go through the entire return and the next years too for nothing extra. They represented me so I never had to talk to the IRS. Another plus!

I've been e-filing since 2007, and would never go back.

Over 92% of the more than 150 million total tax returns are e-filed, either by professional tax preparers or by individual taxpayers using the same basic software. Less than 8% of taxpayers still file their Federal taxes using longhand forms, interpreting tax codes and other tax jargon, figuring out semi-confusing tax-related questions, doing the math calculations, etc. and then mailing the return to the IRS with all the supporting paperwork by USPS...all while hoping the tax return is done correctly and doesn't get lost in the mail.

Each year more and more taxpayers e-file their own Federal tax returns. Professional tax preparers use the same basic software programs that individual taxpayers use, except the professional or 'pro' series version must be able to handle and maintain a large number of individual tax returns whereas individual taxpayers only need their software to handle and maintain their own personal tax returns.

The most popular software program used by professional tax preparers is the Intuit ProSeries, which is well suited for small to mid-sized accounting firms. The highly popular TurboTax is Intuit's equivalent for individual taxpayers. There is nothing about the 'pro' series version that the individual TurboTax version can't also do - the latter just can't handle a large number of individual tax returns that accounting firms need.

I have e-filed for years and it is much faster than mailing. Always get a refund within three to four weeks

What is this "refund" of which you speak? We haven't gotten money back in a long time. For a while we would hope to get enough back from the feds to pay the state but no longer even hope for that. We have pretty much zero in the way of deductions and California has the highest state tax in the country.

Been e-filing for about 2o years now - will never go back to the old way. Makes it easier for the IRS to catch cheaters as well (bonus points).

And file as early as humanly possible. Get yours before the bad guy gets yours.

Phil

It looks like Turbo Tax started charging for every state e-filing, so this year I mailed the state form. Afet all it takes a huge refund and huge interest rate to earn $24.99 interest on the refund.

That'll kill their business in a heartbeat. Screw them.

Makes a painful process a little easier.

I've paid 19.99 for years, Turbo Deluxe with one State was $39.99 at Costco, free Fed E-File and $19.99 to E-File one State

I just use the free file from the IRS website. No software to buy or download.

This year, When I E-Fileed Federal, not only did I get a response that they had received the Efile within 10 min.....
I received a response that Fed's had ACCEPTED what I submitted, within the Hour!!! Both of which were happily printed out and stored with the tax copy I kept for myself!
I don't efile State, as I usually owe them some, so I wait till a week before deadline, then snail mail it...

In Prior years, it was always a couple of days before it get the acceptance email....
Been using Tax Cut Deluxe since it was for Accountants only Software.....

I do my son's taxes and he always gets a refund, Ion the other hand always pay one or the other.

I efiled both the federal and state, been doing it for several years. It's slick as a ribbon.

Again, I was totally impressed with how fast the funds were deposited.

And I get it, why let the govt. hold your money.

People were able to mess around with exemptions to reduce the amount of the refund and increase net pay, but that will be gone for 2018.

Anyway, on a personal level, it takes a LOT of discipline to direct monies where they should be going.

For example, I know, that if I were to get a 0% for 18 mos. credit card, that earns points, sure, why not get it, use it, and every month, whatever spent, put that into a savings acct doing 1.5%, then when 18 mos. is over, pay it off in full?

Easier said than done.

So for me, in PA, we have 3 kinds of taxes--county and township property taxes (township throws in sewage), then the large tax in August, school taxes.

I use my tax refund to pay my school taxes.

Again, to have the govt. not owe anything is good in theory, but in practice, I use it for the school taxes. The alternative is to save $500/mo. and earmark it, and collect 1.5%. But it's easier said than done. my .02

The flip side is I made a mistake and did not take the child tax credit, I thought it was when a child was alive a full year. 2 years later I file an amended return, it did take almost 3 mos to get a check, but the IRS paid me the tax credit plus interest. And generated a 1099. That is totally fair. So they do pay interest on amended returns where it is a refund situation.

I file using my signature only. My wife figures out the taxes and says, "Sign here". We've never yet e-filed.

Get my refund back in about 10 days. File through the Ohio state tax website. Usually get my refund back from them in about the same amount of time. Filing through the state in free. Better than paying for it through the tax program I use.

You sound like the kind who probably still goes inside the bank to make a deposit or get cash, and still writes checks for payments and mail them via USPS instead of making payments online.

Are you still using Windows 98?

ive been e-filing for years now always have a return deposited in the bank automatically and the filing is free , I'm retired so my income doesn't change much .

I went to the bank Friday and went inside to make a deposit.

That being said I do use a debit card and make all my payments online.

Just wanted the popcorn they have on Fridays.

class action settlement checks, where they cannot be converted to ACH. I went to the bank for the first time in 1 1/2 years, and was lost. The mgr came out of her office like a lioness about to pounce on her prey. Can I help you? Yeah where are the deposit slips (the tables that you write on and pens and etc. were gone). I ended up going into her office and now we're talking about Fidelity and Vanguard and about 40 min. later I got my deposit done and was on my way. Never again! I'll either use the drive thru (dunno either how I'm gonna deposit without a slip) or simply let the check go, as it was under $20.

My checkbook has 10 or 15 Deposit slips in the back, and both my checking accounts allow me to take a picture and deposit checks.

Mobile banking is absolutely the cat's ass. On the rare occasion that I receive a check, two minutes later it's in my account. No deposit slip required, no drive to the bank required.

Phil

In my bank I just go to the teller,give him the check and tell him the account and he does the rest and gives me a receipt.

Gee, does he endorse the check also?

I do that i have the check already endorced on back with deposit only

I remembered...you know how we do things without any thought a lot of times....One year the deposit of the refund by mobile phone was rejected. I was like HUH? Then I realized I was depositing into a non joint account, like the last 6 years. Suddenly it was caught--check made out to husband and wife, endorsed by both, but being deposited into husband's account.

With all this fancy modern stuff where your tax refund can be deposited within 10 days (I am still impressed), how come getting a license plate from DMV can take 4-6 weeks? I think this delay is artificial!

I drove around in PA/NJ with a paper tag from NYS, for 1 1/2 mos. Nobody ever bothered me. I asked a state trooper buddy, why don't any of you just pull me the **** over, just to make sure it's legit? I mean anybody can put a black and white paper in their rear glass. Nobody can even read it at all. If I were a trooper I'd pull it right over. He said why bother, chances are it's legit.

If we finally get tax reform and simplified to just a percentage of income , no exemptions, tricks or even forms to file. Just take money from amount earned, no forms to fill out, no huge IRS, thousands of overpaid employees gone, only a few enforcement agents. Save Billions in wasted money to fund IRS.

Would be nice if you got a discount for electronic filing with electronic check payments!

I have been using Turbo Tax for a few years and e-file. Except for organizing my receipts (which has to be done when you go to an accountant anyway), it is easy and quick. Also, the refund is quicker and goes straight into my bank account.

Yeah, getting politics out of the IRS (and the FBI, CIA & DOJ) would be nice too!!!

If they want to spend more you will instantly notice because you will see your Percentage go up. The way the system is so complicated now, if you are not an accountant its too confusing to see why your paying more!