Tax day isn‘t until April 18th this year – but that hasn’t stopped the Turbotax and other online tax prep companies from advertising their services. Online News Editor Robert Haydon joins us with a look at the true cost of some of these services, as well as some local options that will help with your taxes for free.
Taxes. If you’re anything like me, you’ll put off doing them until the last minute, and that’s a terrible way to be. April 18th is the day they are due, and tax prep companies are putting a lot of money in advertising to let you know about their services. What most of them won’t tell you is that you can prepare and file your federal and state taxes electronically for free.
The IRS’s Free File website will walk you through preparing your taxes before submitting them – but that option is only available if you make less than $72,000 a year. If you make more than that, you are on your own for preparing the taxes but you can still file them for free.
California’s CalFile website lets you do the same thing for your state taxes – but there are no income restrictions for the guided tax preparation, meaning anyone is free to use the service to get those documents to the IRS on time.
If preparing and filing taxes is still too daunting, the county has two places right here in the Morongo Basin that offer free in-person tax consultation and preparation.
San Bernardino Resources: https://wp.sbcounty.gov/tad/vita-1/
Federal Free File: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
California State CalFile: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-file/online/calfile/index.asp
