I love to do my taxes.  Yep, you heard me, in fact I usually start working on them before I have all the W2's.  And I do it all for free.  I always get money back and usually file by the end of January - or as soon as the W2's come in.

Being a Geek, I prefer doing anything I can online.  So when I heard about TurboTax.com's free web-based tax software, I had to try it out.  In previous years I had purchased the cheapest copy of Tax Cut and used it.  But free is better than cheap.

It was great.  In spite of nagging you to purchase at least the "Basic" version for $14.95, you can do your federal tax and e-file completely without charge.  If you want to purchase their state version, it's about $20.  I'm lucky though, my state has free filing on their website - many states do.

In less than thirty minutes I had filed my federal taxes and told them to deposit it to my credit union savings account (so I wouldn't fritter it away).  Then I took my Form 1040 and hopped on the state of Kansas website and entered the information for my state taxes and e-filed them.  Total time spent - about 45 minutes.

Five days later my state refund was in my account.  In another five days, the federal refund joined it.

My three daughters do their family's taxes too - the same way.  In fact, they enjoy it as much as I do.

 Everytime someone tells me they spent money on an accountant or a tax service for doing the very same thing, I get a little sick to my stomach.  If they only knew how easy (and fun!) it is.

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