# why does turbotax want me to pay to file now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449 "2011-04-15T04:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/1 "2011-04-15T04:26:45Z")
I mean, I know why they want me to, but do they seriously think I’m going to? Shit’s like $30 bro. A friggin’ stamp is only a variety of coins brah. Yeah, I’m literally filing on the 15th, but it isn’t so close to zero hour that I’d pay a $30 premium. I can think of no reason our governing bodies wouldn’t want us to be paying them money over the infranettings. Unless our overlords are all pencil-neck and no pointer-neck. I seem to recall the whole Turbotax scenario being free, the last bout of taxation. Nonetheless, I found a free service for people under 25 called Taxgobbler or some such. Why the fuck does the state want me to have to pay to give them money? If there should ever be a public service, e-filing is it. I mean, c’mon amiright? You may argue about public healthcare and whatnot, but fer Jesus shitting outloud there don’t need to be so many [Taxslayer.com](http://Taxslayer.com), [Tictactax.com](http://Tictactax.com) and [taxgroper.com](http://taxgroper.com) and zero lemmegiveyoumymonnies.govs We can also talk about Portal 2 if you want but maybe in spoilers so they don’t move my thread ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/2 "2011-04-15T11:54:23Z")
Portal 2?!!! My day is officially made. Uh that is, personally I’ll pay $30 to do my taxes online. It’s much faster and easier than the pen and paper method. But that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/3 "2011-04-15T11:57:34Z")
It’s only free with TurboTax if you have the simplest of simple returns. In my case, $30 well spent. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/4 "2011-04-15T12:01:01Z")
I usually put my numbers into both TurboTax and TaxAct to double check myself and the file with TaxAct since it’s much cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/5 "2011-04-15T12:36:23Z")
Yeah, they reel you in with the free Federal return, then they hit you up for $30 just to transfer your numbers onto a state form. I had a thread about this a few months ago and thanks to someone (apologies for not remembering who) I was directed to my state Comptroller’s website where I could do my state taxes online for free. Screw you TurboTax! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/6 "2011-04-15T12:47:49Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yeah, they reel you in with the free Federal return, then they hit you up for $30 just to transfer your numbers onto a state form. Yeah, seems like every year I look into e-filing, get overwhelmed by all the competing options and weaselly business like this, and end up doing it the old fashioned mail-in way. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/7 "2011-04-15T13:19:31Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yeah, they reel you in with the free Federal return, then they hit you up for $30 just to transfer your numbers onto a state form. I had a thread about this a few months ago and thanks to someone (apologies for not remembering who) I was directed to my state Comptroller’s website where I could do my state taxes online for free. Screw you TurboTax! of course, I didn’t pay attention to the state thing because I could have sworn it was free last year. The payment tab was like 4/5ths of the way down and I was like “wtf, no you don’t Turbobitch.” I had to ditch it. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, seems like every year I look into e-filing, get overwhelmed by all the competing options and weaselly business like this, and end up doing it the old fashioned mail-in way. I’ve never had trouble before but it seems this year every service turned into a weasel. I keep hearing about how Obama is a triple-Marxist. He really needs to crowd some of those weasels out. We’re not talking the fast food industry here, but _taxes_. Also my game-computing machine broke down the very week Portal 2 is coming out :smack: ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/8 "2011-04-15T14:09:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, seems like every year I look into e-filing, get overwhelmed by all the competing options and weaselly business like this, and end up doing it the old fashioned mail-in way. Since both the IRS and NC decided not to send out forms this year I decided to look into e-filing. After a little research I signed onto 1040Now, which was supposed to be free for both. After entering all the data for my federal return, I checked the forms they were going to file and noticed that they had not posted my interest income. I reviewed my entries to make sure I had done it correctly (which was a PITA, because their web site is terrible to navigate, then went to customer service and found out I had the option of sending them an e-mail with a response time of up to 24 hours or paying to talk to someone on the phone. So I send off an e-mail and get a response in a few hours (which I had to get by going back to their website; they don’t actually send me an email response) telling me that the problem had been corrected. Except that it hadn’t, and I had to send them another “e-mail” and keep checking for a response. (It’s a good thing I don’t have anything else to do with my time but keep logging on to their web site every few hours.) Finally they get it fixed and I’m able to e-file my federal report. It turns out that they aren’t set up to do any of the required worksheets for NC, which has some strange additions to the federal adjusted gross income (they only allow a $3000 standard deduction, along with a few other things), so I have to go the the NC DOR site, look up the instructions, and then enter the additions on the 1040Now site. Finally I’m ready to submit my NC form, and see that they have tacked on a charge for filing it. I decide that I’ve had enough of this crap, and check out one of my alternate free NC site, only to see that I have to re-enter all my federal info before they can complete my NC form. So I download the NC forms, fill them out, and mail them in. Next year I’m not even going to bother with e-filing either. It’s not worth the time and aggravation. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/9 "2011-04-15T22:32:40Z")
I’ve been wondering this for a while. State and federal government have to love e-filing. It already has all my data entered into a form. No one has to enter anything on their end. And yet, they make it a PITA to do. Come on IRS. Take all that money you are saving by not printing and mailing tax forms, and put up a good online tax prep site that everyone can use instead. When I’m cranky (like after doing my taxes), I think about going back to pen and paper taxes, just to make the IRS cranky too. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/10 "2011-04-15T22:38:10Z")
It’s just so crazy because there is no way even the most hardcore partisan could find fault with submitting a 1040-whatever online. This is 2011, people. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/11 "2011-04-15T23:10:28Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Come on IRS. Take all that money you are saving by not printing and mailing tax forms, and put up a good online tax prep site that everyone can use instead. They wouldn’t even need to do that. For most people, their income is already reported to the IRS via W-2 and 1099 forms. So the IRS could set up a site at which they’d post what they think you owe. If it’s correct, indicate your agreement and you’re done. There would need to be a option to allow people to add anything not already listed, such as charitable contributions and so forth. But the process could certainly be greatly simplified. Similarly, instead of going to the bank to get a government-guaranteed student loan, the government could just run the process directly and then take the payments as part of the income tax process. The problem with both of those things is, of course, that they would eliminate private businesses, even though they would be more efficient. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/12 "2011-04-15T23:37:33Z")
TurboTax is actually my cheapest option for the things I file… So good on ya for finding a cheaper route, but I do the best that ‘an here’s the kicker’ I trust… here in cali… Dunno your less known filers, so don’t trust them… Known turbotax since they were sending out expensive cd’s, and I use them cause they beat h’nr block… ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/13 "2011-04-15T23:50:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The problem with both of those things is, of course, that they would eliminate private businesses, even though they would be more efficient. I don’t want a .gov option for brake pads. I love private business, but I don’t give a crap about privatizing my taxpaying. I can’t help but think there’s a better way. I know people argue about different tax schemes- flat taxes and sales taxes, but there can’t be an argument that electrons are less efficient than paper. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/14 "2011-04-15T23:52:12Z")
I use H&R Block’s [taxcut.com](http://taxcut.com) for my federal return and the Illinois Dept. of Revenue website for my state return. I’ve e-filed for at least the past 8 years and have never paid to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/15 "2011-04-16T00:00:15Z")
I just got done e-filing through Turbo Tax. I waited until now because I owe, so I had fill out additional forms for installment payments and direct debit authorization. Mine was the long form because I had deductions. Anyway, I didn’t pay to file through them, but I don’t pay state income tax either. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-turbotax-want-me-to-pay-to-file-now/578449/16 "2011-04-16T00:13:46Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > of course, I didn’t pay attention to the state thing because I could have sworn it was free last year. The payment tab was like 4/5ths of the way down and I was like “wtf, no you don’t Turbobitch.” I had to ditch it. It cost last year also. We owed to the state, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to pay TurboTax to pay California faster. We usually efile the Fed return, then print everything to send it to the state. Our taxes are way too complicated to do online.