quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
I am curious about the people who are still filing a paper return and what is motivating that. Is there some expectation that this gives more security for a return that is getting scanned by a contractor and stored online the moment it's opened? And no concerns about confirmation of receipt? I've fought for weeks in prior life even with a Certified Mail Return Receipt over whether the return was ACTUALLY in the envelope received.... ultimately had to send again, which trigger late filing chain of events.

I am more concerned about records retention than either security or relying on the USPS. Having paper in my filing cabinet allows me to go back in time and find justification for a business expense, or correct figures for property depreciation. I do usually try to get a hand stamp at the PO when I submit my return for mailing (taking a picture of the canceled envelope) to avoid accusations of late filing.

Each year's paper return is filed in an accordion-style folder for perhaps 10 years after which I will go through the oldest, saving out long-term needed documents, and recycle the file folder to house the current return. Paper is accompanied by a thumb drive with the preparation program, data, etc. so I can go back and revise anything I want (I keep a few old laptops around with older OS's on them too). I've been doing it this way since my backups/archivals were done on 5 1/4" floppies (then 3.5" floppies, then R/W opticals, then thumb drives, now I'm moving to SDXC chips).

quote:

I am curious about the people who are still filing a paper return and what is motivating that.

The difference in cost to e-file state vs. USPS with certified mail.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
TurboTax.

Of course they know your info. You are keying it in the returns. The government knows your info. It is all as secure as the internet can make it.

Never had an issue with TurboTax.

Yep. I've been using TT since 2006, except for a couple years when I paid an actual tax accountant due to some of my then-wife's screwy tax issues left over from her prior marriage.

And as for the "new" requirement to have an Intuit account, that has been a requirement for about a decade if you wanted to e-file both your federal and state. So not exactly "new" for 99% of TT users.

I've also never run into any issues saving/printing with TT. Even if something screwed up in the TT software and you couldn't print directly from it, it always saves all your finalized forms as a PDF anyway. So you can just open the PDF and print that.

We've used a CPA for years . It has been money well spent . Sit down at his office with a cup of coffee and a little while later it's a done deal . Electronically filed , paper copy mailed or picked up , our choice . If I have tax questions during the year he's just a phone call away . In fact , I called him a couple of weeks ago with a question about taking a distribution from our retirement account . He outlined a couple of different scenarios and emailed them to me so I would have them when I went to see the Edward Jones guy . No charge so far for his consults .

If I'm having to pay taxes, there's no point in making it easier for the government to get my money, which is why I mail my return.

I use TT personally and I work part time to help a professional preparer in the crunch season and she uses tax cut.
other than the user interface differences there is absolutely nothing to choose between the two of them. I'd find the best deal I could and use that one.
This is the locally installed stuff and not the online versions.
There are also differences in the way electronic filing works that are meaningful in some small number of cases, but nothing that would bother you if you are only doing your own taxes.
And another PS. Tax Cut really sucks for a 1040X if that is something you do all the time.