Sources Of Free Tax Help
Sources Of Free Tax Help
Taxes are complicated! Everyone knows it – and most of us wish it were much more simple and easy to understand. But it isn’t likely that the tax code will be simplified that much anytime soon – so we soldier on, trying to make sense of the seemingly endless forms and calculations. If only there was a free source of tax help.
So what are our choices? We may wish we could just hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to do the work for us. Or maybe we could go to a tax preparation firm, where they have the computer software to figure out the answers to our tax questions. – though we’d still need to supply the right numbers, and if we have anything more complex than the most basic of tax situations, that can be a chore in and of itself.
We can learn to do our own taxes. If we take a tax preparation course, or study the forms and instructions in detail, we might be able to understand it all well enough to do our own taxes – after all, we are relatively smart, right? Given the state of our economy, many people are electing to do just this: prepare their own taxes and keeping the tax preparation fees in their pocket. That’s admirable, and usually do-able, but having a source for free tax help becomes invaluable. Where can you obtain free tax help?
Keep Your Eyes And Ears Open
Once the new years starts and tax season begins, various community organizations offer free tax help. You’ll have to watch for the announcements of it – they often advertise in the community newspapers under “events”, or send fliers to homeowners in a geographical area. Usually, these events for free tax help are sponsored by a tax company, and the event is manned by either CPAs or Certified Tax Professionals. Of course, they are hoping to drum up more business for themselves, but they are usually more than willing to discuss your tax questions and give you the free tax help you need. Bring along a list of questions you need answers to, as well as your personal W2’s, etc., and you might even be able to complete your forms at the event.
Ask The Tax Collector
If you are filling in your own tax forms, you are likely to have questions at times other than when an event is conveniently being sponsored. That’s when it helps to know where to get free tax help at a moment’s notice. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) maintains a detailed web site online, where you can get all the forms and instructions for filling them in. You can print the information or read it online. There is also a FAQ section where common questions are already asked and answered. The forms can be filled in on the computer and saved or printed out. So people like to keep an electronic copy of their taxes from year to year on a flash drive or disc, for access when they need it throughout the year for applying for educational grants or similar things.
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