Tracy Byrnes
Your tax return is due in 93 days.
I'm sorry. I know you don't want to hear this, but the holidays are over and tax season is upon us. The Internal Revenue Service began accepting electronically filed tax returns for the 2000 tax season on Friday, Jan. 12. So it's no surprise that the launch of the 2000 tax season for many of the online tax-preparation sites is not far behind. Granted, many of you may not have all the necessary paperwork yet -- i.e., W-2s, 1099s, etc. -- to prepare your tax return. The true eager beavers can at least begin inputting the mundane information, like name, address, bank institutions, etc. If you are fortunate enough to have all the info you need to prepare your tax return, then go do it! If you're owed a refund, you'll get it back sooner and you won't have to think about churning out a Form 1040 -- U.S. Individual Income Tax Return as we head into spring.Turbo Start for TurboTax
No surprise, TurboTax, the leader in tax-preparation software, is one of the first online tax-preparation sites to kick off the 2000 tax season. The site will go live early Saturday morning, according to Julie Miller of Intuit, the maker of the software. TurboTax accounted for 70% of all individual tax returns e-filed last year. New for the 2000 tax season is the introduction of the "Automated Tax Return." This feature allows taxpayers to import wage and investment-income information from any of the following companies -- Ceridian, PeopleSoft, ProBusiness, Cititrade, Fidelity, Salomon Smith Barney, TD Waterhouse, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard. So if you have a brokerage account with, say, TD Waterhouse, as you go through TurboTax's interview process, the system will ask you if you'd like to import the information from your Form 1099s, which report the gross proceeds from your trading activity, says Miller. You'd then need to enter your brokerage account's password and click "import." Your tax information will go directly to the necessary form, either Schedule B -- Interest & Dividend Income or Schedule D -- Capital Gains and Losses. And if your broker supplies more details of your trading activity -- i.e., cost basis, individual buys and sells -- all that will be imported too. That will save many of you hours of tedious inputting. There's no limit to the number of accounts or transactions that can be imported. Another perk: Fidelity, Vanguard, Invesco and WingspanBank.com are offering TurboTax for the Web for free to their customers. The Quicken Tax Freedom Project is available again this year, too. If your 2000 adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, you can prepare and e-file your federal and state tax returns for free.H&R Attempts to Block Future Mishaps
Anyone who attempted to prepare a tax return at hrblock.com last tax season remembers the roller coaster of glitches. It was the company's first online tax season and, well, we all know how unpredictable the first time can be. If it's any consolation, the site was scrapped and rebuilt, says Linda McDougall, H&R Block's vice president of communications. It's being tested now and is expected to launch at the end of the month. In an effort to remind people of the H&R Block they've come to know thanks to its offices in your local mall, the company is attempting a "clicks-and-bricks integration," says McDougall. For instance, if you begin your tax return online with its product and realize midway that you can't handle it, you can send it off to an H&R Block professional to finish. It'll cost you $99.95, regardless of your return's complexity. Email the return you started to them and it will be emailed back to you, completed, signed and guaranteed by Block. If, instead, you decide to prepare your return yourself, but want a second pair of eyes to review it, again you can email it to a professional. For $29.95, a Block professional will review it, identify any omitted information, like missed credits or deductions, sign and guarantee it and send it back to you.H.D. Vest Still Free
It also was H.D.Vest's first year in the online tax preparation arena. Only they came out of the gate with a bang. The company offered free tax preparation and e-filing through its Web site to anyone, regardless of income level or tax return difficulty. As a result, more than 260,000 tax returns were prepared online for free last year. For more on H.D. Vest, check out this previous story. One big drawback though was the inability to e-file state returns. (You could prepare them and print them out for free though.) Well new for this year, taxpayers can e-file 21 different state tax returns for free. The site is expected to kick off its 2000 tax season on Tuesday, Jan 23. Tax season is sneaking up on us fast and the launch of these sites is confirmation that we really do have to start thinking about our 1040s again. But don't worry, TSC will be here to help you every step of the way.Send your questions and comments to investorforum@thestreet.com, and please include your first and last names. Investor Forum appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
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