taxes

As a self-employed person who pays quarterly tax estimates and has lots of employers, April 15 is an especially rotten day of the year -- and not just because I once again waited until the last minute to file my annual return. It's because the whole tax system is insanely complicated, confusing, frustrating, and, duh, expensive. (Hey, government: I don't mind you skimming some off the top, but I do have some quibbles with how you're spending it. Call me, we'll talk.)

Thankfully, some companies are trying to make Tax Day a little less painful by … Read more

The Internal Revenue Service doesn't believe it needs a search warrant to read your e-mail.

Newly disclosed documents prepared by IRS lawyers say that Americans enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and similar online communications -- meaning that they can be perused without obtaining a search warrant signed by a judge.

That places the IRS at odds with a growing sentiment among many judges and legislators who believe that Americans' e-mail messages should be protected from warrantless search and seizure. They say e-mail should be protected by the same Fourth Amendment … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Goldman CEO Blankfein: Equality is good business.

- Subscribe to Jill's podcast on iTunes and send your questions to askjill@jillonmoney.com.

- Follow Jill Schlesinger on Twitter.… Read more

TaxACT 2012 Free Federal Edition offers basic tax preparation for and electronic filing of your 2012 federal income tax return. It offers step-by-step guidance not only for filing your taxes but also for maximizing your deductions and refund, if applicable, plus free help from the TaxACT Answer Center and other resources. It's compatible with most versions of Windows, from XP to 8, and complies with the latest updates to the U.S. tax code.

TaxACT 2012 Free Edition starts with a user-friendly interface offering quick links to Basic Info, Dependents, Filing Status, and a range of related topics such … Read more

High-quality tax tools don't always come with high prices. Moose-Tech's Schedule D Tax Tool is a standalone tool for generating IRS Schedule D tax data in TXF files that can be imported into major tax preparation software. It can import XLS data and match individual transactions. It doesn't prepare your taxes for you, but it does simplify the process of entering your tax data, which frees you up to focus on more important parts of the whole taxpaying experience.

Schedule D Tax Tool's compact Main Menu offers a gentle reminder to have your personal data ready: &… Read more

If your federal or state taxes are easy to figure out, it hardly makes sense to pay someone else simply to file your returns. One option is Liberty Tax Service's eSmart Basic Service, which offers some advantages over other e-filing options we've tried, starting with the obvious one: It's free. The Basic online filing service has other things going for it, as well, including the ability to import data from competing tax software such as TurboTax, H&R Block at Home, and TaxAct; free technical support via Chat; and free CPA support if you're audited. … Read more

New York state's highest court today ruled that out-of-state online retailers must charge state tax on New York State customers. Now it gets interesting since the 4-1 judgment by the New York State Court of Appeals makes it all the more likely that the question will get an airing, sooner rather than later, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Along with New York, eight other states have similar laws on the books ending the hidden tax break people got when buying products from companies on the Internet. Those statutes require the states in question to collect sales tax … Read more

Taxpayers who file the 1040EZ income tax form have always had it easier, at least when it comes to the paperwork. They've long enjoyed the ability to file electronically, for instance. Things just got even easier for 1040EZ users, thanks to TurboTax SnapTax, a free Android app from one of the biggest and most trusted names in tax preparation, especially online tax prep and e-filing. With SnapTax, you can file your 2012 federal income tax returns using your Android smartphone, or tablet, or any device running Android, so long as it has a high-resolution camera. Simply take snapshots of … Read more

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly today to endorse levying Internet sales taxes on American shoppers, despite warnings from a handful of senators that the proposal is antibusiness, harmful to taxpayers, and will be a "bureaucratic nightmare."

By a vote of 75 to 24, senators adopted an amendment to a Democratic budget resolution that, by allowing states to "collect taxes on remote sales," is intended to eventually usher in the first national Internet sales tax.

The vote follows a week of fierce lobbying from the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represent … Read more