BellaOnline Forums Money Taxes Taxes...is it already that time?

Ugh, I never enjoy thinking about my taxes. How far is everyone else? I need to start mine fairly soon. So far I've just been waiting for all my forms to arrive in the mail.

How do you do your taxes? TurboTax? By hand? Or maybe Tax Preparation companies like H&R block? I usually use TurboTax even though going to a company would require less hair pulling <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> One thing I'd be careful about though is when these companies ask if you want an "instant refund." Apparently they don't fill you in on the details which are that they will charge you up to $100 for the "instant" part AND you are actually applying for a refund anticipation loan through a provider like HSBC. So now when someone checks your credit, they see that you applied for a loan...which can decrease your credit, right?

Anyways, I thought that was pretty crazy. How are everyone else's taxes going?

I did mine on the 10th, mailed it on the 11th and got it back today.

I did it by hand and mailed it in. I get the EIC and additional child tax credit since both my kids have a disability.

Last year it took exactly one month and this year was faster.

wow, that's great! You already finished and have your refund. I am just waiting for one more form before I begin. I think I will use TurboTax, but I found out that there are similar fees applied to TurboTax as I mentioned above about HSBC. They aren't called RALS, but apparently HSBC charges you an additional $14 or so if you ask for an instant refund. That's in addition to the $15.95 for TurboTax.

Not as much as the up to $100 that is deducted for RALs, but another thing to watch out for!

sorry for the "anonymous" above. That was me but I forgot to login <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />