[GPSCC-chat] Income taxes?

[Spencer Graves]

Hello, All:


       Do any of you have recommendations for income tax software?


       There is the "Free File Alliance," which "is a group of tax 
preparation companies that have partnered with the Internal Revenue 
Service to provide free electronic tax filing services to U.S tax payers 
meeting certain guidelines. The IRS stipulates filers must have an 
adjusted gross income of $58,000 or less for tax year 2010, but 
participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions." 
(Wikipedia, "Free File Alliance)  Four member companies are listed in 
this Wikipedia article, which are in addition to the 15 listed on the 
IRS "Free File Alliance" web page (accessible from the Wikipedia article).


       I will NOT use TurboTax, in part because its owner, Intuit, 
"spent more than $1.7 million in an attempt to kill ReadyReturn.  The 
California legislature allowed the ReadyReturn program to expire." 
(Bribery pays.)  Fortunately, the Franchise Tax Board "revived it for 
the 2007 tax year, expanding it to cover one million Californians." 
(Wikipedia, "ReadyReturn";  "Republic, Lost")


       I've used and liked the H & R Block software, in part because 
they promise to provide an "enrolled agent" for free to advise you if 
you get audited on a return prepared with their software.  However, I 
was unable to get it to work this year, in spite of multiple calls to 
their tech support and trying it on two different computers.


       Suggestions?
       Thanks,
       Spencer


-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:www.structuremonitoring.com