Money Management Tips - Online Tax Preparation

If you are tired of paying high fees to get your taxes prepared, why not try an online tax prep service.

If your taxes include one or more W-2 Forms for wages earned and maybe a 1099-int form for interest earned from a bank account. You should be able to easily and quickly prepared your taxes online.

I feature the TaxBrain Service on this Blog.

TaxBrain's KnowledgeBase contains helpful tax law information and line-by-line instructions to help you every step of the way. And their friendly, knowledgeable support team is available to answer all your filing income tax questions, toll free, Mon-Fri. 9 am to 4 pm Pacific Time.

Deduct Tax Prep Fees From Your Tax Refund

When you're expecting a tax refund you don't have to use your credit card or pay anything out of pocket!

Money Management Tips - Individual Retirement Accounts

NOW is the time to think about starting an Individual Retirement account (IRA).It is never too early or too late to start saving for your retirement. If you open a Traditional IRA before April 15th of this year you will reduce your tax bill for 2005 and you may be eligible for the retirement saver’s tax credit. The Saver”s Tax Credit is the government’s way to encourage you to save for your future.

Personally, I prefer the Roth IRA. With the Roth IRA you contribute after tax dollars. Money you take out of your pocket or a savings account. Money that you already have paid taxes on. When you contribute to a Roth IRA, it will not reduce your taxes for the 2005 year. However, the big advantage is that when you withdraw your money you will not pay any taxes on it. This is significant because the money will not increase your taxes during the years you withdraw it. Therefore if you are getting Social Security benefits or you are working part time the money you with draw from the Roth IRA will not increase your taxes and will not decrease your Social Security benefits. The same withdrawal from a traditional IRA could do both and hurt your bottom line.