Kate's Battles Against Annoying Companies: TaxAct

The original post was getting a bit long. If you want to read about Amazon (I despise Barnes & Nobles more), Stamps.com, and Audience Studies, go here.

Today, I'm complaining about TaxAct.com plus recommending an alternative for people like me.

I used TaxAct.com for years. Two years ago, I began to get miffed at all the extra offers and demands, so I filed using paper. It took forever and a day for my refunds to come through, so last year, I swallowed my miffness and used TaxAct despite my reservations.

This year, I gave up!

Why?

1. I make a small amount of money as a freelance writer. As in past years, TaxAct allowed me to declare it but insisted that I had to attach a Schedule. Except I couldn't attach Schedule C (not easily anyway) without paying for TaxAct's extra special package for freelancers ($77). (Everything on TaxAct is like this--you want to do that? here's the extra fee, signupsignupsignupsignup.)

2. I didn't. I knew that my expenses outweighed the amount of money I made (since my expenses are made throughout the year and the money comes in later, I still feel like I "made" money, but I also know that I don't need to worry about paying taxes on a "profit"). I wasn't cheating the government to not declare the money at all. It still made me grit my teeth with vexation that I couldn't easily attach and use Schedule C.

3. I got ready to file. I did the alerts, reviewed all my documents and was skipping forward through the extra offerings, blah blah blah. I got to the filing screen--and TaxAct wouldn't let me file unless I upgraded to the Deluxe Package ($50 more).

Now, this makes no sense since I clearly opted for the "free" package when I started. I'm sure that if I spent hours scouring TaxAct, I could get to the point where I could file without having to pay extra money for anything. But doing taxes already frustrates me. The fact that TaxAct didn't make it easy for me to skip forward or to turn down the package . . . well . . .

That was it! The straw that broke the taxpayer's back. I got out of TaxAct, googled tax programs and voila! I came across TaxSlayer.

Taxslayer is a HUGE improvement. Friendly, easy to use. I got everything entered, including my 1099 and Schedule C with zero complications. No extra fees--except for the state (and I was given several opportunities to decline). I took the state option, just to give TaxAct the, ah, proverbial bitten thumb (to go all medieval and Shakespearean).

According to several online rating systems, only TurboTax and H&R Block get a better rating. TaxAct is still in there--but take it from me. If you're like me and you can get away with free filing, TaxAct is on a mission to get you to do anything but

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