There are multiple ways to enter including subscribing to the site, following them on twitter, and filing your taxes via one of their recommended sources.

Someone’s taxes will be worth celebrating this year.

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I have such a headache. I thought I would post a little summary comparison of the major (and a few minor) tax preparation programs both software and online. I figured I would end up comparing them anyway for my own personal use, so why not let others benefit. What I didn’t realize was that all the companies I reviewed, including the big ones (TurboTax and TaxCut) would have some strange incompetency to communicate features and benefits in a clear, concise manner. I spent hours trolling and searching deep through these sites looking for clarification on such basic things as pricing and major benefits. Even information such as which products include state tax preparation in addition to federal was hard to find. Well, I’m happy to say I’m done with my research and can now share the fruits.

“Out-the-door” pricing defined

In order to make an apples to apples comparison between offerings I used “out-the-door” (OTD) pricing. I define OTD pricing as the total price of an offering including both the costs of federal and state tax preparation as well as federal and state tax e-filing. It was surprisingly difficult to mine this data and almost seemed to be purposefully ambiguous on the provider websites. In most cases, the OTD price wasn’t listed by the provider so I had to manually add together the various costs scattered across the websites to sum up the OTD prices. See the charts below for more details.

I did not review the quality of the software. Not only would such a comparison be a monumental effort, but tax situations vary so much from person to person that my experience alone would not necessarily be an accurate representation. At least you can get the low-down on price and then choose the feature set that’s right for you from the lowest cost offerings.

Providers Reviewed

I was amazed at how many tax preparation providers there are. I chose to review the most prominent providers, TurboTax from Intuit and TaxCut from H&R Block, in addition to a smattering of smaller offerings. Here is the complete list:

• TurboTax (Intuit)
• TaxCut (H&R Block)
• TaxBrain.com
• CompleteTax
• EZTaxRefunds.com
• TaxActOnline.com

The bottom line

If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is under $50,000 you can prepare and file federal taxes for free

Let me get to the point for those who don’t have the patience to wade through the details. If your AGI is under $50,000, you can prepare and e-file federal taxes for free through the IRS “free file” program. In fact there’s a whole list of tax preparation providers that will provide this free service.

View a complete list of free tax preparation providers here.

If you qualify for free federal tax services, you’ll still need to pay to prepare and e-file state taxes. The best price for online state tax preparation and e-filing I came across was CompleteTax who offers this service for $12.95.

If your AGI is above $50,000

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My wife graciously volunteered to write this post and it’s her first post on GFD so be sure to give her extra praise and adoration!

It’s that time of year again. Rushing around, making last-minute decisions. I’m not talking about Christmas shopping. It’s the annual employee benefits festival—you come home with all sorts of insurance papers, medical, dental, life, and (my favorite) accidental death and dismemberment. It’s not enough that you still have Christmas shopping to do before you get ready for holiday traveling—you are supposed to find the time to make important financial decisions as well.

To help you on your way with minimal loss of holiday cheer, my husband has asked me to write a helpful guide to cafeteria savings plans. Even with the risk of making my debut on his site as “the cafeteria lady,” I have agreed.

How Cafeteria Plans (FSA) work

Cafeteria plans are a great thing. By using them you avoid paying taxes on medical expenses. At the beginning of the year, you determine how much you expect to pay in medical expenses for that year. Your employer deducts pre-tax money from each paycheck, and puts it into a cafeteria plan savings account. You pay for medical expenses up front, and then submit a reimbursement claim, which is paid out of your savings account.

For example, last year we put $750 into our cafeteria plan. His company deducted $31.25 from each paycheck, before taking out taxes. As we spent money on medical expenses, I collected the receipts and submitted them to the cafeteria plan company. Within a few days the reimbursement was direct deposited to our bank account.

How much can you save by participating in a Cafeteria Plan

The first question you may have—is it worth it? Well, I figure we saved at least 30% by using our cafeteria plan*, so this year it saved us $225. Perhaps it is not worth hounding your spouse for the Walgreen’s receipts for a couple hundred dollars. However, several years ago we knew I would be having major dental work that would not be covered by insurance. That year we set aside $5000 (the maximum amount allowed), and saved over $1500. Definitely worth it!

Other benefits of a Cafeteria Plan

Another benefit (depending on how your plan is set up) is that you can get reimbursed for expenses even if you have not yet paid that much into the savings account. For example, say in January we have made two payments into our plan, totaling $62, when I break my foot and rack up a $300 emergency room bill. I can be reimbursed for the full $300 immediately.

I have also found that for professional services, I never have to pay the bill out of pocket. My cafeteria plan will reimburse me with an EOB (explanation of benefits, that lovely, confusing non-bill that your insurance company sends you). So, when I had expensive dental work done, my dentist billed my insurance company. I took the EOB (which said they would not pay a red cent), submitted it to the cafeteria plan, and received my “reimbursement” within a few days. I used that money to pay the dentist.

How to estimate your medical expenses

Great! So you’ve decided that you want to use a cafeteria plan. The next question is how, in the midst of holiday madness, do you determine how much to save. This is important because any money you do not get reimbursed for is lost. So, if you plan on $750 in medical expenses, but only have $500 in real expenses throughout the year, you lose that $250—basically you lose your savings.

If you keep meticulous records, this step is easy. Look through your previous years’ medical expenses and see how much you spent—plan on saving that amount. Perhaps add any large expenses you know are coming your way (having a baby, that long-awaited hip-replacement).

For those who didn’t track every expense for the last several years, here are some guidelines:

1. Know what expenses qualify and identify which of those expenses you typically incur

I have been surprised to find that alternative healer fees, including acupuncture and hypnosis, are reimbursable. So are chiropractor visits, some over-the-counter medications, and weight-loss program fees (with a doctor’s note). Most plans will have a handy list of what expenses qualify. If not, you can refer to the IRS website or see the links at the end of the post.

2. Determine what you spent last year

Look at your last medical and dental EOB’s—many will show the total you have spent on medical visits/services throughout the year. This won’t include all your medical expenses, but it’s a start.

3. Calculate routine expenses

Eye exams, contacts, birth control pills, and any other prescriptions qualify for reimbursement. Also, those expecting a baby can plan on many well-baby visits in the first year (at 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, etc.), so multiply the number of visits by your co-pay.

4. Plan for non-routine expenses such as surgeries, babies, major dental work

It’s definitely worth calling your doctor’s or dentist’s office for a cost estimate. Ask to speak with the person who does the billing. I did this, and she told me how much my insurance company will allow for certain procedures. Then I looked at my plan benefits, and figured out that we will pay our deductible plus 20%. Now I have a really good ballpark figure for what we can expect to pay.

Add these figures up, and you’ve got an idea of how much you will probably spend in the next year. Now, start saving receipts, and start saving money!

Additional Resources

• WageWorks.com – Flexible Savings Account Savings calculator (I thought this was the most useful of the bunch)
• WageWorks.com – Qualifying Expenses Summary (an incredibly useful and thorough summary of expenses that qualify and don’t qualify)
• MyUHC.com – FSA expense calculator (click on “Calculate FSA Spending”)
• MyFlexResource.com – A very useful FSA FAQ (that’s a lot of TLAs, three-letter acronyms)
• Financial Planning Toolkit – Comparison tool (participating vs. not participating)
• Sentinel Benefits – Another comparison tool

*Savings of 7.65% FICA (Social Security), 7% State, and at least 15% in Federal taxes

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