Tag: Associated Press

Maximize Your Refund With TurboTax

If you are using TurboTax 2015 to Maximize Your Refund while filing, the software can save you a lot of time by transferring last year’s information into the current year, explains Frank Ellis, a tax specialist.

In an article in the Traverse City based Tax Preparation Examiner, Ellis explains in detail how users can simply use last year’s information and then submit their return to the IRS with the up to date information.

Users are also able to use TurboTax 2015 to get the largest possible refund, and Ellis tells you how to do this by explaining how to access many of last year’s details and entries that have been saved on your computer.

This saves time as you do not need to retype much of your information, and also ensures more accuracy. The convenience of TurboTax 2015 doesn’t stop there; the software also allows you to transfer important and relevant information from other files.

Maximize Your Refund
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The fact that TurboTax 2015 looks for important documents and enters financial details automatically is one of the biggest appeals for most users filing their 2014 taxes. The software is designed to make the filing process as easy as possible, and to maximize the refund amount.

Ellis also points out the security and safety of the software – two things important to anyone dealing with personal financial information. Also pointed out are those all important little known deductions and credits, the many innovative tools of TurboTax 2015, and any important deadlines for filing.

Using a tax refund calculator is highly recommended during the entire process, to give users a fairly accurate idea of how much refund to expect. The entire tax filing process is easier and goes much more smoothly when you are able to make any necessary adjustments, based on your estimates of any tax refund.

Many users like to have some idea of their refund amount during the filing process, and the tax refund calculator allows you to be informed every step of the way. You can prepare more efficiently for the financial year when you are able to estimate the amount of your tax refund in advance.

H&R Block Faces Opposition Over The Acquisition Of TaxACT: Federal Antitrust Suit Filed.

While most people are focused on their 2010 tax returns, there is tension in the market. An antitrust lawsuit was filed on Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice in a move to prevent the acquisition of TaxACT by H&R Block. Talk of the $287.5 million deal has led to fears of increased costs and an obstruction of improvements in the market without a third major player to drive competition.

These fears surfaced after H&R Block (Kansas City) revealed its intention in October to merge TaxACT and H&R Block AT Home, creating a division that would be headed by the team from TaxACT.

The Antitrust Division’s assistant attorney general, Christine Varney, issued a release charging that the deal would result in millions of citizens being charged higher costs for digital tax products classified as “do-it-yourself”. Varney further argued that the merger would wipe out advancements made in areas such as free federal filling which is currently a strong suit for TaxACT.

Requests for a response to Varney’s assertions  were not immediately met by H&R Block .

In his contribution to the debate, former H&R block CEO Alan Bennett argued that H&R Block would continue offering free filing for most basic federal returns. He further added that on the one hand this was good since the model is cost effective, efficient and  useful however, the approach is ultimately geared towards getting users of the simple free software to  pay for more complex filing.

Citing that 90 percent of the tax market is currently controlled by H&R Block, TaxACT and Intuit, Varney stressed that permitting the merger would phase out the aggressive competition between the two companies leaving Intuit as the only other large competitor.

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