Yesterday, I received five USB flash drives containing the TaxCut software, and I intend on giving each one of these away to Consumerism Commentary readers. Last year, I didn’t receive these flash drives until April 11, a little too late for tax filing purposes. Also, last year’s drives were only 256 MB. The drives I received yesterday have four times the capacity. Even if you’ve already filed your taxes or are using other software, you can still win one of these 1 GB flash drives and erase the data. You can then put music, photos, or any other kinds of computer files on these USB drives.
I’ve never used TaxCut before, so I can’t vouch for the software’s quality. Over the last few years I’ve been using TaxAct, and before that, TurboTaxOnline. TaxCut is a popular product, and I’d suggest reading the CNET Review for pros and cons.
If you’re interested in being selected to win a USB flash drive containing TaxCut Premium Federal + State + e-file, leave a comment below on this post. The comment could be an interesting anecdote about your own tax situation or someone else’s, it could be a joke, or it could be anything else. There are two catches. I’ll only send a drive to a United States address, and you’ll need to include a real email address so I can contact you if you win.
This probably goes without saying, but we’ll only take one submission per person and IP address.
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{ 102 comments }
gotta try
I’m in! Thanks for all y’all do.
Haven’t done the taxes yet. TaxCut sounds great. I’m in for one, please
I’ve only used TurboTax in the past, but would like to give TaxCut a try. I have not filed my taxes yet due to questions that arose around FSA accounts and filing multiple states. I’ve had to spend time speaking with the IRS and individual state departments to complete my return.
Count me in, please!
I always use HR block online…the link that irs.gov sends you too. It’s worked fine for me in the past, but luckily, I expect to be over the income limit for H&R’s free filing next year. I can’t imagine doing my taxes on paper anymore, so I’ll probably be buying some sort of software next year. I guess that’s not the worst problem to have!
I have a funny story.
I did my taxes and e-filed in early February.
Federal accepted everything fine, but a couple days later I get a letter from the CA FTB that I owe them $1k, instead of the $900 refund I was expecting.
Turns out the old payroll company for my employer didn’t file any of the necessary paperwork to the state for the entire 4th quarter of 2007. Jerks.
Happy ending though…I faxed them my last paycheck of the year and my W-2 and they resolved my issue. Good thing I read P.F. blogs so I knew not to spend my refund before I got it or that 5 week delay would’ve sucked. :)
Hurray for TaxCut!!!
throw my hat in.
Hey,
Appreciate your articles…they are always informative.
Put me in for one of those flash drives.
Thank you,
~Ron
I have used TaxCut the last 3 years and have been pleased every single time.
Perhaps this would abate my procrastination…
How many CPA’s does it take to complete and file your tax return?
None. Just use TaxCut and do it yourself!
So, go ahead. Make ME the butt of this joke!
I have never used any tax software. Old family friend (retired CPA) does our taxes for us and thankfully we have yet to owe. Guess all that training comes in real handy for us. Guess I could try doing it ourselves but we almost always have our taxes filed by the end of the first week of Feb and with the e-file have our returns before the end of the month and vacation scheduled shortly there after. :)
Count me in!
Being newly married this year, I think we’ll be going with an accountant. It’s still good to run the numbers through a program, though.
Please count me in as well.
I am not sure how humorous this is, but in 2007, I increased the amount of withholding on my paycheck to retain more of my money. I thought I had calculated the numbers correctly and was expecting to break about even or even pay to the feds. I received the exact same refund for my 2007 taxes as I did for my 2006 taxes despite an increase in income! (The energy tax credit was a big factor I think). So much for keeping my money and breaking even!
My frustration with taxes actually stems from being in decent shape financially. My husband and I both make OK money (especially for Kentucky), we have no kids (don’t want to do that until we are totally financially ready), and are saving for a house (gotta have that 20% to put down). Two incomes, no kids, no mortgage means that the federal withholding is never enough. I know I could up the withholding and probably will this year, but it does kind of suck to be doing the “right” things and get slammed with payments to the IRS every year…
I moved to the US a few years ago, and started filing here…Forgetting to file my low $500 income in Sweden for that same year. With the penalty of not filing, my effective tax rate for the year ended at +80% ($400).
Taxes in Sweden are generally high, 50% on the part of your income over $50k, but 80% must be some kind of record…
I could use tax preparation software this year. Two years ago I bought a stock with what looked like a 9% dividend. Turns out it is an iron ore trust and the “dividends” have to be reported on three uncommon schedules. In the past, I’ve always just filed a 1040A, but the extra hours of paperwork needed to account for $200 of iron ore proceeds almost makes it an illusory gain compared to 3.4% from ING.
Keep up the great work on CC. I always enjoy it.
To Fidelity customers, log into your account and check out the Tax Center. There should be a link to TurboTax which gives you a 25% discount. Or if you are an active trader, TurboTax might even be free via the same link.
Yabba Dabba Ding Dong!
I’ve used TaxCut religiously since Intuit became such a rotten money-grubbing company. I’ve also dumped Quicken and QuickBooks.
TaxCut is quick and easy, and more importantly, Block is not an evil entity like Intuit.
my two cents.
1 free flash drive please.
I hope these are randomly selected and not selected by cleverness of comment.
It’s my first year filing my own taxes, although my parents keep trying to get me to let their tax guy do mine too. My federal ones are fairly simple, but not my state taxes. In Feb 07 I moved from Illinois to Washington state for my first full-time job. WA has no state tax, but Illinois seems to think I owe them the money witheld from my paycheck.
Since my brain isn’t functioning today, the following comment is recycled from my web page:
Usually I would have finished doing the taxes by now. Warmer weather is my cue to hunker down and get busy. Today it’s 25° and snowing. It doesn’t feel like it’s time yet.
Doing taxes is also my excuse to avoid going outside when I don’t feel like it just because it’s nice outside. When spring comes, everybody who can’t wait to go out thinks everybody else feels the same way. I don’t.
Guess if I won this I might actually decide to file my taxes this year ;)
Well I’m sure they will get done eventually, but it might be fun to try it out myself rather than bringing them in as I have in the past.
Being a fan of TaxCut and having not yet done my taxes this year, I would love to win one of these.
I’d like to enter! I used TaxCut a couple years back, then did my taxes manually last year. This time around, with 3 W-2s and a stock sale to account for, it’s time to go with the software again.
I would like USB copy of TaxCut. This year is the first time I sold shares of mutual funds. While my 1099-B statement contained information about average basis, due to automatic reinvestment it was difficult to determine what percentage of this could be treated as long term capital gains versus short term. Due to this fact, I do not plan to reinvest dividends on mutual funds held in a taxable account in the future.
Last year I filed my taxes through a website (don’t remember the name) and they didn’t use an electronic signature! The IRS sent me a letter saying that I would HAVE to paper file unless I used one this year….
Well I already filed my taxes, and they accepted them, but it would be really nice to have tax software since it cost me $30 to be walked through and file for state, and nothing to file federal.
Why does everyone want my money? lol
This year I’m determined to do my taxes myself. My parents want me to go to an accountant because I just bought a home and got married, but I don’t think it’s worth the $125.00 the accountant wants to charge me. I’m pretty sure I’d rather have that money in my pocket!
I just hope I get a copy of TaxCut!
hello put me in also
I have used Tax Cut for 4 years now, and I have to say I am dissapointed with their State program, I had to get all the State forms and figure them myself, then enter the info for part of it, other than that it is a good program. I think you should enter people based on the length of their comment, maybe one entry per word in the comment?? Sound fair?
I’m not sure if this is an anecdote or not, but my wife and I finally got to the point where we use a financial planner. Mostly we hired him to help us determine where to invest our money. A couple of years ago he advised us to get a CPA because our taxes were going to be fairly complicated. We thought that sounded like a decent idea. It wouldn’t cost a bunch of money, it would save us a lot of time, and maybe, just maybe, the human CPA could save us more than the Computer Program. Of course, our advisor recommended a CPA for us.
We went to pick up our return about a week later. The accountant had forgotten to write up our MORTGAGE INTEREST as a deduction. We just rolled our eyes and started sobbing. Oh the incompetence! So, we sent the whole packet back and got a second return from the CPA’s office several days later. Combing through the records we found they hadn’t counted our Church donations as tax deductions. The single biggest charitable donation we make every year? Holy smokes. Strike 2!
We weren’t able to find any more mistakes by the CPA, but needless to say, we have not gone back to that CPA again, nor any CPA for that matter. It’s electronic or nothing now.
Bring on the Tax Cut!
-Chris
I have no witty comment, nor a good tax story (funny or otherwise), but I’m a huge fan of your blog and I really appreciate all you do!
I can also really really use a 1GB flash drive. :)
Thanks!
Susan
Count me in too!!
I have already filed my taxes this year, but enter me.
Thanks for the giveaway!
I enjoy your blog regularly. Thanks.
In the 80s, when the investment tax credit was available for new business purchases of equipment, etc., my tax advisor called me to say that the buzz was ITC was going to end soon. He said that if I were planning any new purchases, I’d better do it right away to take advantage of the credit. I dutifully went right out and bought a new Saab as my new business car, thinking I’d slipped in under the wire. It turned out the joke was on me; the IRS abolished the ITC RETROACTIVE to January of that year, leaving me with a new Saab and no ITC. Oh well!
Atticus
I’ve been procrastinating on doing my taxes (meant to do them this weekend) and so winning one would be great!
We’re at the point where our deductions are near the standard deduction, so for 2007 we took the standard. For 2008, I paid property taxes in January and will again in December. I also pushed my Dec 07 mortgage payment to early Jan so I’ll end up with 13 payments (including some interest) in 2008. For 2009, we’ll go back to standard deductions for the free money. So, I guess I really need to win this next year actually, because that’ll be much more complex than our 2007 taxes will be.
I would love the software. Pick me!
Please include me.
BTW, a quick note about my personal finance situation and the importance of an emergency fund.
My wife’s mac finally crashed after 7 years so we had to purchase a new laptop along with the associated software she needed to continue her at home job, web design.
Also we had to pack the family up for an emergency trip across country to visit relatives after the death of my grandmother.
Together, these two items wiped out our emergency fund. Something we didn’t have 3 years ago. We are going to have to work to build it back up, but hopefully we won’t have any other emergencies in the short-term to derail us.
I am in
This just reminded me that I still yet to do my tax return. This is the first year that I will not be getting a tax refund from the IRS since I graduated from college and took on a pretty good-paying job immediately afterwards, plus, I’ll be filing as single and I don’t have any deductions besides my 401k. I used to file taxes for the whole family every year, and it is usually the case that I will receive a check but my parents will write out a check. So they always complain. But this year, I think it would be the opposite case.
The income tax became “legal” when the 16th Amendment was ratified back in 1913.
How did we survive as a country prior to that point? (sarcasm)
Since 1913 our government has become an overgrown beast willing to take from the hard working and give to all who have their lazy hands out.
okay… here’s my entry without a joke this time (hey, you asked).
I’d love to try for a flash drive! I’d really like to get a refund, instead of paying the IRS $12. Well, at least the withholdings were pretty close this year! In 2005/2006 I spent about half of each year working abroad, and the gov’t tried to tax me on those earnings, even after I had already paid Japanese taxes. They shouldn’t do that. It took 3 months and a Japanese interpreter to straighten out my W2s from Japan and get my refund.
Taxes, yes I’ve filed this year
Feared I’d owe them very dear
Almost had a heart attack
When I saw how much I’d get back
Yea for TaxCut. (And they only sent me two CDs so I’d love to make off with one of their thumb drives… : )
Would be a perfect place to save my TaxAct returns.
Never used TaxAct before, but won’t mind trying. :)
Thanks.
Here’s a not so bad joke!
“Vice President Dick Cheney’s getting a tax refund of $1.9 million. How do you get a $1.9 million refund when your salary is $205,000 a year? How does that work? … Apparently, he’s writing off the guns and ammo as business expenses.” –Jay Leno
My birthday is coming up, maybe I’ll be lucky and win a flash drive! Thanks.
It’s this or I buy some software soon.
USB for me!
Procrastination of taxes is a good thing sometimes.
Use Taxcut every year. No problems with using it. Trasfers info for each year, with paper and data back up. Everone in the family uses it. Five people, one softwear.
Wow, that’s really cool of you to organize a giveaway like this. :) Alas, I’ve already filed my taxes, but I guess I can use this program next year, huh? And since I’m a college student, I could always use a flash drive. :D
Thanks a lot!
Thanks for the blog.
I had my taxes done a couple weeks ago and mailed in my payments ::tear:: last Friday. Feels good to be done even though I owed.
My 87-year old father gets a $700/mo pension and Soc Sec. He took his tax return to H&R Block last week and ended up paying them $250 for his tax return! – $30 of that was for some sort of 3-yr “protection” that they sold him.
I thought I should try to do his taxes for him from now on so this giveaway would be great. Thank you.
My honey and I used TaxACT online and got our tax refunds in time for our birthdays in February. But I would like to put my hat in the ring for the usb drive because it just sounds neat.
I need tax help, so I would like to win Tax Cut!
Procrastination will kill ya. I was owed something like $400 in refund back in 2001. I moved before the check got to me. It was supposed to go to my dad’s house, where my brother was staying. Brother was supposed to send it on to me. Never happened.
I followed up later but did not follow *through*, and lost almost half a grand as a result. Argh.
Thanks one more time.
Jun
When I see what people are doing for this USB Taxcut thing, I feel I should join in. I desperately need help with my taxes.
I don’t know if this counts as a joke, but it happened recently! There was this guy who was following me around at a party, and I really didn’t want to talk to him. Finally he corners me and says, “You know, you can’t escape death or taxes.” So I say, “let me guess, you are death.” And he laughs, and says, “close…I’m taxes…I’m an IRS agent and my name is Tom.” While I felt for the guy, I was also really annoyed by his persistence. “Wow, and girls find that a turn-on??” I asked lightly, while looking around for help. Fortunately, I saw Eric, my friend who is 6′2″ and in the Army special forces coming to my rescue. So I tell the IRS guy, “Its nice to meet you, Tom. But even you can’t escape death. That’s my boyfriend over there (I said pointing to Eric), he’s just come from Iraq where he killed a bunch of people. And he’s coming for you now.” He disappeared.
I wish it was that easy to get rid of all the IRS guys…
I opened a Roth IRA in 07, I shouldn’t have to report anything to the IRS is that correct?
Thank you sir, may I have another?!?!
I don’t think I’ve ever won anything in a random drawing, but it doesn’t stop me from trying…
I’ve always had someone else do my taxes,sometimes with disastrous results. This will be the first year that I will attempt to do them myself. I’m crossing my fingers!
Throwing my hat in the ring as well :-)
I am IN ! Great Blog !!!
big money no whammie….
Hope I get lucky!
I haven’t done my taxes yet…and I am a poor student! I need the program to help me!!
I’ll take a free flash drive please. No one else need apply.
I’ve been doing taxes using tax software for over 15 years.One very strange thing here in Rhode Island – never had it happen before. Every year, I get my rebate or pay the Feds with no problem. Every year, I get a letter from the Rhode Island tax folks telling me I owe $75. Never fails. Sometimes I fight and win; sometimes I lose but it is always $75
Please put my name down.
Would be very useful.
Yay win!
I’ve never had a Flash drive before–I can think of 100 uses for it, too!
Thanks
My entry
I’ve used Taxcut the past two years have been more than pleased with the product. I like the fact that I can access information from last years return just by going to the website and logging on.
Taxcut has been my choice since Intuit became “evil”. I’ve used their software for the last 3 years, and I doubt I’ll change anytime soon.
Tax Cut was critical this year when I moved from CA to PA. I had no idea which schedules I needed to fill out for both states.
Heres a tax related joke for everyone from Joke of the Day http://jokeoftheday.wordpress.com/category/tax/
:
Dear Internal Revenue Service:
Enclosed you will find my 2006 tax return showing that I owe
$3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA
Today newspaper, dated 12 November, wherein you will see the
Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying
$171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.
I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six
(6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot,
bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the
overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election Fund,� as
noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them
one (1) 1.5″ Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from
USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for
1.5″ Phillips Head Screws). One screw is enclosed for your
convenience.
It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look
forward to paying it again next year.
Sincerely,
A Satisfied Taxpayer
Please put me in the contest.
-Jim
I have used Tax Cut for the past 3 years, and I thought that I would get an “early” start this year… that was 4 weeks ago!!! Procrastinators unite… tomorrow :)
Pick me!
What’s a flash drive?
I have used Taxcut for years. I used it again this year and e-filed. Really easy to use and my refunds were in the bank by the end of the second week. Can not beat the performance.
Please consider my entry.
I have to jump in and try for this. Please pick me.
Taxes!!! I’ve procrastinated AGAIN this year… but i could really use some help! My tax situation has changed in so many ways this year that I’m not sure I would know every single tax form I need!!! If not this, I’ll have to run out and buy some software this weekend… Thanks.
ah… taxes… that time of the year.
Please, please include me in the drawing. It’s getting much too close to tax filing time and I really need some help.
Thanks
Pls include me in the drawing.
Enable my procrastination! I started filling out some online tax prep stuff, but I have to pay federal and state (about 30 bucks each, not bad) and am NOT going to pay to file on top of that!
Kansas Jayhawks will win March Madness. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
I love free software!
Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes
Who DOESN’T love free? :) Sign me up!
The giveaway has concluded and I’ve notified the winners. To the winners who received an email, please respond within 24 hours.
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