Have you ever thought how wonderful it would be if you could get your taxes prepared for nothing?  The government requires you to pay your taxes, why must you pay all this money out to have someone else do the work for you?  Well, if you have a low enough income, your dream may come true.  There are a few big businesses in the tax world that are going to be doing just that. 

I know what you are thinking.  This is too good to be true.  There must be some catch.  The services that will be offered will be terrible.  This is just a gimmick to get me in the door.  While it is good to have these fears and be a skeptic, i t is also good to be informed before you make your final decision. 

Tax preparation is becoming easier and easier to do with the use of tax software.  Recently, the Bush Administration let everyone in on a plan to expand the availability of free electronic tax filing with a non-profit consortium of private sector firms.  The government wants this service in place by 2003. 

You are wondering why any business owner would want to offer free tax preparation and filing.  There are a number of big software companies that deal with tax preparation and filing and a number of big tax preparation firms that would love to keep the government from taking over all the tax filing and software needs.  If these businesses didn’t offer this, the government will.  Therefore, they would rather offer free tax filing themselves and help the government out so they don’t have to enter into this sector.   

The requirements for having your taxes prepared free are not set in stone.  It appears that each business has their own set of guidelines.  I would think that the guidelines would in some fashion be based on income levels. 

Any business that joins the consortium will also get free advertising in the form of goodwill and a listing with the IRS Web Site as a preparer of free tax returns.   

Many readers may be wondering why I am telling you about this service.  While I am not big enough to offer this type of service, I have a job to do.  I pride myself in getting the most recent information to you.  You have a right to expect a non-bias report of information and techniques that are available to you.  That is what I try and provide.  In your business, would you expect anything less from an employee or another business associate?  You shouldn’t expect less here.  I hope that you return again for more breaking news and information that will help you move your business forward.

 Reference:

TAXPRO. (2002).  IRS Partners with Private Sector to Offer Free Tax Filing.  Volume 23, Issue 10 (October 2002).  Available at: http://www.natptax.com