Superfast Giveaway: H & R Block Online Tax Preparation – 5 Winners

The tax deadline is quickly approaching!

If you’re like us, you haven’t filed yet and time is going quickly.

Yesterday, I tried the H & R Block Online Filing Program.  It was easy to use, not words commonly associated with tax preparation!  The program walks you through all of the steps necessary to complete your return.  It felt very much like a “decision tree”, you would answer a question and if you said “yes” you would go to a specific set of more questions and forms, if you said “no”, it would progress down a different branch.  Very easy to see the logical progression.  As I went through, the program had excellent “help” options.  If there was an uncommon term used, you could rollover or click to see the meaning.

Before you start the actual questions and forms, you are told what documents to gather.  Then as you go along, depending on your situation, you are asked for other information from specific documents.  The program tells you exactly what document and where to find the information you need.

I did have a question about blogging income, that I couldn’t find an answer to on the site (it’s a very specific niche!).  I chose the option of emailing an H & R Block tax professional.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could choose the person I wanted to answer and find someone in my area by putting in my zip code.  Questions like that have a turn-around time, so I haven’t heard back yet, but I’ll let you know in the comments how it turned out.

Here are some tips that H & R Block sent me to share with you!

Know Before You File: Tips to Save Taxpayers Time, Money

H&R Block is taking the guesswork out of tax season by offering taxpayers tips to help navigate a 2010 tax return:

1. Education benefits extended — The American Opportunity Credit was extended, allowing taxpayers to claim $2,500 for the first four years of college education for each student. The tuition and fees deduction also was extended and could provide a reduction in taxable income of up to $4,000.

2. Sandwich generation gets tax relief — Taxpayers supporting their parents and their own children may be able to claim the $3,650 qualifying relative exemption.  Generally, the taxpayer must provide more than 50 percent of the financial support for eligible expenses such as food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation and transportation.

3. Unemployed are required to file — All unemployment benefits will be taxed this year, unlike last year when the first $2,400 was tax-free.

4. 2008 homebuyer credit repayment starts, but not for 2009 and 2010 — The 2008 First-time Homebuyer Credit was similar to an interest-free loan and taxpayers must begin repaying it with their 2010 tax returns. In general, taxpayers must repay $500 a year for 15 years. If the taxpayer no longer lives in the house, then the credit must be repaid in full with the next tax return.  Taxpayers who claimed the credit in 2009 and 2010 will not have to repay it unless the house is sold or no longer their principal residence within three years of purchase.

5. Energy credit reduced — For 2011, the lifetime maximum for the energy property credit is reduced from $1,500 to $500. Taxpayers who never claimed the credit can claim the entire $500. But, those who claimed $500 or more for the 2009-2010 and/or the 2006-2007 energy credits are not eligible in 2011. Eligible improvements include external windows and doors, insulation, roofing, HVAC and non-solar water heaters meeting specific energy guidelines.

6. Adoption Credit fully refundable in 2010 and 2011 — The Adoption Credit can be claimed for qualified expenses up to $13,170 for 2010 and $13,360 for 2011. Plus, new for 2010 and 2011, the IRS will refund any amount of the credit that exceeds the adoptive parents’ tax liability.

7. 2011 federal filing deadline is April 18 — Due to the observation of Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia on April 15, the filing deadline for federal tax returns is April 18 this year. But, some state filing deadlines will remain April 15.

Enter here to win a code for $55 towards a Premium tax preparation. *****Alert, this prize may change to a higher amount *****  I apologize for the uncertainty – but with the timeliness of the prize, I wanted to post as soon as possible.  The minimum prize will be a $55 code.

UPDATE:  Win a code for a free H & R Block At Home Premium Tax Preparation!  5 Winners!

Main entry

1. Please tell me how you had your taxes done last year.  Did you do it yourself?  Online filing?  In-person tax professional?

Additional entries

2. Follow Kelly’s Lucky You with Google Friend Connect.

3. Follow Kelly’s Lucky You on twitter.

4. Tweet this giveaway (RT 1x per day). Feel free to use this sample:

Win  free H & R Block At Home Premium Online Tax Preparation @KellysLuckyYou http://t.co/4mK3BZu Please RT

5. Like Kelly’s Lucky You on Facebook.

6. Add this giveaway to any giveaway linky (unlimited entries). You can use this list!

Leave one comment for each entry. Contest ends April 6th at midnight EST. The winner will be chosen by random.org and notified by email to the email address provided in the winning comment. The winner must respond within 48 hours of the notification email, or another winner will be chosen. See my Giveaway Rules page for further information. Sorry, this contest is open to residents of the US only.

Disclosure: I was given a $55 code to use to review the product and file my own taxes.