Taxes, Turbo Tax, and TANSTASFL
So, Consumerist has a post up linking to filife.com, where the writer tried 19 different free services to help you e-file your Federal tax return. There’s only one thing missing in the well written post, There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, so obviously the corporations offering this deal must be profiting in some way. I’m probably not alone in worrying about exactly how these benevolent businesses are offering such things. I mean, if the profit motive isn’t upfront, I usually figure they’re doing something sneaky.
So are these people data-mining your most personal information, a la Choicepoint, or are they burning through their venture capital trying to build some name recognition? Are they offering a loss-leader hoping to sell you something, or are they getting cash from the IRS for every return they deliver electronically, because that’s easier and cheaper than scanning in the snail mail? Or maybe it’s all four? Inquiring minds want to know.
Most of the services also want to charge you for filing your state return, (but not Turbo Tax and Taxslayer), so that’s one possible angle, but who knows? Don’t think for one minute I’m going to volunteer to read and parse 19 different TACOS (Terms and Conditions of Service).
Meanwhile, I’ll be sending mine in via first class mail.
