|
Online Taxes at olt.com is a simple and low cost tax software for filing most of the common tax forms. Compared to other online tax software programs, you will need to pre-select the tax return type like 1040 or 1040NR before starting to file your tax return. The main attraction of this tax software is the low cost which is only $7.95 to prepare and e-file for the federal tax returns. The cost of e-filing a state tax return is $7.95 as well.
Features
Online Taxes software supports most of the generally used federal tax forms and state tax forms. OLT tax software uses a set of online forms which look similar to the IRS tax forms in order to capture tax data. If a user wants help in selecting a tax form, they can use the tax form selector,
“Guide me to select appropriate boxes.” You then answer a set of questions with more explanations and the tax software will select the appropriate tax forms. The OLT tax software lacks some of the features found in other tax preparation software. These include; the tax refund meter, tax data import and other features. These are wonderful extra features but this program also lacks the final error checking software which is a major drawback. The OLT tax software does check for incomplete information as you fill out each form, but that is not good enough
when one is completing a complicated tax return. The OLT does not provide tax return status, either. It does have links to irs.gov and other state agency web sites.
A nice feature of this tax software is the side-by-side comparison of taxes for a married couple filing joint, versus a married couple filing individually. This is a good feature because married couples can determine where they may save the most money or whether they will face a marriage penalty. You must deduct a $14.00 tax filing fee from your federal tax refund and the cost of tax preparation. This is a negative aspect of this software.
Navigation
The user interface of this tax software is simple but the navigation is somewhat restricted. An individual needs to pre-select the required tax forms and the tax software which is then presented one at the time. You then enter tax data from your tax documents. If you enable quick tips, a dialog box will appear while entering each form entry. Even though it is supposed to be helpful, it is often distracting. The quick navigation links found on the right half of the screen are handy, which means you can easily access any menu items while you are working on the form. However, if you are working on income related tax forms you need to complete all selected income related forms before you can navigate to the next to the next item. An individual must control when he or she uses a certain form and cannot multi-task at any time. This is definitely time consuming.
Support
Online Taxes does provide free customer support by phone, chat or email. There is a detailed FAQ listed for each state which is good for those who want to learn more about a particular state tax.
Conclusion
The OLT Online Taxes is good tax software for those who want low cost tax preparation. Also, it offers e-file software and you shouldn’t need much assistance with the forms. It supports most of the state tax returns and most of the federal tax forms. Overall, though, it could be more time consuming that other tax software programs.
Related Articles:
|
