The IRS code is, to say the least, huge, with worksheets and caveats you might simply drown in while trying to properly finish your federal tax return. If not you are a large behemoth of a corporation, doing offshore business with foreign labor, enjoying huge tax breaks, you are most likely a member of the somewhat underground (few would confess to membership publicly), ‘I hate the IRS’ club. On the other hand, once you’ve muddled through your federal return, your state tax return is more like comic relief. The IRS is feared by most people, no matter how on the up and up you might be. You hardly require taking more than a superficial look at the state tax return booklet, because the state tax form contains most of the descriptive information you necessitate, line by line. If you’re able to use the short form, 1040-EZ, you probably won’t get a headache in the process, but you also won’t get a refund great adequate to do more than pay your past due power bill.

However, before you sit down at your desk to begin the tax return filing procedure, there are a few caveats you should be aware of prior to you begin. For something more complicated, you definitely need a professional to do the deed. In years past, if your income fell below a certain level, you could file both your federal and state tax returns at no cost. Why do the state tax return forms seem so simple and non-threatening? Today, the trend is for online tax preparers to do your federal return for free, but attach a charge for the state tax preparation, with rates ranging from about $8-15. You get the distinct feeling that you can get the job done quickly and accurately, without downing a couple of aspirin or sobbing all through the process. The fees for the state filing do not seem justified, since it is the easier task. For one thing, the booklet for the state tax return is about half the size of the IRS instruction booklet and, to my way of thinking, seems to be written in language that more closely resembles English.

Be aware that if you file your federal return electronically online and don’t complete and e-file your state taxes at the same time, you lose the option to e-file with that tax preparation service at a later time. You plug in earnings amounts, transfer some figures from lines such-and-such from your federal return, enter your standard assumption, which in my state is expediently provided on the back of the filing form, then take away this from that and you are done! This proved to be a small hassle, preparing the state tax return physically and mailing it via snail mail. A proportional piece of cake. There must be federal laws stipulating that free federal filings must be available for people in lower income brackets, but no such provisions regarding the states.

Because the dollar amount of state tax refunds are typically nothing to write home about, and the preparation is simple, you might consider saving a few bucks by filling out your state tax return yourself, as soon as you’re done with the feds and sending it through the mail. This happened to me a couple of years ago. It was late at night by the time I was done with the federal part. Anxious to get that federal refund in the works ASAP; I e-filed prior to hanging it up for the night. In any case, filing early is the key. The next morning, I was electronically advised that both must be filed at the same time. Most states will get a check to you in about 4 weeks, perhaps less. So, the ethical to the story is to do all at once. Why cannot the IRS be more like the states?

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