Stickin it to the man...well, not really
Mar. 7th, 2011 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
murakoziEven though I now recall posting about it last year, I'd forgotten that Virginia's free system for filing state income taxes was gone as of this year. I did my federal return last month and just kept putting off doing the VA one until last night. I had an 'oh yeah' moment when I realized that ifile was no more. Technically, there are still ways to file it for free online, but they pretty much require that one makes less than $15k per year. That means I either have to use something like Taxcut or Turbotax or file a paper return.
Now since I do get a small amount of money for working Sundays at the barn, and there's no VA income tax withheld from that, I usually end up having to pay a little cash to the state. I expect that and my federal refund always more than covers it. This year, it came out to 92 bucks. I really don't like the idea of having to spend 20 or 30 dollars to be able to file state taxes via tax preparation software, so I went to VA's site and downloaded actual tax forms.
The rationale for getting rid of the state's free tax filing site was that it would save the state money. I don't recall how much, but it wasn't really a tremendous amount (I want to say it was less than $100k per year). So, instead of the amount it would've cost to process my return electronically (which I assume was probably less than one cent), the state now gets to deal with a paper return and a paper check. Even with automated systems, I suspect it'll cost 'em a lot more.
Unfortunately, I think most people will just go and spend the extra money to get the state modules for their tax software. I'd kind of like it if the majority switched back to paper returns. It might result in ifile coming back.
Now since I do get a small amount of money for working Sundays at the barn, and there's no VA income tax withheld from that, I usually end up having to pay a little cash to the state. I expect that and my federal refund always more than covers it. This year, it came out to 92 bucks. I really don't like the idea of having to spend 20 or 30 dollars to be able to file state taxes via tax preparation software, so I went to VA's site and downloaded actual tax forms.
The rationale for getting rid of the state's free tax filing site was that it would save the state money. I don't recall how much, but it wasn't really a tremendous amount (I want to say it was less than $100k per year). So, instead of the amount it would've cost to process my return electronically (which I assume was probably less than one cent), the state now gets to deal with a paper return and a paper check. Even with automated systems, I suspect it'll cost 'em a lot more.
Unfortunately, I think most people will just go and spend the extra money to get the state modules for their tax software. I'd kind of like it if the majority switched back to paper returns. It might result in ifile coming back.