@
eyeno You are very welcome!
My experience over the last 5 years of filing online by doing it myself using a tax software program, was strictly one of convenience.
I will say that the only real thing that was convenient about doing it online was NOT having to put everything in an envelope, then driving to the post office to mail it after buying a stamp to put on the envelope!
In all honesty, what I've just described is the ONLY advantage to filing online, whereby you can send it from your home computer and receive confirmation that they received it online within 60 seconds.
The only other advantage is if you do your taxes literally at the last minute and you don't have time to go to the post office to mail it on time and have it postmarked before midnight.
By filing online, you can send it electronically at 11:59pm and the tax department will receive it immediately!
The only problem I find with filing online is that YOU have to keep all receipts and documentation of each tax year for at least 7 years in a file in your home in case they decide to audit you.
HOWEVER, if you mail all your tax data by doing your taxes manually, you only have to keep your receipts for 3 years, not 7.
What I have been finding is that the more people use online filing, the POORER the service has become at the government tax department. This is because they don't need as many people to open envelopes and check tax returns, so instead they lay those people off and now there's very few people around to answer questions if you call on the phone, especially if you've made a mistake and need to correct something.
In all honesty, I'm really thinking about abandoning this whole notion of 'online tax filing' for the 2025 tax year which I have to complete by April 30th of this year. I have an entire file cabinet drawer dedicated to 7 years worth of taxation paperwork which I never had to deal with prior to online tax filing.
From what I've experienced personally, the only ones who truly benefit from online tax filing is the government, not the tax payer.
If you make a mistake and need to re-file your income tax, they now require proof of your identity which you must send in the mail after signing it with a black pen!
But if they don't trust who you are when you re-file after making a mistake, then why did they trust you in the first place when you filed the first time?!
That's what doesn't make sense because now you still have to go to the post office to mail your proof of identity before they will re-assess your tax return!
I suggest you use a CPA to help support their tax business, otherwise if nobody uses them, then theoretically they won't be in business when you really need a CPA!
