Online Tax Software - Multiple State Filings

[Sirrip]

Anybody know whether or not I have to pay the state e-file fee twice if I moved during 2012?
Is the fee imposed by the software company or by the government? I.e. If I were to do my taxes on pen and paper, would I have to pay a state filing fee?

[grabiner]

The act of filing is free (although if you file on paper, you have to consider the cost of the paper and mailing). The fees for filing are imposed by the software companies and vary by company. TurboTax, for example, charges $19.99 for state filing, but includes one free state e-filing if you use TurboTax online.

And you pay for each filing. For example, some states require you to file two forms if you earned income as a non-resident and then became a resident later in the year, and this will require two e-files (or an e-file and a paper file if the state doesn't allow you to e-file twice).

[SSSS]

TaxAct is the cheapest.

State tax forms tend to be much simpler than federal returns, so you might want to investigate doing at least one of the states on your own. You can still do the return in your tax software, not paying for it, but using it to verify the accuracy of your manual paper return.

In some of the tax programs, you used to be able to preview the actual completed tax form before paying, meaning you could just copy it onto a blank form, but I don't think any of the major tax programs will let you preview the state return anymore (you can preview federal, but copying it all onto paper is not worth it in my opinion).

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (taxes).

[Toons]

TaxAct is the cheapest.

State tax forms tend to be much simpler than federal returns, so you might want to investigate doing at least one of the states on your own. You can still do the return in your tax software, not paying for it, but using it to verify the accuracy of your manual paper return.

In some of the tax programs, you used to be able to preview the actual completed tax form before paying, meaning you could just copy it onto a blank form, but I don't think any of the major tax programs will let you preview the state return anymore (you can preview federal, but copying it all onto paper is not worth it in my opinion).

I just added another state to my TaxAct Return it was 10.00 efile included
Tennesee return I am plugging in the numbers as mentioned above and will file at Tennessee website

[og15F1]

When I did my taxes last year I filed in two states and paid for both using TurboTax