If you’re a financial person, when tax season comes around you learn not just what people’s finances are, but also how they view finances overall. Most people are stuck in a mode of money in, money out (and preferring the former to the latter). And while generally being a skinflint is a wise financial move, it also means that people aren’t considering one of the most valuable components of their finances: their time.
Which is why, even though it costs money, I always urge people to give filing a tax return online a try: because it saves you money. Here’s how:
First, I want you to consider bread.
Bread is something we tend to eat a lot of, and it’s also something we tend to buy a lot of–even though bread is among the easiest and cheapest food stuffs to make. This is because even though bread is simple (essentially flour + water + yeast + time), it’s that time bit that gets us. We could make all our own bread…or we go to work. Or spend a day with friends. Or read our kids a story. Spending that $3 on bread is more valuable, personally, than spending 3 hours on it. The same with filing a tax return online.
When considering whether filing a tax return online is a better idea than doing the paper forms yourself, consider how long it would take you to fill out those forms. Unless you’re a tax agent or a financial lawyer, I’m guessing a good long well. And, alas, the old adage is true: time is money. So the longer you spend doing those forms, the less money you have the potential to make. Moreover, the less free time you have to actually enjoy that money.
Of course, instead of filing a tax return online, you could just pop in to the local tax agents. In terms of time, that would definitely remove the burden from you. But, in terms of cost… filing tax return online is definitely the way to go if price is any considering at all.
Fortunately, both filing a tax return online and using a tax agent have a major benefit for you above and beyond cost and time calculation: they know their stuff. They know it because they’ve spent years learning it or have been programmed to know it. This means you’re more like to save money through previously unknown credits and refund opportunities. Which means you save time, you save money and you don’t have to spend hours poring over forms? Sounds like a no-brainer to me.