Here comes tax time for that huge group of Americans who wait until the proverbial last minute to file their income taxes. For them, crunch time is approaching and they need to find all of those tax receipts and records that they will need in order to file Federal Income Taxes. Fortunately, one of the best tax tricks for 2010 is getting free tax preparation software. The best part is that there is no real downside as long as you are smart and keep an eye out for optional add-ons, upgrades, and online tax filing options that might shatter your free tax software deals.

Many of the deals websites out there (check out Slickdeals.net and Gottadeal.com as well as Dealnews.com for starters) will notify you when companies like Intuit offer free online TurboTax applications for users who show up within a certain time frame. The HR Block guys similarly offer free TaxCut software signups from time to time.

If you are wondering what the catch is, because obviously these companies can’t make money by giving their programs away online, then good for you. The first step to avoid being a sucker who gets scammed is to be aware of what makes sense, what motivates people and companies, and trying to see the find print.

In this case, the fine print comes in the form of add-on offers. Depending on which deal on tax software you get, it might be free to input all the data and print the return, but there is a charge to e-file. Another strategy is to offer free Federal Income Tax preparation and free e-file, but to charge for doing your state income tax return. Unless you live in New York, California, or another state with complicated state income taxes, chances are your state return is pretty easy to do by yourself. Of course, there is always the “subscription” trap, where you think you are getting something for free, but are actually signing up for a $99.95 annual subscription to something. Just make sure you don’t enter a credit card number and you should be OK.

These sites also require registration and while these are legitimate companies that don’t benefit from spam or overly aggressive marketing, you can be sure they’ll be in touch sooner or later.

In Colorado, for example, the State of Colorado offers every resident free online e-filing of their state income taxes. For 90% of residents, all that you need to do is plug in a handful of numbers from your completed IRS Form 1040 tax return (they even tell you which line numbers to use) and then hit submit. (There is more to it for certain circumstances like partial-year residents, land income, and so on.) In other words, you would be a fool to buy TurboTax State edition if you live in Colorado.

If you don’t want to watch the deal websites (which is really the easiest way) you can also pop onto the main product webpages at turbotax.com and taxcut.com and see if they are running a public deal. However, you might have to dig around a little bit. After all, these companies don’t want to offer free software to someone who is coming there to buy it!

More personal finance tips and advice

Finance Investing Banking Information and Eduction

Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday is history. Yet, online shopping continues in full force. Various reports suggest that online shopping has increased dramatically this year, likely due to the increasing usage of broadband connections in the home, and the draw of huge savings secretly located on the Internet if you can just find the right combination of coupon codes, discount websites, and wholesalers online. However, as always, when it comes to personal finance what you don’t know can hurt you. Make sure you understand all of the details regarding online shopping for bargains. Otherwise, you may get burned.

Amazon Makes Online Shopping OK

Not long ago, online shopping was the exclusive providence of very specific people, typically techies, and ultra-bargain shoppers who linked together in electronic discount finding groups reminiscent of the old coupon clubs. A few appearances on Oprah by folks like "Coupon Mom" helped drive online shopping and deal finding to the forefront of the American consciousness. But, what finally pushed online shopping over the edge from the wary, angst filled, activity it used to be to a common shopping method used by teenagers, little old ladies, and the technological inept alike was the legitimizing factor of Amazon.com.

When Amazon burst onto the scene a decade ago, it was a revolutionary idea. Selling books online meant that not only could Amazon offer deep discounts on books, but it could also stock many more titles than local booksellers could on their shelves. Even the big national chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders couldn’t compete with how many books Amazon sold. The offer to order a book for you began to pale by comparison. Instead of waiting for the bookstore’s regular shipment of books to include the book title you were looking for, you could order the same book from Amazon and have it delivered directly to your house right away.

For a while, books, were one of the things that was OK to purchase online. There were many things that made them safe. First, any book Amazon.com sells is exactly the same as the books on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. In other words, there is no concern about quality or some sort of bait and switch scam. Secondly, shipping costs were relatively low. The savings offered on the price of the book was larger than the cost of sending it in the mail, which meant a good deal, was still a good deal even with shipping. This was no small factor as online pet supply websites found out when it turned out no one was interested in buy 50 lb. bags of dog food online due to the ridiculous shipping costs. Finally, Amazon had good customer service. Products could be returned, and exchanged, and over time, the company became a household name, erasing the fear of giving out your credit card number online.

Once Amazon started selling products beyond books, the barriers were officially broken, and online shopping was a common thing among all groups of people.

Not All Shopping Websites Are Like Amazon

Unfortunately, this familiarization with online shopping via a retailer like Amazon has made many Americans let their guard down when it comes to buying online. It is important to remember that not all merchants are Amazon.com. In fact, precious few are. That means that you need to find out all the facts about who you are buying from FIRST before placing an order, no matter how great of deal it is.

Top Things To Know About Online Shopping Websites

1. Return Policy – Not just that they accept returns, but the details as well. Who pays for shipping? How long is the return period? If it is also a brick and mortar store, can you return items to the store? Is there a restocking fee? Most importantly, under what conditions can something be returned? Many sites allow returns, but only for defective items. That means if you don’t like it, or it isn’t what you thought it would be, then that is just too bad.
2. Shipping and Handling Charges – Even on Amazon.com you have to be careful of this one. Amazon lets anyone sell on their website. Unfortunately, it sorts prices based on the cost without shipping. That means that the vendor who sells for $9.99 plus $8.95 shipping is listed as cheaper than the vendor who sells for $12.99 plus $2.99 shipping.
3. Is It Really Amazon – Speaking of Amazon. The website doesn’t always make it easy to tell if you are buying a product from Amazon, or from some third-party using Amazon as a store front. It matters because they have very different return policies and shipping time frames.
4. Who Is It?  – Amazon isn’t the only website that makes it harder to see who you are actually doing business with. Don’t check out the main website to see if they are legitimate, check out the actual seller. There is a big difference between how legitimate eBay.com is and how legitimate one of its storefront sellers is.
5. Privacy Policy – Will your name and address be sold on lists as a sucker who buys stuff online from unknown websites? You can never know for sure, but make sure you check the privacy policy to ensure that the vendor at least cares enough about their customers to make it look like they care.

Lastly, never forget that identity theft and credit card numbers are tasty targets for scammers. Protect them as much as you can by not signing up or registering for websites with your real name and address until you are actually ready to make a purchase. Whenever possible, use a temporary credit card number for all online transactions to avoid nasty surprises later.

The Internet is a treasure trove of useful information, but it can also be a swamp of deceptive or unhelpful websites as well. Internet sites that list great deals on products and services are a good way to help save money during the recession. However, you need to find real deal listing websites and not just websites that offer regular prices and normal sales with commission-based links. That makes those websites money, not you.

A real hot deals website will have deals from all over, not just certain stores and shopping sites. Coupon codes and free shipping codes will be included for free on deal postings without having to register or being directed to another site.

Also, most of the best deals websites have a forum where users can post comments and discuss the deals. The forums are a great way to see just how good a deal is, whether you find it on that site or somewhere else. Deal site users are savage and they will quickly point out the flaws in any deal that looks good, but has a catch.

As an added bonus, some of the most honest, hard hitting reviews on the Internet can be found in these forums. Don’t look for reviews, just look for commentary on the deals. If there is a great price on a TV, you can be sure that there are plenty of users weighing in on whether or not it is worth the money, even at the discounted price.

Here are some great deals websites that I’ve been using over the last few years that always seem to come through with the best hot deals out there.

Top 4 Hot Deals Websites

1. Slickdeals.net – Only the best deals make the front page, but there are hundreds posted each day in the forums. Users can vote thumbs up or down to help rank deals.
2. Gottadeal.com
3. DealNews.com
4. Woot.com – Woot only offers one deal a day, so it can be hit or miss whether there is anything you want. But, for the 2 seconds it takes to check every day, you will find some of the best deals online. They do offer a lot of refurbished products, though, so make sure you read the whole description and decide is refurbished worth it.

Do you have other hot deal websites that you use to save money?

Have you ever wondered what a website from the US Government about money and personal finances would look like?  Wonder no longer.

The US Financial Literacy and Education Commission (what did that cost?) provides a basic financial resource for investing, saving, retirement planning, mortgages, and even starting a small business, all on mymoney.gov.

I’m not saying anything on there is earth shaking knowledge that you probably didn’t know, but it is always nice to have an unbiased government resource to direct people to whether you are in finance or not.  There’s nothing scarier than sending your Grandma to a finance website and just hoping that there are no money scams on there waiting to ambush her.

Check it out.

Refinancing a mortgage or getting a new mortgage isn’t necessarily just about finding the lowest interest rate.  But, you definitely want to know what interest rates are in general when shopping around for a mortgage.  That way, you know who is way out of the ballpark, and who is worth looking into a little bit further.

One of the best tools around for information on current interest rates is a website called Bankrate.  Bankrate.com publishes a survey of national mortgage interest rates every Tuesday morning.  Even more useful, is a weekly expert analysis of mortgage rates.  This analysis can include everything from whether or not they think rates will be going up or down in the near future, to commentary on what happened last week and what affect it had on mortgage rates for the current week.

This information can be a simple way to get a handle on financial news that you may have missed or not fully understood from the week before.  For example, whether or not a scary unemployment number you heard about the last week affects mortgage rates or not is the kind of thing that you’ll find explained in the analysis.

Using Bankrate

No tool covers every single thing you need to know, and Bankrate is no exception.  However, when used properly, Bankrate can be the best starting place for your mortgage research.

1. Check the Weekly Mortgage Rate – There is a big blue box prominently displayed on the Mortgage page.  That is the “National Overnight Averages”.  While useful, that survey is subject to more fluctuation.  Find the Mortgage Rate Trend Index.  It will be a regular link in the “news” area.  It comes out on Thursdays, so if you are on the site on Tuesday or Wednesday it might not be on the front page anymore.
2. Read the Analysis – Don’t just look at the numbers, read the analysis.  This will give you an idea of what to expect.  Remember, this is last week’s data, so the numbers you hear this week will be different.
3. Jot Down the Rates for Your Mortgage – There will be a lot of numbers.  You don’t need them all.  If you are looking for a 30-year fixed mortgage, the rate on the 15-year mortgage is irrelevant.

The Next Step

The next step is to start shopping around.  We’ll discuss that in an upcoming post.  Subscribe to the Finance Gourmet Feed to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Sometimes, it can be tough to know who to trust.  Even when there is honesty, it doesn’t necessarily follow that there is competency.  Many financial advice books make my blood boil with their over simplification and the way they make some ideas sound like they solution to many problems when in fact, they are only useful in limited circumstances.

So, it is nice when you can find a trusted source for information that you can assume (hopefully) is competent.  We like to think that we have done a good job earning your trust and we only write on subjects we are competent in. However, if you want a second opinion, or if it isn’t something we cover, a good go to source like the Federal Reserve, for example, might be just the ticket.

Free Consumer Information from a Trusted Government Agency

The Federal Reserve Board makes several informational brochures available for free download.  In fact, if you want to wait, you can even have printed ones for free.  But, online is faster.  You can view them in regular webpage format (HTML) or in downloadable PDF format.

This one page of Free Financial Information Brochures has topics ranging from Credit Cards to Protecting Your Home From Foreclosure.

Other topics are:

1. 5 Tips for Getting the Most from Your Credit Card
2. 5 Tips for Improving Your Credit Score
3. 5 Tips for Protecting Your Checking Account
4. 5 Tips for Protecting Your Home from Foreclosure
5. Choosing a Credit Card
6. Consumer Guide to Check 21 and Substitute Checks
7. A Consumer’s Guide to Mortgage Lock-Ins
8. A Consumer’s Guide to Mortgage Refinancings
9. A Consumer’s Guide to Mortgage Settlement Costs
10. Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages
11. Consumer Handbook to Credit Protection Laws
12. A Guide to Business Credit for Women, Minorities, and Small Businesses
13. Home Mortgages: Understanding the Process and Your Right to Fair Lending
14. How to File a Consumer Complaint about a Bank
15. Interest-Only Mortgage Payments and Payment-Option ARMs
16. Keys to Vehicle Leasing
17. Looking for the Best Mortgage
18. Privacy Choices for Your Personal Financial Information
19. Protecting Yourself from Overdraft and Bounced-Check Fees
20. Putting Your Home Loan on the Line Is Risky Business
21. Home Equity Lines of Credit – HELOCs

Don’t think that this list covers all the Fed consumer publications.  This is just a specific collection that they think might be particularly useful for education.  If you are ever looking for a double check regarding financial information, the Federal Reserve can be a great place to start.  Finding stuff there can be a bit tricky, so I suggest taking advantage of some of Google’s advanced search features.

The best Google search tip for financial information from the Fed is to use the domain advanced search term.  To use it, just include “site:federalreserve.gov” at the end of your query.  For example, if you want to know about personal loans from a bank, type personal loans site:federalreserve.gov into the Google search box.  You will only get results that are from the Fed website that way, so you don’t have to worry about wading through a bunch of “keyword optimized” sites that have more advertisements than information.