Tax software under Linux

[Mark J. Dulcey]

sweetser at TheWorld.com wrote:
> 
> Let me second Bruce Davis' suggestion about free services listed off the
> IRS web site.  Five years ago, I was a Turbo Tax fan.  Pay the discounted
> rate for the CD at Staples, install, then let the software ask you
> questions and put all the numbers in place.  It looked like a great
> business model because every year required new software.

These free online services are great for simple tax returns. But if you 
have a complicated one, you might not want to give up your favorite tax 
software just yet.

Here at The Buttery, our tax return is quite involved because the house 
itself is partially a business. That means reporting rental income, 
expenses, and depreciation of various purchases. If we used any of the 
online services I am familiar with (though perhaps it has gotten 
better), we would have to reenter all the property each year, rather 
than carrying it over from the previous year's tax return. (And we'd be 
doing it for a long time; some expenses related to real estate have to 
be depreciated over a 27.5 year period.) That would make doing the taxes 
a much bigger ordeal than it already is.

Also, any online service is likely to be slower and less responsive than 
a good program run on a nice fast computer. The more complex your return 
is, the bigger a factor this will be.