yeah, as a single person making good money with no loans or debt to speak of, and renting.....I'm going to be getting ripped this tax season.

of course i'm thankful for all of those above things too...

To be honest, I hate HR Block and Jackson Hewitt, because they charge way, way too much. Maybe because they are my direct competition... but I would recommend a "mom and pop" place. You are more likely to get an experienced preparer (instead of a first year), good service (you aren't treated like a number), and better pricing. I know for some of my clients, if they've gone from getting a huge refund every year to suddenly owing, I will drastically reduce my price, or even prepare their return for free. You can't do that at the bigger places. They also will put pressure on to get instant cash or a bank product that you may not need. That's because the preparer makes a commission from the bank. Most of those places pay only $10 or less an hour.... so that commission is important. Mom and Pop shops make most of their money from actual preparation so any incentive a bank may pay... that's less important to them individually. (If I can make a customer for life by not pressuring them, why am I going to push a bank product so I can make $3 more dollars?) They will quote $70 but they actually charge by the form. I've seen a simple return go as high as $400, because of the nickel and diming.

Also ask what software they use. In my opinion Drake is the best, because there are a lot of safeguards to prevent errors. That doesn't mean errors don't happen, but there are a lot of details built in the program that are helpful.

If you do go to an HR Block, ask how much experience your preparer has had. An unexperienced preparer can really cause problems, so if they do have under a full year, ask that the return be reviewed by someone who knows what they are doing.

All i have to say is yeah for Child tax credit. with what little i did make i get my tax credit for him. I treat him to a big day at disneyland once a yr with refund money for his contrubution :)

For those of you GCers who are still in school (or just out and maybe not making the big bucks yet) I'd recommend going to a VITA site if there is one near you. Just about every law school has one and most cities have them at community centers and churches. You can find one by Googling VITA + your state. I ran the VITA site at my law school last year and it was a really rewarding experience.