Take the pain out of filing your taxes electronically with Intuit’s TurboTax SnapTax

Platform: Android

RATING
3 out of 5

PRICE
FREE (With a catch...)

TASTY
Free app that makes filing your taxes a snap, through the power of your phone’s camera and keyboard.

BUMMER
App is only useful to a very specific set of tax filers. If you have any deductions, children, or own a home, this app isn’t for you. Once you’ve entered your data, you’ll need to pay $14.99 for the TurboTax SnapTax Filing Key in order to transmit your file to your state and the federal government.

COOL
Entering information from your W-2 form can be accomplished by taking a picture of your document. The app does the rest!

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Tax Central
TaxBook US 2010
Tax Receipt
Income Tax Approximation Lite



It’s true folks, there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. The good folks at Intuit have been tirelessly addressing at least one of these existential crises for years now, and Android owners can now use the power of their mobile devices to greatly speed up the state and national tax filing process.

TurboTax SnapTax is a free app that brings some much-needed speed and ease to doing your taxes.

Get out that W2, snap a photo of it with your phone, and the app goes to work filling in the appropriate fields in your returns. Next, the program asks you a few simple questions, allows you to fill in your personal information (full name, address, social security number, occupation, etc.), then lets you review the results prior to sending it in.

That said, SnapTax is useful to only a very specific set of tax filers. If you don’t have any children, deductions, mortgage interest to write off, and only derive your income from W-2’s, interest, or unemployment compensation, you’ll be all set.

And once you’ve entered your data, you’ll need to pay $14.99 for the TurboTax SnapTax Filing Key in order to transmit your file to your state and the federal government.

Still, this free app is up front and clear in what it can and can’t do for you. If you answer a question that means your return goes beyond the run of the mill, the app will tell you so. In the future, here’s hoping Intuit or its arch nemesis H&R Block (see their Tax Central app) will soon create updated tax filing apps that can address more complicated returns.

One last tip? Since you can’t move the app to your SD card, be sure to delete it once you’re done filing your returns to save space. That’s economizing!

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.