The folks at TurboTax have started FreeTaxQuestion.com. Their ads say that after you submit your tax question there, a real person will call you and answer your question within 24-48 hours.

Here’s the question sent in by the filife blogger:

Should I file individually (as opposed to my parents claiming me as an exemption)? I’m under 24 and a full-time college student who lives in student housing (but I’m thousands of miles from home), but my parents do not provide more than half of my support. I work and pay for school (tuition, books, housing, food, etc.) with scholarships, personal savings and money from work that is taxed, but not part of federal work study. I’m not legally emancipated. If I am eligible to file individually, would this maximize my own return? Or is the difference the same?

She indicated her preferred time window was between 2-4 p.m. for the people from TurboTax to respond.   However, they didn’t answer the first time.  They only sent an apology e-mail that they missed it (maybe they got a little busy).

So, she tried it again. Within the next two hours, she got the call! The enrolled agent not only answered the original question, but answered all of her follow-up questions for twenty minutes.

He covered the bases, answered all her questions, pointed out the right forms on the IRS site and offered some tax deduction tips for things to do which would maximize her refund, such as starting an IRA and investigating the Lifetime Learning Credit.

Her summary: 

Although it took me two stabs to get my tax question answered, the FreeTaxQuestion was ultimately worth it. They called me back, dealt with my tax angst and all of it was at no cost.

I feel much more confident about tackling my 1040 in the next couple of months. And if a tax prom comes up, I’ll know who to call.

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