Truth for Troops

TurboTax Freedom Edition 2009

Intuit has been providing free tax preparation to millions of lower-income taxpayers via the Intuit Tax Freedom Project, created in 1998.

The Free File Alliance (FFA) is a partnership between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tax software companies. This alliance provides qualifying taxpayers FREE use of participating commercial tax preparation products, including Intuit's TurboTax Freedom Edition 2009. There is no cost to the government to deliver these free services to hard-working Americans.

Although Intuit has participated in the FFA since its inception in October 2002, Intuit has been providing free tax preparation to millions of lower-income taxpayers via the Intuit Tax Freedom Project, created in 1998.

To start your TurboTax Freedom Edition 2009 return, go to www.taxfreedom.com.

TurboTax Freedom Edition vs. "regular" TurboTax products

Like TurboTax Online, TurboTax Freedom Edition is accessed via a secure Internet connection. There is no software to download or install.

Although TurboTax Freedom Edition supports Form 1040 (the "long form") in addition to Forms 1040EZ and 1040A, it does not support tax situations that are uncommon to lower-income taxpayers, such as investments, rental property, and royalty income. Click here for federal forms not supported in TurboTax Freedom Edition.

Unlike other versions of TurboTax, the Freedom Edition cannot transfer last year's tax return, nor can it import W-2 or 1099 data.

TurboTax Freedom Edition Qualifying Criteria

To qualify for free federal tax preparation and filing using TurboTax Freedom Edition 2009, you must meet one of the following criteria *

Earned an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for tax year 2009 of $31,000 or less; or
Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC) as long as both your earned income and AGI is between $13,440 and $40,249; or
Served Active Duty Military with AGI of $57,000 or less.

To qualify for free state tax preparation and filing using TurboTax Freedom Edition 2009, you must meet both of the following criteria:

You must qualify for free federal tax preparation (above); and
The state(s) must participate in the state FFA.

* subject to change

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Can I switch from a "regular" version to TurboTax Freedom Edition?

You will not be able to transfer data you've already entered in a "regular" version of TurboTax Online. If you started your return in the Deluxe, Premier, or Home & Business versions, you'll need to start over at www.taxfreedom.com with a new User ID and Password combination.

However, if you started your online return using TurboTax Free Edition (our low-end "regular" product, not to be confused with the Freedom Edition), you can sign in at www.taxfreedom.com using your original User ID and Password. You'll see a screen that gives you the choice of continuing in the Free Edition, or starting over in the Freedom Edition.

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What if I don't qualify for Turbotax Freedom Edition?

If you start a return at the TurboTax Freedom Edition website and don't meet the qualifications, TurboTax will give you the option to upgrade to a TurboTax Online version. You won't need to start over; TurboTax will transfer all of the information you have entered up to that point so you can continue where you left off.

You can also go to the IRS website www.irs.gov to choose a different FFA product.

TurboTax Freedom Edition for State Returns

For tax year 2009, twenty states are participating in the FFA. As long as you meet the qualifications, there is no charge to prepare and efile up to 3 state returns using TurboTax Freedom Edition, provided your state(s) participate in the FFA.

Participating states for tax year 2009 are:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
West Virginia

(Massachusetts participated last year, but chose not to participate in tax year 2009.)
There is a program limit of 3 states per federal return for all TurboTax web-based products, including TurboTax Freedom Edition. Click here for more information.

Note: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming have no state income tax. New Hampshire and Tennessee tax only dividend and interest income.

I See America

http://iseeamerica.us/

Soldiers need help with the emotional toll of war

By M. David Rudd

The military is a unique culture that treasures strength, resilience, courage and individual sacrifice. As the slogans "Army Strong" or the Marine Corps' "The Few. The Proud" reveal, soldiers are trained to be warriors.

The military is not a culture that embraces perceived weakness or illness; it's contrary to the notion of an effective fighting force. Perhaps that fact not only highlights the escalation in military suicides — an almost 40% increase in the Army alone from 2007 to 2009 — but the apparent ineffectiveness of traditional approaches. It's time that the Department of Defense and Army, despite their best efforts, think more creatively.

Traditional mental health approaches talk almost exclusively in the language of "illness" and "patient." Patients are seen in clinics and hospitals that are separate from the units where soldiers are housed. At the core of the problem is an almost intractable tension that has been around as long as war. Psychological wounds are seen as different from physical ones, a perception that has tragic consequences for a soldier's sense of worth.

Judging themselves

When I talk with struggling soldiers, they speak in an almost singular voice about their personal sense of failure, weakness and guilt. After all, acknowledging symptoms in the military immediately results in the soldier being identified as "different" at many unavoidable levels. These soldiers are unable to participate fully in the training activities, leaving their jobs to be picked up by others who might be just as overwhelmed.

At home, they experience more difficulty, becoming isolated and detached from spouses and children, the very support system they desperately need. Often they experience performance problems in their new assignments. All of these only confirm their underlying feelings of failure, weakness and guilt.

These problems are not new to servicemembers. What is new today is that we've now been engaged in constant warfare for almost nine years, with the net result being that more soldiers are experiencing repeated combat deployments than almost any time in history.

Triggering suicide

At least from the science end, we have a good understanding of why people make suicide attempts or kill themselves.

First, suicide almost always occurs in the context of a diagnosable mental illness, be it depression, post-traumatic stress or substance abuse. Second, repeated deployments generate considerable stress for not only the soldier but also the family. Third, we're not able to effectively reach those killing themselves because those at highest risk are the least likely to seek care.

In addition to the traditional approaches, we need to do some simple things that have been emphasized in recent years:

• Talk more frequently beforehand about optimal performance and resilience in combat, rather than post-trauma symptoms and mental illness afterward.

• Help soldiers construct a warrior identity that more clearly integrates the emotional consequences of killing.

• Encourage military leaders at the highest levels to talk openly about their own difficulty after combat experience, something that is already happening and is very effective at combating stigma.

The core military mission of training soldiers to have a warrior mentality will not change. But the culture can become one that acknowledges the emotional consequences of war.

M. David Rudd is dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science and scientific director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

Postal Service says soldiers now can get mail in Haiti

Soldiers deployed to Haiti are starting to receive mail there, the U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday.

The Postal Service has assigned 20 APO, FPO and DPO ZIP Codes for troops in Haiti. That means letters and care packages can start making their way to U.S. troops.

About 3,500 Fort Bragg soldiers were sent to the quake-ravaged country in January.

Earlier this month, soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team were eager to start receiving mail. Some were running low on cigarettes or longing for a soda.

Efforts to establish a temporary civilian mail distribution site in Port-au-Prince continue.

Post offices are accepting letter mail and packages addressed to Haiti. However, all mail addressed to Haiti will be temporarily held by the Postal Service until the postal administration of Haiti is able to accept it.

The Fayetteville Observer