I finished my taxes last week, and I was just reviewing all the information–I haven’t sent my amount owed to the IRS yet.  Hey, every penny counts!

I use Taxact.com every year.  Initially, when I first started using Taxact.com, it was because the price was dirt cheap.  Today, I use it because I’m just familiar with it, and I’ve never had any issues.  I think it’s still really cheap.

At the end of filing, they give you one report called TaxWatch 2009, in it is one thing I find really useful, and that’s the “Effective Tax Rate.”  ETR = Total Tax Paid / Adjust Gross Income x 100.  The lower the better!

• 2004 = 16.30%
• 2005 = 17.33%
• 2006 = 20.50% (highest AGI)
• 2007 = 11.43% (lowest AGI)
• 2008 = 17.30%

I need to figure out a way to reduce my ETR.