14 DAY TRIAL // Intuit, a well-known provider of business and financial solutions, and TurboTax, a popular tax preparation software, have recently announced the availability of the SnapTax application for Android and iPhone smartphones.
According to Intuit, SnapTax is the first mobile application that allows people to prepare and file their taxes from start to finish.
The application is only available in the U.S. and it was briefly introduced last year in California.
“SnapTax offers an entirely new and unique way to file taxes,” said Barry Saik, vice president of product management for TurboTax.
“Now, millions of taxpayers across the country can do their taxes easily and accurately from their mobile phones in just minutes. SnapTax is the next innovation from TurboTax that revolutionizes how people tackle the annual task of doing their taxes,” added Saik.
The application allows those who want to pay their taxes to snap a photo of their W-2 file with their mobile phones and then automatically enter the information into their tax return.
In addition, taxpayers will have to answer a few basic questions and review their return for accuracy before tapping the “File Now” option to electronically file their federal and state tax returns.
Optical character recognition (OCR) is the technology behind the SnapTax for Android software, which is used to streamline and simplify tax preparation.
Even though the application is available as a free download from the Android Market and App Store, taxpayers will have to pay $14.99 for one federal 1040EZ and one state tax return plus e-filing.
Payment is required as soon as taxpayers are ready to electronically file their return. The application is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 4.1 or later and requires 12.6 MB storage space.
Android 2.0 or newer smartphones are also fully compatible with SnapTax for Android application.
