Helpful hint of the day: Avoid CitizenTax.com.

Typically, I don't use this space for product endorsements or disendorsements. Y'all are adults, and you can make your own decisions or choices, and you can live with the consequences.

I will be more than happy to make an exception in this case.

My previous preferred website for e-filing my taxes does not support Schedule C forms, which is used for income from self-employment, so I had to do some digging to see what sites did support the use of Schedule C.

"Oh, here's CitizenTax.com - and they can file your taxes for only $7.77, which is cheaper than $12 or $15 on other sites!" I said to myself. "This will work!"

This ... didn't work. You do, after all, get what you pay for, right?

So, yeah. I ended up going to CitizenTax.com. I may as well have given $10 to two homeless guys and a wino to e-file my taxes, for all the good it's done so far.

The first time I submitted the completed package to the IRS, it was rejected. Interesting, since I completed everything that was asked of me - or so I thought.

(Interesting, also, since it took me actually *going to the site* to find out instead of getting a courtesy e-mail from CitizenTax.com, so thanks for that also!)

The reason that the form was rejected was not listed; rather, a "reject code" was supplied, and it was up to me to download a 130-page file of IRS reject codes to glean what the reason was. (CitizenTax.com: "It's your fault, so you figure it out.")

Here is the full text of the definition of my reject code:

0010 o Each field can contain only the type of data specified in its Field Description in Part II Record Layouts.

o Significant money amount fields must be right-justified (and zero-filled when transmitting in fixed format).

o Money amount fields must contain whole dollars (no cents).

o When a field is defined as "N (positive only)", the field must be present and must contain an amount greater than or equal to zero.

o For numeric fields that can contain a literal value, entries must be left-justified and blank-filled when transmitting in fixed format. When transmitting in variable format, only significant characters are transmitted.

o When transmitting in fixed or variable format, significant date fields must contain numeric characters in the following formats, unless otherwise specified in Part II Record Layouts: Year fields with a length of four positions = YYYY, date fields with six positions = YYYYMM, date fields with eight positions = YYYYMMDD unless otherwise specified.

o All alphanumeric fields must be left-justified (and blank-filled when transmitting in fixed format) unless otherwise specified.

o Form Payment - Taxpayer's Day Time Phone Number (SEQ 0090) is a required field and cannot equal all zeros or all blanks.

In other words - except for the very last one, the majority of these codes are the software's fault. And on the last one (regarding daytime phone number), there was no place to input a daytime phone number. You are required to input a phone number on the very first page, the taxpayer information screen, but there's no other place in the "interview" portion to put the preparer's phone number. There is no place there.

I resubmitted the form last night, making no changes whatsoever because there were no changes that I could make.

Now we wait once more.

Thanks a million, CitizenTax.com. It's not like I don't need the money.

Dear Reader, I beg of you. Avoid these people at all costs.

Let me reiterate: DO NOT FILE WITH CITIZENTAX.COM.

I don't know how I can make it any clearer.

(And you know, it's probably not a good idea to complain about these people while my taxes are still "in process" - I foresee them suddenly being "misplaced forever," along with my $7.77. But we're in the midst of filing season, and I thought it was imperative to get the word out. I'll take one for the team, and end up filing through TurboTax or something like that next year. At least I'm sure that their forms are left-justified or whatever.)