Tax Preparation Software for USVI

A friend uses Turbotax with no problems.

TurboTax worked for me. I even neglected to get a time stamp. Guess I lucked out

If you're simply talking about doing your taxes, printing out the documents, and mailing/delivering to local tax authority then TaxCut works fine. You can't do electronic filing to VI government with it and as far as I know there is no ability to do this with any software package as the VI isn't setup for it (they'd have to fire half their staff if they started approaching this level of efficiency so don't count on it anytime soon!)

Do NOT mail in your return if at all possible. It's best to have it stamped that they received it. If you're not here, have someone bring it in & get your copy of the return stamped.

You use the federal forms to file in the VI, so any software will work fine. I've used the free edition of TaxACT ( http://www.taxact.com/) for about fifteen years.

I second the motion. DONT MAIL IT TAKE IT DOWN. GET IT STAMPED! YOU NEED TO COVER YOU ASS!!!! no one in the gov will!

billd

Thanks for the advice!

I have used TurboTax for many years, but does it do USVI returns?

Does Tax ACT do USVI returns?

Does TaxCut do USVI returns?

USVI & US forms are the same. We pay US taxes here but the money stays here rather than going to the States.

The only way you would need USVI returns is if you had to pay territory (state) taxes. We don't. We use the federal forms to pay taxes and the money goes to the USVI government. I have been using turbotax for years.

Edward -- Reread my post. There is no such thing as VI returns. In lieu of paying federal and state taxes, we use federal forms but file them locally.

Isn't there some additional "gross receipts tax" for businesses/self employed that has to be paid in USVI on top of regular federal taxes? Does any tax software know about it?

I don't own a local business so I don't know but I do know TaxCut Deluxe had forms in it specific to U.S. territories.

Isn't there some additional "gross receipts tax" for businesses/self employed that has to be paid in USVI on top of regular federal taxes? Does any tax software know about it?

Self-employed can be a special case, so you should check with the IRB rather than rely on a tax program to tell you what forms you need to file. And be sure to make note of the name of the IRB employee who answers your questions, because you may hear different things from different employees.

If you are self employed you need to manually over ride the TurboTax program and send the SE taxes to the IRS in Austin, TX. You also must file and pay quarterly estimated taxes to the IRS for SE or expect to get hit with penalties and interest.

Jim

I sent an inquiry to TaxAct. They sent a long reply, which I can provide by PMV, but here is the start of their response:

"TaxACT does not support the returns for the U.S. Virgin Islands..."

I'm not sure what this means if one only does Federal forms and takes hard copy to IRB.

It means they don't know anything about USVI taxes, which is fine because we file on federal forms using federal rates, and they are knowledgeable about that. Just fill out the federal forms as if you lived in a U.S. state that does not collect a state tax, and file the forms in the USVI.

Can you take it to an office in STX and get it stamped, or do you have to go to STT?

Edward

You bring your forms to IRB in Sunny Isle in STX where they time stamp them. I bring a copy and have them stamp that too. Last year I used the Tax Act software with no problem (free).

If you own a business or are self-employed, check out Jason's very helpful guide: http://www.vitaxhelp.com/