Most of us are always looking for ways to make our lives easier, and inventors and manufacturers have long been raking in good money because of it. A couple of things that come immediately to mind are the microwave oven and the dishwasher.

This desire for convenience permeates into almost all aspects of our lives today. For example, most people find completing and filing their tax returns both tough and troublesome and want to find a better way to do it.

Businesses and computer programmers have fortunately noticed this desire for convenience and have come up with a solution: Online tax preparation. There are now dozens of websites that provide this service, and the great thing about them is that you don't have to download any software. All the steps can be done online, including entering all the relevant information and filing the taxes with the government or state.

Most people hate the tax season and feel pressured by the looming April 14 deadline, and hate having to fill in all those forms and mail them in. Online tax preparation has obviously made life a lot easier for a lot of people, and cuts down their stress level.

However, it's a good idea to do a bit of research before deciding on using an online tax preparation website. The obvious one being to make sure that the website you plan to use for your tax preparation is run by a respected company. Remember, you will have to enter both personal and financial information, so it's crucial that the website you choose to use is secure. Only use reputable companies to entrust your private and confidential information to. Make sure you have heard of both the company and their website so can be sure they are genuine. So, read the small print on their website carefully and ensure they have good Internet security to protect your information. Once that is done then go ahead and use their service.

The IRS have a list of tax preparation websites they deem to be safe, and also list websites that will provide tax preparation for free, so a good idea to start there - on the IBS website. Not all free tax preparation websites will also file your tax return for free, so a good idea to check before starting to use that website. Before getting too involved with your chosen 'free' website it would be a good idea to make sure both the tax preparation and filing are free!