Turbo Tax'd to the Maxx

You know that nagging feeling that maybe that online tax filing software didn't fully do the trick?

I'm nearly certain I filed my taxes weeks early (which felt weird in itself) only to continually receive e-mails from TurboTax with subjects screaming "TIME IS RUNNING OUT!" and "12 Days Left, User ID enclosed." I'm pretty sure these are the result of the "free version" I sampled at TurboTax online before biting the bullet and installing the software that came in the mail and filing for $46.

So after days of reminding myself to double-check my status, wouldn't you know, it wasn't until LAist's late-night post office alert sounded on my Interweb moments ago that I got to it. And now, TurboTax is "down for maintenance" because, well, an unprecedented percentage of Americans chose to file online this year and too many probably chose TurboTax over alternatives such as TaxCut or the IRS directly. Moral of the story? Always file for an extension if you can do it without penalty.

Meet 28-year-old Christian Pulfer from Brooklyn, NY, who -- Vanilla Ice will tell ya -- wrote "It's just a breeze G." Whether or not he filed on time, he is collecting $25,000 (less tax, of course) from TurboTax as the winner of their TaxRap contest.