And you thought it was just the IRS

Remember last April when some TurboTax customers had problems e-filing? Well, tax technological glitches pop up worldwide.

Take the United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs, that country’s equivalent to our IRS.

WebCPA reports that British taxpayers who visited the Self Assessment Online section of the site last Thursday were greeted with messages such as "planned maintenance" or "not found."

What made the annoying messages worse was that the Web malfunction occurred on Jan. 31, the last day for filing taxes in the U.K. Taxpayers who fail to pay their taxes in time by the deadline are typically fined 100 pounds; that’s almost $200 U.S.

Because of the six-hour site crash, British tax officials extended the tax filing deadline for another 24 hours.

E-filing considerations: This taxpayer experience from across the pond is a lesson for filers everywhere. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Sure, the speed and usual reliability of electronic communications tends to make us put things off. But the safer tax move is to file a tad early just in case there’s a problem.

If you’re considering using tax prep software, this story has some general things to think about in making your decision. And this article looks at all your various e-file options.

When it comes to specific programs, check out Software.com’s analysis of TurboTax and TaxCut (thanks to taxgirl for the heads-up). Money Tip Central looks at those two programs, as well as several other popular software packages here. And Top 10 Reviews also takes a good look at a wide variety of tax prep packages here.