Paying taxes just got a little bit cheaper, at least for some of us. Intuit is making a special free edition of the TurboTax software available for a limited amount of time. The free version is one of four editions that Intuit makes available on their web site. It's designed for those who have fairly simple tax situations and don't require a lot of handholding. If you have lots of itemized deductions or multiple W-2 forms you probably want the Deluxe Edition.

Julie Miller, a spokesperson for Intuit, told me that the company believes the free software will open up the online software to a wider range of taxpayers. She expects the offer will remain at least through early March. A free version of TurboTax, as well as other free tax software offers, is already available as part of the IRS's e-filing program, but it's only for people earning under $52,000.

For more on tax software, Dory's been doing the accounting.