There are many ways to get your taxes done.

You want the one that allows you to file as cheaply and easily as possible without missing any money-saving deductions or credits.

With that in mind, here's how to choose among the four major options:

Pencil and Calculator

It's for you if: You have ridiculously simple taxes.

Pros

If all of your income is reported on one or two W2s and you're taking the standard deduction, you really don't need anything more than a pencil, a calculator and the 1040EZ form that you can pick up at the post office or download from the Internal Revenue Service.

There's no reason to spend money on tax software or a tax preparer.

Cons

When we say ridiculously simple, we mean it. If you earn tips in your job, work freelance jobs on the side, pay student loan or mortgage interest, or have a child, your taxes are probably not simple enough.

Tax Software

It's for you if: You have simple taxes and are comfortable with computers.

Pros

By simple, we mean:

• All of the income from your work is covered by one or two W2s.
• All of your investment income is covered by a few 1099s that report interest income from your bank accounts.
• You can only claim a few basic deductions or tax credits, such as the mortgage interest deduction or child earned income credit.

By comfortable, we mean you regularly work or shop online and are comfortable filling in forms, and having a little give-and-take, with your machine.

Most tax software, such as TurboTax and H&R at Home, ask many of the same questions you'd expect a professional tax preparer to ask.

Free File is the online program from the IRS that's available to anyone who earned $57,000 or less in 2009.

It allows you to prepare and file your taxes online, automatically checks for errors and directly deposits your refund in as little as 10 days with direct deposit. And, as the name says, it's free.

To get started, just go to the Free File portion of the IRS Web site.

Turbo Tax charges $14.95 for a basic federal return that you fill out online. Buying a CD or downloading software onto your desktop costs a bit more -- $24.95 for basic federal, up to $99.95 for software to do home and business federal and state taxes.

H&R Block at Home, formerly known as TaxCut, offers free online tax prep for basic federal taxes, or up to $49.95 for what it labels its "Premium Service" geared to federal taxes for the self-employed and rental property owners.

Cons

Things get really complicated, really fast, if you have rental income, or you inherited money, or if you're self-employed and have a lot of 1099s and business deductions.

Yes, you can do those kinds of taxes on tax software, but it takes time. Time, as we know, is money. Plus, the more complex your taxes are, the more likely you are to miss something.

Then there's the frustration factor.

The longer it takes to plow your way through all the tiresome questions and extra schedules, the more likely you are to blow something off that raises your tax bill.

Tax Preparation Companies

It's for you if: You have simple taxes and are not comfortable with computers.

Pros

Tax preparers such as H&R Block and Jackson-Hewitt are cheap and convenient -- just around the corner from most of us.

They'll make sure you have all of the W2s and 1099s that you need and ask all of the questions needed to make sure you benefit from all of the basic deductions and credits you're eligible to receive.

With H&R Block, you can pick your preparer, too, by finding the local offices and reading bios of their employees online. That way, you can pick the CPA with 20 years experience, not the "tax professional" with one year under the belt.

If the chain is seasonal (i.e., they close down after tax day), you could be stuck if you forgot something and want to amend your return.

So pick one that doesn't close up shop and disappear on April 16 or that has a year-round office. H&R Block, for example, sets up temporary offices for tax season, but it has a district year-round office that handles any follow-ups or amendments.

Expect the fee to reflect the complexity of your return. H&R Block starts prices at $39 for federal returns and $29 for state.

Cons

Chain firms make a lot of money selling extras -- things like audit insurance and refund anticipation loans -- that you simply don't need.

But you'll be pressured to buy them because some firms pay their employees commissions for pushing those extras on you.

Refund anticipation loans in particular are big losers.

Sure, you want your refund fast. But when tax preparers file your returns electronically, it only takes one or two weeks for the IRS to come through with your refund check.

If you give the tax preparation company a portion of your refund to get the money that day, you're essentially taking out a short-term loan that charges triple-digit interest rates, according to the national Consumer Law Center.

Certified Public Accounts

It's for you if: Your taxes are complicated.

Pros

Lots of things can complicate your taxes -- owning your own business, a sizeable portfolio of stocks and bonds, a prior dispute with the IRS or a messy divorce or lawsuit.

Whatever the reason, you need a professional who knows all of the latest changes to the tax laws to ensure you pay as little as possible and can prepare all of the special forms and schedules your return requires.

"If you go to the same person year after year, they can identify tax hot spots for you and notify you when there's a change in tax law," says Kelly Phillips Erb, a Philadelphia-based tax attorney who writes the Taxgirl blog.