Ready to move up from the EZ form and a crayon? Here's the latest on tax prep software.

It''s the scariest night of the year and it''s happening soon. The sweating, the screaming, the cursing--midnight, April 15, looms like the term paper deadline from hell. The date has become an icon of adult life in America, symbolizing a ritual that is widely resented for its communal aspect and deeply isolating in its practice. As you personalize this cultural passage, graduating from the 1040-EZ form and a crayon, tax preparation software offers a method of coping. Is it right for you? Which one should you buy?

Tax prep programs are probably the fastest, cheapest way to do your own taxes. The programs use a friendly interview format--you answer questions like "Did you buy or sell real estate in 1997?" and the software fills out the appropriate tax forms. For many topics, more detailed questions help determine if, for example, you can claim someone as a dependent or if you are eligible for a particular deduction. The detailed questions can be skipped over whenever you are certain you don''t need to answer. Typical homeowners with a couple of dependents can expect to spend about one to four hours completing the federal and state forms.

The interview approach can also help you organize your return even if your situation is complex enough to require a warm-blooded tax adviser. You may shave the cost of the software off your accountant''s fee by presenting tax preparation materials in a more coherent state. If you''re one of those who tends to show up at your tax preparer''s office with a paper bag of receipts and unopened envelopes that say "Important Tax Document Enclosed," ask if bringing a draft from a tax prep package will save you money.

Another advantage of tax prep software is the option of filing electronically or printing 1040-PC forms. Filing your return electronically is convenient, and depending on the software you choose, may be cheaper than mailing it. The 1040-PC form is machine-readable and condenses 10 or 20 pages of forms to two pages.

Which software is best for you? There isn''t a big, brain-numbing choice here. Pick Kiplinger Taxcut, from Block Financial, or TurboTax/MacInTax from Intuit, because their competitors aren''t around anymore. Niche survivors of the shakeout are Simply Tax and some spreadsheet-based programs download-able from the Internet.

Simply Tax is ten bucks and appropriate for only the bare bones return. Spreadsheet programs will run on any IBM clone 286 dog, but require your own spreadsheet software and Internet access. They run about $6-10. Web sites offering these goods are: www.cdtitles.com (Simply Tax), and the WinTax and Tax Cruncher (spreadsheets) sites available from www.yahoo.com/ Business_and _Economy/Companies/ Financial_Services/Software/Tax.

TurboTax/MacInTax will set you back about 50 or 60 bucks for both federal and state packages (available separately). Kiplinger Taxcut costs about the same, unless you surf over to www.taxcut.com. Here you can download a demo version that does everything except print and electronically file. For $9.95, you can purchase an upgrade to the demo that makes it fully functional. And since the first return can be electronically filed for free, total federal tax preparation equals the cost of the upgrade. The state package will have to be hunted down locally, though, and will cost about $25.

The site at www.intuit.com/turbotax also allows the download of a demo version, but it costs $34.95 to unlock the print and filing features, and the state package must be purchased separately, again for $25.

Both TurboTax/MacInTax and Taxcut allow imports from Quicken and Microsoft Money, although TurboTax/MacInTax with Quicken is the easiest combination. Both let you opt for an express version of the interview or complete interview topics out of order. Both summarize your progress during the questions. Both offer updates via the Internet. Both allow you to skip the interview and fill out forms directly. Both offer a "what-if" feature, in which you can estimate how the tax picture will change over the next year as your life and finances change. Both check for errors, although TurboTax/ MacInTax doesn''t make you bounce around as much to fix the return. Both alert you to items that can raise a red flag to IRS auditors. Both transfer information from the federal return to the state return automatically.

Given the similarity between the products, one surprising difference is the number of states supported by each package. TurboTax/MacInTax offers a electronic return for all 45 states that require citizens to file one. Taxcut covers only 24 states in the Windows version and five in the Macintosh version. Although California is fully covered by both software makers, newcomers to the state or those who have done taxable business outside California need to make certain that Taxcut has software for all the states expecting a return.

Taxpayers filling out K-1 partnership forms will be much happier with TurboTax/MacInTax, as Taxcut forces you through multiple help screens to decipher the forms. For the average at-home, part-time business, either package will work.

The bottom line--TurboTax/MacInTax is smoother and more complete, but either will do in almost all situations. Taxcut, if procured through the Web, is much cheaper. This can make up for its deficiencies for year-long California residents who don''t do business out-of-state or fill out K-1s.

And when all the agony finishes and April 16 dawns, think about the free market, and that it has done its work, bringing you choice through competition: two almost identical tax prep packages, more expensive than any of their now dead competitors. cw