TurboTax Home & Business Federal + e-File + State 2010 - [Old Version]

Product Description

Platform: PC/Mac
TurboTax Home & Business was designed to help you take full advantage of your personal and business deductions so you get the biggest tax refund possible, double-checking for accuracy and identifying missing deductions and credits. Includes free Federal E-File.

Product Description
If you are a sole proprietor, consultant, contractor or single-owner LLC, TurboTax Hone and Business is the right choice for tax savings. Includes free state preparations and Federal e-File—receive IRS confirmation and get your refund in as fast as 8 days. State e-File available in certain states for an additional fee.

Features:

• TurboTax Home & Business offers step-by-step guidance through your self-employment and personal income taxes.
• Double-checks for accuracy & identifies missing deductions and credits.
• Designed for sole proprietors, self-employed, consultants, 1099 contractors, and single-owner LLCs.
• Creates W-2 and 1099-MISC forms for your employees and contractors.
• 5 Free Federal E-Files and included TurboTax State download product

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Turbotax 2010 - getting pretty good
[I purchased the download version TurboTax Home & Business Federal + e-File + State 2010 [Download], but as this is essentially the same product, I am reviewing it here, too]

I have been a Turbotax user for quite a while, and have definitely seen a progression in quality and features of the Turbotax product. I remember last year, there were some installation issues for some. Turbotax 2010 downloaded and installed on my Windows 7 64-bit quickly and without issue. After executing the program, it immediately downloaded some updates and I was ready to get to work.

As usual, the State software is included free. This year, the integration with the State software seems even better. While the State download wasn't available yet, it gave me options for notification and what the status of availability was.

There doesn't seem to be many new features over last year, in fact, as far as I can tell, they don't come right out and say what is new over last year. However, the ones that are there are very nice:

* The Live Community is integrated even more into the software and is a handy feature. It is context sensitive, so the most popular questions for each section appear when you enter that section.

* There is also a Flags section which allows you to easily mark sections to work on later, which has proven valuable when trying to complete forms for which you only have preliminary data.

* Switching between Forms and Interview seems to be smoother as well, and there seems to be several ways to navigate to exactly the data you want to work on.

* It seems to be all about options, for many areas, the software offers you multiple ways of calculating the data so that you get the best possible return.

* Finally, ItsDeductible is still integrated and is a great tool.

Tax software has a unique problem; the features are to provide the smoothest and fastest tax preparation as possible. So, the better they make the product, the less time I need to work with it.

I plan to update this review as I complete my personal/business returns.

** UPDATE 12/28/2010 **

2010 figures are summarized side by side with (imported) 2009 figures, which is very helpful in identifying data that you might still need to enter.

I found that the set of guided questions about entering home office information misleading. Once a home office is added, you must click the Edit button to continue entering more information or else your entry will be incomplete, even though there is really no easy way to tell. That button should be a Start/Update button as found in other sections.

Yes, it is still preliminary, but on the Final Review section it does indeed provide a list of forms that haven't been finalized yet, and an expected due date for each. So you do have some idea of what calculations may change.

Love the product
I am very happy with my purchase. :-) It came in a timely fashion and was all I expected it to be.

Taxes
Easy and quick to use. Teaching someone how to do their taxes is so easy when using Turbo Tax. Refunds are always fun to get.

turbo tax
I love Turbo Tax. I remember this one had a glitch that was pretty frustrating, but once I learned it was THEM & NOT ME, & they corrected it, all was fine! The next yr I forgot that I got this on Amazon & bought it from Turbo Tax for about $25 more. Still had a gllitch, but now I know that just happens & it's TT no matter where you get it! Just cost more from TT. I plan to get it from Amazon next time!

H&R Block At Home Basic 2012 [Download]

Product Description

Guidance for all your personal tax situations. Federal forms. Step-by-step interviews guide you through a customized experience relevant to your tax situation. Everything you need to prepare your federal taxes in one complete program.

H&R Block At Home Basic has all you need to easily file your federal taxes — with tax expertise you trust. Best suited for simple tax situations and straightforward for beginners, H&R Block At Home Basic guides you through the federal tax return with a step-by-step Q&A in an easy-to-use interface. This product automatically double-checks for mistakes and comes with features available only from H&R Block, such as built-in expertise, free audit support, and H&R Block's Maximum Refund Guarantee

System Requirements
Windows Minimum Requirements

• Windows XP SP3 or greater / Windows Vista / Windows 7
• Internet Explorer 7.0 or greater

Mac Minimum Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.5.8 or greater
• Safari 4 or greater

Hardware Minimum Requirements

• Internet connection required for updates, state downloads, and e-file
• 170 MB hard-disk space
• 2X CD-ROM drive
• 1024x768, SVGA color monitor
• Compatible ink jet or laser printer
• Speakers and sound card for videos/animations

Features:

• Step-by-step guidance
• Double checks for errors
• Easy for first-time users

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

No problems! Tip on how to find registration key-code included
I've used H&R Block's tax software (formerly called TaxCut) every year since 1995. Several times when I saw a promotional deal I purchased both TaxCut and TurboTax to compare. I found that TurboTax did not do anything better than TaxCut while costing consistently more. In addition, I like the option of being able to file 5 free Federal e-files as I do taxes for other relatives who are less computer savvy.

If you encounter issues with display, such as not seeing selection boxes, check your screen resolution. Both Windows and Mac minimum requirement for the screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels or higher. At a lower resolution H&R Block software will have problem with display such as not properly displaying selection boxes. Screen resolution can be changed on your control panel by change PC's display settings.

I just finished a preliminary tax return and below are my observations. Note: the forms are not final until January 10, 2013.

1. H&R Block software comes in three packages Basic, Deluxe and Premium. The software consists of three module the Basic module is shared by all three packages, the Basic and Deluxe package unlocks a new module which is shared by Deluxe and Premium, and finally Premium unlocks another module unique to it.

What is the difference between Basic and Deluxe? Deluxe provides guidance with taxes on investments (interest, capital gains, stock options, and dividends), home sales, and retirement income which Basic does not. Deluxe helps with mortgage interest deductions and real estate taxes. It has a DeductionsPro module which helps valuating non-cash charitable deductions.

I am a including a photo (under customer photos) of a table which shows what is included in each package of H&R At Home (Basic vs Deluxe vs Premium).

2. As of 11/19/2012 videos for tax law changes were not available yet (the prompt said coming soon).

3. Minor pet peeve: Help is not context sensitive. For example, when you click on "learn more" about a particular topic the general help window opens but it does not show help topics for the specific topic that you were working on. Instead you need to search and know which words to use locate the relevant topics.

5. Copy and Paste from Interview screens is not possible. Sometimes I wish to do it for some issue as a reminder to myself. My solution is to do PrintScreen (holding ctl key, shift key, and PrintScreen key at the same time). This generates an image of the screen, which I paste into paint or photo editing software which I can print or save for later.

6. I don't use the default location for the tax returns due to how I set up my backup software. The H&R Block software does not initially remember this new location on the second start of the application, it told me I have no returns. I needed to pick the return manually from the File menu, as it did remember recently used files. The third time I started the software, it finally knew the location of the tax return file.

7. I use large font option on my monitor display and in the past had display issues (some things were displayed on top of each other). This year all forms displayed properly with this option. Nice!

10. H&R Block Deluxe entitles you to 5 free federal state e-files.

11. The price on this package changes day to day. I found a nice tools that shows history of Amazon prices. If you enter "price history alert" in Google it will come up at the top, it has the word camel in the name. I find this tool very helpful. You can set up an alert tool to email you when your desired price has been reached.

A note about registration glitch for the digital download
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Last year I run into a glitch a solution to which I want to include again for those who might run into the same issue this year.

After I installed the software and started it for the first time it prompted me to enter a key-code. The prompt said that I should have received in the email after purchasing the software, however the email I received from Amazon did not contained a key-code. I had to call Amazon support and they told me that this information can be found following these steps
1) Log into Amazon
2) Select Your Account at the top right of the page
3) Select Games and Software downloads which is towards the bottom of the long page you see when you log in
4) Then under H&R software entry you will see the key-code that you need to enter to unlock the software

I have been a H&R Block/TaxCut user for many years. The interview process is helpful in reminding you things you might have forgotten. So I am quite pleased with it and recommend it!

For a basic filer just as good as TurbotaxI use the home basic version. Until last year I always used Turbotax. Tried H & R Block in 2011. It imported my old Turbotax file, did the tax job, and let me efile. For much less than the cost of using TT.
I am using HR for the 2012 return.

I use this every year
You can't do your own taxes by hand anymore unless your situation is very very simple. I used Turbo Tax many many years ago, and it was just as easy to use as H&R Block's software. But every year, this title is always a few dollars cheaper. I don't need all of the extra bells and whistles in the Delux or other versions, since all of the versions have the same forms. I buy this every year, and every year, I am satisfied.