Helps you get every dollar you deserve from your taxes Customizes to your situation based on your job, family and life Get expert help when you need it, free Double-checks your return for deductions and credits and helps you avoid triggering an audit Includes 5 Free Federal E-files and one download of a TurboTax State productBest Features:- Helps you get every dollar you deserve from your taxes
- Customizes to your situation based on your job, family and life
- Get expert help when you need it, free
- Double-checks your return for deductions and credits and helps you avoid triggering an audit
- Includes 5 Free Federal E-files and one download of a TurboTax State product
Unreilable product, shady pricing structure. By Computerdude1032
--NOTE: Make sure to read my latest update at the bottom of the review before purchasing--
I've been using Turbo Tax for at least 10 years now. I used TaxCut one year because it was a little cheaper. I got audited that year (TaxCut didn't check an appropriate box, so I sent a letter to the IRS explaining that, and they dropped the audit, but it was still a major pain). It is also important to note that if you have a complicated tax year, you may be better off doing the taxes yourself or paying someone to do it. Two years ago, there was a bug where you couldn't take both the earned income credit and one of the college education credits- after speaking with customer service, and then getting put in contact with one of their engineers who barley spoke English, I realized that you really can't trust any kind of tax software for unusual or complex tax situations. I sent them screenshots, and detailed explanations of how to recreate the bug, and they still claimed everything was fine (even though entering the exact same information into different tax preparation software resulted in a refund that was thousands of dollars more). The next year, the bug was fixed, so I guess they finally found it. I'm guessing some people didn't notice and lost a lot of money over that bug though. Again, don't trust any software for anything that seems unusual or complex.
If you had a basic year, then TurboTax is great. The interface continues to get better every year- they were ahead of their competitors for a long while, their competitors have caught up some, but TurboTax still has the best interface. There are currently some annoying things where it says "click here to see more details" about a particular tax item, and it brings you to an error message on their website. I'm hoping they will get this fixed as we get into the start of tax season for 2012. Overall, this software is great, and makes it soooo easy to complete your taxes in a basic tax year.
I do find their pricing strategy to be a little annoying though, they include a federal e-file, but expect you to pay an extra $20 for every state e-file. If the product is called Federal+State, I would expect it to include e-files for both. This is nothing more than a money grab by Intuit, and I never fall for it- I always just mail in my state return. Takes a few weeks longer to get my money back, but for $20, its well worth the wait. Their pricing on their website is even more shady, they charge $20 for the "deluxe" version (which you would assume to be the same as the deluxe version on Amazon), but then halfway through they drop the bomb that its going to be another $60 for state+efile. Long story short, the pricing is never what it seems on Intuit products. If you have a simple tax year, its still cheaper than hiring a tax guy though.
In the end, this is great software for most people. Just don't use it in complex situations, and make sure you understand the actual cost of the product before you buy anything (their website may seem cheaper than Amazon, but that does not include state or efiling). This is Intuit's money making season, and they clearly will do whatever they can to grab some extra cash.
--Update 2/1/13--
Since tax season is now upon us, just wanted to post a quick update to mention that the annoyances/broken links I mentioned above have been fixed. Everything that says "click here for more information on this topic" now actually brings you to information about that topic. As with every year, their explanations of topics are very easy to understand, making it easy to determine what you can/can't count for a specific subject.
As for the rest of my review, there has been a decent conversation going on in the comments, but everything I say still stands. It doesn't cost Intuit anything (except a little bandwith) to e-file you're state return, so the fact that they try to charge you $20 on top of the product you already purchased is definitely ridiculous. I do want to reinfornce that, aside from my pricing complaints, I do believe that TurboTax is the best available tax software, and as long as you are willing to mail your state return (rather than e-file), then I believe Amazon is likely the best deal you'll find for it.
--Update 2/19/13--
A user in the comments just pointed out that if you need to do taxes for a second state, Turbo Tax charges you an additional $40 to install a second state. That is more than the product originally costs, and almost makes me want to lower my review down to two stars. I can understand charging a little something extra for a second state, but $40 is a total rip off. That means if you had two states and wanted to e-file them both, you'd be looking at paying $80 in extra fees on top of what you paid on Amazon. Intuit needs to realize that they are going to drive away customers if they continue to nickle and dime them every single year!
--Update 3/17/13--
My original review about TurboTax being reliable for 'basic' tax returns may no longer be true. Since I filed my returns, I've received TWO letters from them regarding two different mistakes they made on my return, and extra steps that I needed to follow to correct their mistakes. One was in regards to my Minnesota state return, no matter which political party you elected to contribute to, when you submitted your tax return, it was always giving the money to a specific political party. My guess is that this was added by a rogue programmer, but it is still incredible that they have so little QA testing that this could slip through. In my opinion, someone should be in jail for that scam. The other letter was in regards to an incorrect calculation if you met like 3 specific criteria. Again, its pretty crazy that these things don't get discovered until mid-March when many many people have already submitted their returns. I no longer have much faith in TurboTax for even a basic tax return, and am considering just doing taxes myself manually next year. Even I can add correctly, which is apparently too hard for TurboTax. Lowering my review from three to two stars.Excellent. Don't start your taxes without this. By perstare
***Note: Several readers have made ** clear, important** comments regarding this review of mine. After I read those comments, I made a few changes in the text of this review and **added some text** at the end. Please read this review again and especially, read the valuable comments that follow. Perstare. ***
This review is intended mainly to benefit those taxpayers who are considering the purchase of Turbo Tax for the first time. However, if you have used Turbo Tax before, your comments and criticisms of this review would benefit the newcomers.
I recommend Turbo Tax. I've been using it for roughly 20 years. I can't imagine how I could "do my taxes" without this excellent **computer assist.**
( Note: I use Turbo Tax only as a **computer assist.** I use other resources if I need exact detail/precision in tax law and in my tax preparation. What other resources? Please see my review of the publication, "Lasser's - Your Income Tax 2013 for Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return" for a description of Lasser's and other resources for tax information.)
I've never had to try out any of Turbo Tax's competitors. (I have read criticisms of Turbo Tax and I've read praise for other tax-assist programs. I haven't read any opinions either way that would make me switch.)
If you're going to use Turbo Tax for the first time (and especially if you are using computer-assisted tax preparation for the first time), start well before the filing deadline - buy it and install it before the end of the calendar year! (For example, Amazon has Turbo Tax 2012 for tax year 2012 available around Thanksgiving 2012.) It is true that some IRS forms and some IRS regulations would be incomplete at that time, but subsequent startups of the Turbo Tax program would give you a chance to download those items. In any case, your exact tax-related information (e.g., withholding tax, 1099s, W-2s, mortgage interest, investing dividends and interest, RMDs, bank interest, credit card interest, etc.) would not be available to you so soon anyway.
If Turbo Tax is new to you and you start early, you can get acquainted with Turbo Tax's layout, the different screens requiring input from you, the different screens offering help, the different screens which can give you more information on what you're dealing with at the moment, the sequence of computer commands to SAVE your work when you set your work aside for awhile, the computer commands necessary to pick up where you left off ... and much more. Follow the flow of the Turbo Tax Interview which is a question and answer procedure*. You can pretty much rely on it not to overlook anything. But when you're done, look over your 1040 return carefully just the same. When you're completely finished, you can save your printed return and the companion supplementary pages in .pdf form. If you do that, you'll only need a .pdf reader to read the file at some future time. I recommend that you print one hard copy for your own files.
*Suppose you have many years' experience doing your taxes yourself, by hand. If you have confidence in your tax preparation experience and you just want to use Turbo Tax to enter your numerical information on the proper line on the proper form, don't do it. Instead, follow the flow of the Turbo Tax Interview. Then, afterward, when the return is complete, use your past experience to check the 1040 entries line by line. If you find a situation in which your 1040 form has an entry that you did not expect, track it down. I've seen discrepancies like that; In every case, Turbo Tax turned out to be right. How could there be a difference between what you expected and what Turbo Tax entered on your 1040 to be submitted for filing? Because Turbo Tax does unseen calculations and then automatically makes entries on supplementary calculation pages and forms on your tax return based on the information that **you** provided. Sometimes these calculations appear on worksheets and (because the worksheets are not actually part of the 1040 tax return that you file) you might easily miss them. If you see one of these 1040 entries and it seems to be absurd, don't just OVERRIDE it. (Note: Read on. Certain circumstances in the preparation of **state** returns may require you to Override.) Check the figures that you entered, bear in mind certain ceiling limits and certain minimums in the calculation of certain deductions, and then do a manual walk-through of the unseen calculations yourself. Make sure that you answered the questions accurately and make sure you checked the right boxes. If you do discover what appears to be an entry error on your 1040, you can work backwards from the questionable entry using the "source" function. It is not likely that Turbo Tax would make a mistake in calculating.
Another suggestion: The first thing you should fill out is the "Federal Information Worksheet." Make sure it is perfectly and completely filled out. Entries on that worksheet are used by Turbo Tax in the handling of information that you enter later.
My thanks to David Dubbert who took the time to comment on my past review of the then-current Turbo Tax. He says, in part, "...I would like to recommend to any new users to be particularly careful regarding state tax preparations. I have bumped into situations in the past where Turbo Tax was incorrect for certain entries for a state." Yes. That's true and if that happens, you would have to Override some entries on your state income tax return. One example: The profits (dividends and/or interest) from certain investments are treated one way on the 1040 but differently on the state return, depending in part on the percentage of the profits earned in a person's home state. Another example: The profits from certain investments are not taxed on one's Federal return but are taxable by one's home state. Or vice versa. There are other examples, too, and I invite you, the reader, to make comments and additions to this review for the benefit of new users regarding state income tax preparation.
The comments made so far on my original review have one thing in common: They describe problems in the treatment of state income tax.
Problem 1: Some states have income tax, some do not. Some states do not tax wages but nevertheless tax other income sources. Make sure you have reliable information, especially if you relocate to a different state. That isn't as obvious as it sounds - I have seen **totally wrong** statements regarding state income tax in a magazine intended for, and read by, retired people. Be careful! Get accurate information.
Problem 2: One of the comments mentions that if you have done your research **completely and thoroughly,** and you find a flaw in how Turbo Tax prepared your state return, you may have a dilemma. According to that comment, if you Override (or otherwise amend) a Turbo Tax entry on your state return, you will lose the convenience of e-filing. Read that comment, please, and see if you can determine from the comment if you lose the convenience of e-filing for **both** Federal and State returns if that happens, or if that situation applies only to the state return.
Problem 3: I must re-affirm the responsibility (and authority) of the taxpayers themselves. You, the human taxpayer, take responsibility for your tax return at the moment that you sign it. You have the power to submit a state return in which you made changes from the Turbo Tax entries because you **know** that Turbo Tax made a mistake and you are convinced of that. The ultimate accountability in income tax preparation falls on you, not on Turbo Tax. If you feel that you can honestly reduce your state income tax by picking up a pen, filling out a **printed** state income tax form, signing it, and mailing it in via snailmail, then you have the power to do that.
I noticed that Amazon has reduced the cost of the Deluxe version by $10 since I pre-paid for my own copy. This amounts to a discount of approximately 16%. I give 5 stars to Amazon for this price reduction and I advise potential buyers of Turbo Tax to take advantage of it. Also, I stand by my 5-star rating of Turbo Tax and I still recommend it. Thank you to those contributors who have so far commented on my review; I've revised this review several times. Also, thanks to Amazon for providing the space to store this review and its comments.Warning to Mac Users! By Meriden
If and when you purchase tax software for this year's income tax season, please note that Intuit has changed its Macintosh hardware requirements without saying so anywhere on the Turbotax package. As I have done for many years, I purchased a copy of Turbotax for use on my dual core iMac, which is running OS 10.6.8. The package states that it will run on this OS version, and says nothing else about Mac hardware. Only after installing the program and getting an error message that this new version of Turbotax does not run on my not so venerable computer, was I directed to the Turbotax website. It took a bit of drilling down through the support pages before I was told that Intuit has rewritten the Turbotax code to only run on 64-bit processors, and will not run on lowly 32-bit processors such as the dual core on my machine.
What makes this even more annoying is that most retailers will not take the Turbotax back, because the package was opened. Intuit says it will give refunds, but only after the purchaser downloads a special form and ships the box back to the company, presumably at the purchaser's own cost. The Best-Selling TurboTax Deluxe Federal + E-File + State 2012 then to sell out very fast, if this is a must have product, be sure to order now to avoid disappointment.
