TurboTax Premier: Extra guidance for investments & rental property incomeBest Features:- Helps you get every dollar you deserve from your taxes
- Provides extra guidance for your stock sales, rental property income, and investments
- Get expert help when you need it, free
- Cost basis lookup quickly tracks and calculates historical cost basis
- Includes 5 Free Federal E-files and one download of a TurboTax State product
Great product - but, for first time users it take a bit more time By W. D. Barnum
I have been using TurboTax for years. The transfer of data from prior years is fast and easy. I use it when it first comes out each year to do some quick tax calculations to plan my year end transactions. For planning purposes where one does not have all the various forms from financial institutions, one must force the program to ignore certain missing information, or go back to the paper copies of the various forms received from those institutions in prior years. These problems, of course, go away when one is doing the actual tax return, since those forms for the current year would be at hand. This is only a problem when doing early estimates without the various forms.
I like that the program is constantly updated as one approaches the actual filing time, so that everything is current and up to date at the time of filing.
A good solid product that gets better each year.
Be sure to buy the level of Turbo Tax that you need for your own particular situation - since moving up their product line can be expensive.Indispensable Tool -- Simplifies a Complex Annual Task By Brookworld
I used this product since 1988 (DOS, 5.25" floppies), and wouldn't want to give it up. I've been buying it through my FI which has a partnership discount rather than from a re-seller like Amazon.com & Costco. Right now, what you get is a TurboTax "shell" to transfer last year's "info data" to the current year, and forms which act as placeholders until finalized forms are released by the IRS. The State forms are preliminary and incomplete, and they are last to be released by TurboTax, because typically, State tax codes are based off of what the Feds do. Also, at this time, W-2's, 1099's, 1098's, etc. haven't been released, and although you can backfill them from all your 12/31/2012 statements, it reduces the ease you are trying to achieve. Also, wait until your IRS report forms are received, then do an online software update.
TurboTax evolved to a Q&A type format which remains the user interface for the past decade or so, grouping similar topics together like "Income", "Deductions", "Taxes Paid", etc. I think it reflects how many taxpayers think about the topics.
Previously, users have complained about the cost of State efile, and pricing structure. I haven't studied the 2012 structure, but here are the usual suspects:
(1) State efile fee of $20 -- I just send in the paper and avoid the fee (3-4 weeks to receive a state refund). Not really Turbotax's issue as the states should get together and perhaps adopt a common platform which Turbotax & HR Block acn just charge a nominal fee for any state rather than the (2011) $20 to file.
(2) My complaint is the "up sell" needed to do stock/securities sales -- previously, it seems the "Deluxe" was adequate for typical mutual fund or occassional broker transactions, but the TurboTax's "guide" points me to the "Premier" edition to do something that is common to many households -- kind of like paying for "premium" airfare ticket to use the toilet (not everyone will use the on-board toilet, but come on, don't price it to be an extra).
Admittedly, while there appears to be rising SRP, the actual price paid seems to be just inflation indexed, rather than real increases (unlike my cable & cell phone bills) -- I'm skeptical about the "more features for the same money" explanation.
(3) Historically, price for the 2nd State was somewhat exhorbitant (is it still $40 ? used to be $20) - - I needed it for several years because of relocations and cross-state situations (NY-NJ-CT is common, maybe DC-MD-VA. TurboTax says it's competitive, I say it's the last gas station for 100 miles so better buy it at whatever they charge.
In the past, I have had several issues with TurboTax, and because I now look for them, it is hard for me to determine if they still persist, or TurboTax has solved them.
(1) Previously, the NY State software would default to Itemized Deduction if I Itemized for Fed filing -- in NY, often STANDARD Deduction is better than the adjusted Itemized Deduction (State taxes are not deductible for State returns, and for many renters, Standard would be better). The State software was too dumb to do a comparison between the two. I had to do an overide for several years but now don't live in NY anymore (NOTE: your state may require the same deduction election).
(2) I now file Form SE, and the first time using it, it would populate numbers that were VERY difficult to determine the source. It required a lot of cross checking to determine where the numbers were coming from. It seems the Interface now has a specific question employment by International Organizations which don't have payroll deduction.
(3) In California (during 2003-09), TurboTax would not apply capital loss carry-forward to state taxes, and I paid state taxes on capital gains w/o offset from carryover capital losses. I overpaid several hundred $ of Calif taxes, and when I became aware, was able to file an amended return (see below). (Odd since Intuit's HQ is in Mountain View, Calif.)
(4) Compared to versions from years ago, the software has have much less "data source" documentation. In the older versions, you could click on a field and it would send you to the field, form or info page where the data / number was transferred from. Now, you get a vague entry that doesn't help to quality-assure the various numbers.
The Amend Return function for states is now much easier -- I needed to use it for 3 consecutive years in arrears because of Turbotax sofware bugs. Beginning around 2008, the software was able to provide (for states) a function that allowed more automation to the process.
I applaud TurboTax's "User Account" approach for online purchasers whereby you can download the software for at least 3 years. When I filed amended returns, I had a different PC and was able to download the software to use. I don't know about CD purchasers from re-sellers though.
Overall, it is still very good software, but you need to do manual tracing on the State return to validate, particularly if you have special situations which reduce your taxes.Terrible for income property (Premiere Edition) By CUNPDX
I have used TT for many years. Last year I purchased the premier edition because I bought a rental property. I was hoping the wizard would walk me through all the steps for determining what is an expense and what is depreciable, specifically around HUD statement items. WRONG! You would think a key element of the wizard would be to walk the user through such an important document for preparing taxes. There is no intelligence built into the wizard - they just provide a few fields for you to input data but do not communicate the meaning and impact and what should qualify. It is up to you to discover that on your own. I was more than extremely disappointed, and it took me about 3 weeks to research various related items and then figure out how to input them into the right place in the wizard. VERY BAD INTERFACE SINCE THE PRODUCT IS MARKETED TO WALK YOU THROUGH EVERYTHING. This year I'm going to research H&R Block's software to determine if I can import my data from Turbotax from last year, and proceed with that approach.
TurboTax folks - you blew it on this one - big time - enough to make me change software - pay attention to these reviews !!! The Best-Selling TurboTax Premier 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.
