What with tax time just around the corner, I went on my annual December pilgrimage to purchase TurboTax on Amazon. Imagine my surprise when I got there and saw the reviews. I couldn't believe that they were charging $9.95 for printing an additional return. You see, I don't like to pay the extra and e-file (although this year, it is included in the price), so I print out my returns and send them the old fashioned way...pony express. Since I also like to print a copy for my records, there was no way I was going to pay extra for that privilege. So, I started shopping around for an alternative and I discovered H & R Block's TaxCut. People seemed to like it, so I kept it in the back of my mind.
When I went back about a week ago, I discovered that because of the outrage of the customers, TurboTax (TT) rescinded its pay-extra-for-printing charge, but it was still almost ten dollars more than TaxCut(TC) and I would have to pay for shipping. I was in a dilemma, because for the past seven years I have been using TT and I have been quite satisfied with the product. (I used to do our taxes by hand, but I guess I'm just too lazy these days and like to rely on a program to do it for me). Anyway, because of their greedy little ways and the fact they are more expensive, I have elected to go with TC this year. As a matter of fact, I just got the email this morning saying that it has shipped.
So, the reason for this rambling? Well, on top of it being a way to update my site, I am going to let you know if it is worth trying or not. They say that you can export all your TT data to TC, so I'll let you know if that is the case. I won't go into the nuts and bolts of using the program, but I will give you a quick review to let you know whether it is an option for TT.
My Review of H & R Block's Taxcut
We've had people bring in shoe boxes full of receipts but never cats! Koko is just so cute! As for the tax prep software, I use the software at my office so don't know anything about TT or TC. Well, I do know that some of our clients attempt their own returns on TT and then bring us what they came up with. Thankfully I've always ended up with a better result and found ways to reduce their taxes. Phew!
ReplyDeleteBeadedTail: I use it because our taxes are not that complex; just your average returns. Wow, I think I'll send our taxes:)
ReplyDeleteI hate tax time when I have to gather up everything for our accountant. It's such a waste of my time!!
ReplyDeleteI use OnLine Taxes (www.olt.com). It's just as simple and accurate as TurboTax or TaxCut, and everything is submitted securely online. You pay $7.95 to file the Federal return and $7.95 to file your State return. (You don't have to do both, though. You can do just Federal or just State.)
ReplyDeleteIf you prefer to print and mail, you can do that too...no fee.
They also participate in the IRS freefile program. If you go to irs.gov and click on freefile, you'll find OnLine Taxes in the list. If your income is below $56,000 you can file the Federal return for free. The State is still $7.95 though.
I filed mine last night and got a confirmation email this morning that the IRS has already received and accepted it. With direct deposit, I should have my refund possibly by the end of next week. Yea!!!
This is the second year I've used OnLine Taxes and have had a good result both times.
I think I'm going to cut and paste this for a blog post...lol!
Karen & Gerard Zemek: I know, i hate it too. I try to keep everything in one place throughout the year, but it seems that every year I am trying to hunt something down.
ReplyDeleteCindy: Thank you very much for that information. You should post this as an article; the more people to see this, the better;-)
We've used Turbo Tax before - last year we went to a preparer because things were too complicated for me. I haven't decided what to do this year yet, but best decide soon, eh? (My W-2 arrived today.)
ReplyDeleteLux: It was hard for me to decide what to do. I have used TurbTax for so many years, that I feel comfortable with it, but I figure if I can save some money, I might as well try this other program. Hopefully, it won't be a waste of money (that would be all I would need).
ReplyDeleteI hope I can do the e-file this year. I hate mailing it.
ReplyDeleteKeisha: The two software programs I mentioned have included free e-filing. If you make less than $56,000, you can e-file for free through irs.gov (info courtesy of Cindy)
ReplyDelete