Time to do your taxes ,anyone use Turbotax?

[dennis thompson]

Well that time is coming around again...do your taxes. I've used Turbo tax pretty successfully in the past but never looked at the "It's Deductible" part. Anyone ever used "Its deductible"? found it helpful?
Thanks
Dennis

[Jerome Hanby]

I use Turbo Tax every year. I've let it walk me through the It's deductible every time it's been part of the package, but It's never found anything new for me.

[Bob Childress]

It's Deductible is handy for valuing donated goods, like clothes, etc. I used to undervalue donations I discovered.

[glenn bradley]

The first time I compared a quality CPA (yes, they cost money) to Turbo Tax, I never went back. The result will vary with the complexity of your situation. In my case the difference paid the CPA, paid for the copy of Turbo Tax I didn't use and took me on vacation. That pretty much sold me on the CPA for a decade or so. Now that my life has simplified a bit, I may have to do another comparison.

[Dewey Torres]

I have used it quite a bit ... excellent program IMO.

[Bob Moyer]

I have used Turbo Tax as long as I can remember; I do a lot of taxes for seniors and low income at my church; on a number of occassions I have had to refile for some individuals because their CPA missed something.

The "biggest" problem with some Turbo Tax users is they do no go through the interview; they decide to do it themself; defeating one of the main features of Turbo Tax.

One of the other features I like is the Intuit/Turbo Tax web site which allows you to ask questions if the answers are not already provided.:)

[Lee Schierer]

We've done our taxes for years using the long form doing it ourselves. We switched to Turbotax a few years ago and really like it. It works well, you can work on it a bit leave and come back without losing anything and filing is easy. You don't have to run to the post office looking for a form if you need one. Basically as soon as we get the last W-2 or interest statement we can file our return. Our tax refund came back in less than a week this year and is already in the bank.

It remembers your basic data from year to year so you don't start over every year.

[Robert Parrish]

Glenn, I used an accountant for years until I found out he was using a commercial version of Turbo Tax!

[Mark Patoka]

Our credit union offers Turbo Tax online (free for EZ filers). Used the Deduction value for the first time last year for all our donated goods and was surprised at the values given to many things. I like it and plan to continue using it.

[Chris Padilla]

I love Turbo Tax...been using it as long as I've made enough money to go beyond 1040EZ! :D (That'd be about 12 years now)

I recently began using It's Deductible as well since we donate a lot of clothes to Goodwill (growing kid).

Near as I can tell, I'm doing pretty good with it and am happy. I had to refile one year because I was a dork (a tax bill of 80k from the IRS opens one's eyes quickly) and it worked out spendidly. I actually ended up getting back money from the IRS. Gosh, what a dork I was filing that year. Lesson learned...no harm done. Thank GOD for Turbo Tax! :)

[David G Baker]

This year will the first time in years that I will be using a CPA to do my taxes. If I am not happy with the CPA's results I will go back to Turbo Tax. I can't see any reason not to use Turbo Tax because you do 90% of the work by gathering up all the information. I am using the CPA this year because there are a few issues that I need clarified.

[Larry Browning]

Well, I have a different opinion of Turbo Tax than most of you. Like many of you, I had used TT for several years. Several years ago they used to sell the Federal and State as a package deal for 24.95 or something like that. The next year they sent me a flyer saying "Good news! we have lowered the price of TT to 19.95! and oh, by the way the state version will be available separetely for 9.95." Well, this just infuriated me! They were increasing the price and trying to pass it off as a decrease! So, I switched to TaxCut and have never looked back. I think that was the same year TT started adding a very poorly behaving copy protection scheme as well, whech cause every one fits.
I am sure TT has changed quite a bit since then, but they just left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, TaxCut is a very good program that works just as well as TT and I think it is a little less expensive. (not sure about that, cause I never check TT pricing anymore)

[dennis thompson]

Larry
Not that I'm trying to get you to go back to Turbotax but depending on the balance you hold at them, some mutual fund companies will provide Turbo Tax for free (T Rowe Price for one, where I got it for free) or at a discount (Vanguard)
Dennis

[glenn bradley]

Glenn, I used an accountant for years until I found out he was using a commercial version of Turbo Tax!
Yeah, no need to pay someone to use what you can drive yourself, eh? I should really give it a try now that my taxes are so much simpler. At the time the CPA found over $2500 more that TT did, in my favor ;-). I compared the two years after that and she always found more dough for me. It has been a quite a long time; I'm sure TT has improved quite a bit and it is a fraction of the cost of having a human being do it. Must be time for another test drive ;-)

[John Shuk]

I use it and it's been great. I've lowered the amount I've been withholding cause it's nice to hang onto my money each week so I'm not depending on that big refund anymore. I just like that it is simple and thorough.

[Jim Becker]

I've been using TurboTax for almost as long as it's existed. And yes, I use the "It's Deductible" portion to value material contributions...almost always clothing...that is donated to GoodWill each year.

[Brent Leonard]

I've used it for a few years now. I used to use an excellent CPA. One year, I bought TT to simply compare TT results to my CPA.....

result: within a few dollars of each other (less than $20).

I have saved myself the $250 for the CPA ever since. One thing that TT doesn't do, is figure out lots of buisness travel, away from home meals, etc....It also doesn't support my unique situation where I pay into a special retirement system and not Social Security. For those things I had to do my own research and figure that out on my own. Now it is easy for me, and I know exactly where to enter the information in TT so I get the proper deductions and credits.

H&R block version is just as good I hear, but $10 less. In an unbiased test I saw online, TurboTax and H&R Block software resulted in the EXACT figures, to the penny.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Well, I have a different opinion of Turbo Tax than most of you. Like many of you, I had used TT for several years. Several years ago they used to sell the Federal and State as a package deal for 24.95 or something like that. The next year they sent me a flyer saying "Good news! we have lowered the price of TT to 19.95! and oh, by the way the state version will be available separetely for 9.95." Well, this just infuriated me! They were increasing the price and trying to pass it off as a decrease! So, I switched to TaxCut and have never looked back. I think that was the same year TT started adding a very poorly behaving copy protection scheme as well, whech cause every one fits.
I am sure TT has changed quite a bit since then, but they just left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, TaxCut is a very good program that works just as well as TT and I think it is a little less expensive. (not sure about that, cause I never check TT pricing anymore)

But Larry, Washington does the same thing. :D

[Sonny Edmonds]

We've used TT for a number of years now and are real happy with it.

I used to use a CPA, but he moved out of state.
(I guess he bilked enough money. :confused: )

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I've been using Taxcut for many years. It was a little cheaper than TurboTax, but I'm not sure if that's the case now.

There are also some free versions provided by my State, but I don't think they are as sophisticated as the store bought softwares in my experience.

I think the best solution is a simpler tax system. What do you make? Multiply by X%. Pay the tax. May even to be able to do it without my 30 year old Texas Instruments TI30 calculator. You know, the one that is about the size of a brick with tiny red led numbers and costed a small fortune. :)

-Jeff :)

[Jim Barrett]

I am interning at a public accounting firm this tax season (2nd career). One more qtr to go and I will have my accounting degree!...we use CCH ProSystems FX which is a standard in the public accounting world. I have used TT for many years and it works fine. The reason to have a CPA do your taxes is for the ADVICE he/she should be giving you....if all you do is drop off your tax information, W2's, 1099's, K-1's, etc and you do not receiving any tax advice.... then go find someone else.
My bill rate is $60 @ hr and most tax returns take me ~1hr to complete. Of course that does not count for the time the partners or a CPA spends with the client.

Jim

[Frank Hagan]

I've used both TT and TaxCut. I don't like the interface on TT this year; it seems awkward to me. I do like the fact that TT will download your investment information from Fidelty and Vanguard (as well as your employer's W2 information, etc.)