OK, so I've posted a few times about the virtues of the free online version of TurboTax here before. Well, no more. The free version this year appears to only be able to handle 1040-EZ type tax issues. As soon as I indicated that I have capital gains, I had to go into a paid version (hey, they had to make money off me eventually, I've been using their product free for a few years now).
However, I discovered that the interface for this year's version has become incredibly clunky and non-intuitive. After completeing the interviews and performing an automated error check (which caught a few things) I was able to view my 1040. It appeared to be incorrect, but to check it thoroughly, I needed to see all my various other forms and schedules. But to get a look at those, I had to pay up the ~$100 for the paid version I selected. I declined to pay the fee since my return looked incorrect anyway (by a lot).
As a side note, I responded to an ad in my newsreader tonight for a free online version of TaxAct. Its interface is much better and more intuitive than that for Turbotax. However, when I got to vehicle depreciation for my wife's business, it came up with a drastically different deduction than I did. I need to research further to ensure that I've got the right value, but I'm pretty certain that TaxAct got it wrong. I suspect it's confused because I used standard mileage for this vehicle in the past and I want to switch to actual costs this year. It didn't ask me if this was the case. But I still can't see how it got the value for this deduction, and I can't see the details of its calculation unless I upgrade to a paid version.
Anyone know how TaxAct makes money off of their free version? Even e-filing is free. That's how the free version of Turbotax got you, they charged for e-filing. Anyone have any other thoughts on the online version(s) of TaxAct?