Having just reviewed all the Black Friday ads at
Why would you expect a TT deal in a brick & mortar store before the product even ships? Look at the Intuit web site. Expected ship is "early December".....
Maybe because in past years Intuit has Turbotax out for the Thanksgiving sales... Staples in particular has had some very good bundles in the past. OfficeMax usually thows in a cheap shredder....
They have started shipping. Apparently they are a little slow in updating the site.
Hank, I saw TT Deluxe in both CompUSA and BestBuy today 11/22. From the outside of the box looks like NO more e-file rebate but TT Deluxe comes with one free State Tax.
That sucks. A "hidden" $10 price increase...
Actually, it more than sucks. The IRS "Free file" program ended this year, and they are trying to nogotiate a new one. Unfortunately, our friends at Intuit are trying to force everyone to pay them to file:
Bill Would Curb IRS E-File Plans
2005-10-24 San Jose Mercury NewsBy Mark Schwanhausser, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.
Oct. 22--A two-sentence amendment backed by Intuit and the tech industry was slipped into a broad Senate funding bill that would block the Internal Revenue Service from developing new electronic-filing or tax-preparation services.
The issue comes at what could be a pivotal point in the contentious debate over how far the government can go to encourage taxpayers to file their taxes electronically before it begins stealing customers from tax preparers and software vendors like Mountain View-based Intuit, makers of the TurboTax program.
The amendment, which was adopted without floor debate, was part of an $11.7 billion Treasury Department funding bill approved Thursday night by a 93-1 vote. Because the amendment was not included in the House version of the bill, it still could be removed in conference committee negotiations before the funding bill is sent to President Bush.
The Senate vote also comes two months after California lawmakers used a similar budget maneuver to crimp the state Franchise Tax Board's plans to expand an experiment, called "ReadyReturn," to complete forms for taxpayers with simple tax returns.
The amendment's lead sponsor -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., chair of Senate Republican High Tech Task Force -- pushed for the IRS ban to protect preparers and software vendors. "The IRS should not be getting into a field where taxpayers are already well served by the private sector," he said in a statement.
Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller added that the legislation "is about protecting consumers." Taxpayers run a risk, she said, when tax agencies "wear the conflicting hats of tax collector and tax preparer."
Passage of the Senate amendment comes as the IRS is renegotiating a deal with a consortium of software vendors to offer free or low-cost electronic-filing services through the agency's FreeFile program. In the past, the IRS has promised not to develop tax-preparation products and services as long as software companies filled that role. Private vendors processed more than 5 million returns through the program by April 20.
Some critics fear the Senate amendment will weaken the agency's bargaining position to expand FreeFile.
The annual "Free Stuff" offers are in effect at Staples starting Black Friday and running through Sunday. TTax Deluxe (Fed + State) - $40 , Quicken Deluxe, NIS, Shredder free.
In response to you posts about e-filing, FWIW, I refuse to pay (additional money) to e-file tax returns to save the government(s) data entry and paper processing work and costs associated with collecting tax money from me. Before they discontinued the Form 1040PC, I used it. Afterwards, I just mailed my returns. IMHO, they should give e-filers a discount (lots o' luck) for saving them expenses, or contract with private providers (e.g., Intuit) to provide free e-filing for taxpayers.
FYI, for the past couple of years I have volunteered at one local AARP/IRS sponsored Tax Aide site and am the site e-file coordinator.
Although the Tax Aide program is pitched to seniors and low to moderate income taxpayers, we have never turned anyone away for age or income reasons. The rare times we have referred taxpayers to private preparers is when they have overly complicated returns such as certain business or farm income or some rental property issues. Even in may of those cases we have some volunteers among the area sites who can handle those as time permits. IMO, if someone came in a with a TurboTax prepared return and supporting documentation, we'd double-check the data entry, prepare the return(s) in TaxWise, and e-file for them. Free of charge. Legally, the taxpayer is responsible for the content and accuracy of his/her return.
Just some information to consider, FWIW.
.............................. The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train
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I bought TTD tonight. (The checkout lady looked at me and said, "Boy, you're early!". You should have seen her reply when I said I love doing my taxes!).
Well, back to the purpose of this post. TTD contains "It's Deductible" in it which I think was something like $19.95 when I tried it once a few years ago (And said I'd never buy it again...just wasn't worth it for me, but now that it's "free", I'll use it.) ; Also the Turbo Tax Handbook which I've seen in B&N last week is also contained on the CD.
Its Deductable was one of the free after rebate things in most of the bundles last year. It really should be an integral part of TTax and not a separate program, but they're getting closer, I suppose. The only benefit I saw is that it gave you some independent confirmation of the valuation of donated things if you were ever audited. The problem is that most of my donations weren't in their database.
So far, Staples seems to have the best deal going - TTax Deluxe, Quicken Deluxe and a shredder for $39... Am still annoyed that Intuit has dropped the free eFile thing though. There's no way I'm going to pay them $10 - $12 just to file. I'll send a paper return in before I do that.
does anyone know if the online versions of TTax are the same as what is on the CD? I recall filing on Vanguard website last year for my kids, and efiling was free for me but saved my joint return for the cd version. The online approach actually was pretty good
alan
They did negotiate a new one.
IRS and Free File Alliance Reach Agreement IR-2005-126, Oct. 25, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service and the Free File Alliance today announced agreement to renew their partnership, extending free tax services and electronic filing to an eligible
93 million taxpayers and providing important new consumer protections.Full news release at this link:
The interview is basically the same, but the online version lacks a number of capabilities that the CD version has. Here are some that I am aware of. This list is based on last year. The online version for 2005 isn't available yet, so the list is subject to change.
TurboTax Online can do only one state return.
Online has no forms mode. You cannot work directly on the forms, or view the forms. This also means that there is no "Data Source" function to trace where a number came from. There are a few choices or inputs that are not covered in the interview and can only be selected on the forms, so you cannot use those.
You cannot transfer data to the online version from the return that you prepared last year with the CD version.
The online version will not import from Quicken 2002 or earlier.
Online does not include the IRS publications, videos, and tax strategy books that are in Deluxe and Premier on CD.
The online version is only available for the current year, and only until October 15. After that you can no longer work on your return. The return is completely inaccessible for about a month. Some time in November a PDF copy of the return becomes available online, but the interview is no longer available. Among other things, this means that you cannot amend a return online after October 15.
Thats good - now they just need to update the web site:
thanks - very insightful - will buy cd version alan
What do they have to update? It says "Free File has come to an end FOR THIS YEAR. Check back in mid-January 2006. . . ."
Right. 'twould be good to know what companies are participating for 2006 and what conditions they will be imposing...
That's good to know. And actually, It's Deductible was not free after rebate at many places.. just Office Depot and Office Max for a week or so (and then later on I saw it at Costco but that was in March). I don't think that Staples ever had it FAR.
Bill
It's actually a $20 price increase -- last year Deluxe was $40 less $10 rebate. This year, no rebate. Intuit apparently has something on their website that says they got rid of rebates because customers did not like them. I'll admit that not having to buy State and file for a rebate is nice (and saves a couple of dollars in sales tax). But not giving one free e-file anymore really sucks.
And e-file was $15+tax I believe, so the effective price increase is $25.
Does anyone know if TaxCut followed suit on the lack of free e-file this year??
Bill
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