TurboTax or Taxcut

Which of these 2 programs should I use to file my taxes? or there other ones that are better? I work fulltime, my wife works fulltime, we have kids and we just bought a home. is this something the software will able to do and get us the best damn returns or should I just go see a human tax preparer. Thanks. I will appreciate all your insights. AT

> > > > > > > > >
Reply to
Apala Man
Loading thread data ...

See

formatting link
.I believe PCMag gave TT the nod this year. Others arebetter at answering your other questions.

-- Regards -

- Andrew

Reply to
Andrew

I am not an expert tax preparer by any means, but after many years using each of the tax prep programs you mentioned, I went to work this year for one of the big store-front tax prep companies. If your tax situation is rather simple, W-2's, 1099's etc. either program will work very well. In fact I recommended the free program TaxAct to my sons, both married home owners, and they liked it and used it to prepare and e-file for free. You need a professional, and I mean a real pro not a store-front hack (there are some very competent professionals among the store-front preparers if you are lucky enough to get one) if your tax situation is not straight forward. If you are divorced and have a child custody situation; if you are supporting a parent in a nursing home; if you have business income or unreimbursed business expenses; if you have grown children or grandchildren living with you; if you have a home office, or stock sale, or sold a home, or moving expenses, or you or a dependent have a disability, or income not reported on a W-2 or 1099, or unusual medical expenses, or sizable donations to charity, or had a spouse die in 2006, etcetera; you need a real tax professional. One more thing, if you have other than a straight forward return and live in a state that has income tax, you need a pro. The commercial tax prep programs don't do a good job (in my opinion) with state returns which can be as complex as federal especially if you have income from multiple states. Carl

Reply to
runtwoday

Either will do the job if you understand your taxes enough to feed it the right information. Consider TaxAct, which is free. ed

Reply to
ed

If you don't know enough about federal income taxes to do your own return by hand, then you should not use either software package. Instead, you should engage a local tax professional to do your return. If you could do your own tax return by hand, then either software package should meet your needs.

Reply to
Bill Brown

A human tax preparer usually saves you more money than they cost you. Missy Doyle

Reply to
Missy

Aside from one quirky aspect of their pricing (I posted elsewhere that a returning customer gets a solicitation for the new year's software, at full retail, plus shipping, and then get a delivery well after you can find it in the stores for less. For me and the accounts I handle, I need the ability to do a dry run before the end of the year, to make decisions regarding IRA conversions, stock sales, etc.) I like TurboTax. The product itself is easy, intuitive, and offers an 'interview' mode or just 'go to forms'. You don't mention stock trading, or rental property. It sounds like you will have an easy go of it. I'd be surprised if you could get a 'better' return with a pro. The year is over, and the only thing you could do now is make an IRA deposit for 2006. The effort should go into planning for this year, otherwise for

2006, what's done is done. JOE JoeTaxpayer.com
Reply to
joetaxpayer

I've heard from more people that the style of their tax preparer is to send a 'checklist' of things to bring or fill in the numbers. This is either mailed in or dropped off to his office. A finished return is given back, with little or no discussion or council. If this is not typical, then my apologies. In any case, it would seem that most of the dialog occurs after the tax year has ended, in which case I'd be curious what a human preparer would uncover which the human tax payer would not have already provided. In my dealings, I make a strong attempt to have a November meeting which will uncover moves that can be made before year end; The ability in 2006/7 to donate from an IRA and while it counts towards your RMD, avoids taxes. (this is a benefit for those who are not exceeding the standard deduction, but are making good donations) Conversions from IRA to Roth IRA to fill up the tax bracket they are in. (Paying tax at 15% and avoiding the increasing RMDs pushing them into 25% bracket) Advice on contents of pre-tax accounts vs post tax accounts, as dividends and cap gains are tax favored in the post tax accounts. Even if a tax 'pro' were going to discuss these issues, what benefit could he provide after the tax year has ended? JOE

Reply to
joetaxpayer

Who took out the most ads?

Seth

Reply to
Seth Breidbart

Neither. Try the free TaxAct at

formatting link

-- To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

Reply to
Vic Dura

Garbage in, garbage out.

If the preparer doesn't ask the question and the taxpayer doesn't have a clue then is some cases the TurboTax interview may even be better. My father always did his own taxes. Many, many years ago after he passed away, my mother went to a preparer for a few years. Not a store front, but two different CPA's who specialized in tax. Over three years my mother an I found several items that were either entered incorrectly or omitted altogether. In both cases they filed amended returns for her without charge, but we, not they, found the errors. Since then I have prepared all of our returns. Like most things - if you want something done right, do it yourself. That doesn't mean that you don't have to put forth the effort to educate yourself and keep abreast of changes of the tax laws. Not for everyone perhaps, but it works for me.

--

-Ernie-

Reply to
Ernie Klein

I used the free Taxact last year after preparing our return by hand. Not surprisingly, we agreed to the dollar, which speaks well for its accuracy. It did serve as a vehicle for a neat printed return. One caution: On almost every page, Taxact attempted to sell one of its step-up formulations. It did become a bit annoying, but my resistance was strong and lasting.

Reply to
William Brenner

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.