Taxcut 2002 Platinum (Mac)

by H&R Block

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007MF3H
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 16, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,349 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

TaxCut Platinum for Macintosh from H&R Block is the ultimate tax preparation software that you don't want to miss. It's packed with all the features of TaxCut Deluxe, plus you get powerful Assistants for Capital Gains, Stock Options, Depreciation, Business Expense and Rental Property. The program contains Portfolio Manager powered by GainsKeeper®, which provides detailed tax tips and in-depth answers to frequently asked questions.

You'll enjoy seamless imports of your financial data from last year's TurboTax®, Quicken® and Microsoft® Money. Plus, you'll get one FREE TaxCut State, one FREE Federal e-file and one FREE tax advisor session after rebates. A $59 savings! TaxCut Platinum offers FREE priority technical support and does not require activation codes, unlike TurboTax®. You'll also enjoy TaxCut Platinum's Family Edition license, allowing you to install the program on multiple computers within one household and file multiple returns.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst Software I Have Ever Bought, February 18, 2003

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taxcut 2002 Platinum (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I've been a Mac user since 1989 and this is the single worst piece of software I've ever purchased. It's so bad I'm going to spend 30 minutes of my life telling you why, so you don't make the mistake of buying it.

1) After installing off the CD, I started it up. The very first thing it told me was to go download an update. This sounded great, I was psyched they were so on top of things, so I clicked on the link, went to their page and downloaded the update. After downloading the update I was a little bit leery, because the instructions on the page didn't match what was actually downloaded (there was no "Update B" option), but I went ahead and followed the rest of the directions for updating. Restarted, etc, and discovered that now the program simply crashed on startup ("Unknown Error Type 3"). Happened every time, tried reinstalling off CD, redownloading update, same result. I finally decided to simply proceed with the version off the CD and hope the update wasn't critical to my needs.

2) Starting afresh, I got to work. For while, things were pretty straightforward and OK. Then I got to the "Capital Gains & Losses" section, where I engaged the Capital Gains Assistant. The first question deals with "Average Basis Method". Since I don't know what that means, I figured I'd click on the link that would presumably explain it to me. Program crashed instantly. Restarted, tried again, same result. Restarted, thought maybe that one link is bad, clicked on "Help" in the yellow sidebar. Program crashed. Restarted, clicked on "Ask A Tax Advisor". Program crashed. Restarted, clicked on Search and was prompted for topic. However, (A) there's apparently no entry for "average basis method" and (B), no matter what else I enter, the second I click on "Go There" to see what it has to say... program crashes! So basically, the main reason I bought the software-it's alleged ability to explain unfamiliar terms and procedures-absolutely does not work!

At this point, I sent an email to their tech support outlining all of this. Got an automated reply saying I'd get help within 48 hours. More on that farce later.

3) In the meantime, after lots of gnashing of teeth. I did some research on the IRS site, figured out what I needed to know and forged ahead. At the same time, I figured I'd download the state add-on I needed (California). Since they claimed the state stuff would be available for download by Jan 31, I naively assumed that since it was Feb. 7, that I would be able to do so. Ha! No way, not until a few days after that was the Mac version available. Paid for it, downloaded it, and guess what? The installer doesn't work! The download went fine, but when I try to run the installer I get the message: "An error occurred while reading the installation data. This installer appears to be damaged." I tried shutting everything down, restarting, and running the installer and got the same error message. I tried redownloading the installer and got the same message. Go to their site to report this (now that I know where the form is!), fill out the form, and now the submit button to send the tech support form doesn't work!!! Been trying it off and on for three hours. All while doing all kinds of other web surfing, emailing, etc. Unreal.

4) Meanwhile, the 48 hours since my tech support request went out has come and gone. I reread their auto response email and see that "If you do not receive a response in the allotted time, please contact our TaxCut Technical Support Team at http://..." So, what they're saying is, if we don't respond in the time we say we will, you need to go to this page, and fill out a long form restating your question! Oh, and the grandest irony of that foolishness is that the link they give you to "Submit Your Question" doesn't work!!! You get dumped onto their homepage and have to go hunt for the page they meant to send you to! Welcome to HTML for seven-year-olds... Finally, 72 hours (almost to the minute!) after I sent my initial email, I get an email from their tech support. It's a stock response, totally ignoring my specific problems, which outlines the "Macintosh minimum system requirements" to run the program and simply signs off by saying, "If you have any further questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail." Well, I actually did read the system requirements before I bought the program, but thanks for sharing them again.... So, I replied and suppose it'll be another 72 hours before I hear back.

In the meantime, I'm going to box up this piece of junk and get all my money back.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mac Users Be Aware, January 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Taxcut 2002 Platinum (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I have a fairly simple tax needs. I am switching from TurboTax ( which was out of stock ) to TaxCut, which claims it can transfer your data from last year's TurboTax forms. But this capability dosen't come in the box, it comes in the form of a 25 Megabyte download, and I don't have DSL, so I gave up on that and entered everything over again. When I was ready to do my state taxes, I discovered that the California forms were not going to be available until February 28th! None of the Federal Updates ( strongly suggested ) are available yet for Mac, probably not until late Feb! I'm doing my taxes with a pen and ink and returning this software.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Fear this Taxing Time of Year, January 14, 2003

By 

JN Bakos "digimom" (New Kensington, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taxcut 2002 Platinum (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I have been preparing my family's tax returns for years. I figure I haved saved us hundreds of dollars in accountant fees (not to mention the money I did not have to pay in taxes). For a few years I used Turbo Tax for Mac (Intuit), but it angered me last year that I had to pay more for a Mac platform. So I went with TaxCut for Mac (Block). I found it even better and easier to use that TurboTax. And last year the price was the same for both Mac and Windows.
The program allowed me to breeze through the preparation and all the long forms (A,B,C,D,etc.etc.) with such ease that I prepared my mother's, children's and mother-in-law's also.
I now see that the price of TaxCut for Mac (Platinium) is more that the Windows. That stinks. But since I now have no choice in price, I will again go with TaxCut, and just deduct the cost of it on next year's return...