TaxCut 2004 Deluxe [Old Version]

by H&R Block

Product Features

• Step-by-step guidance for filing Federal tax returns
• Take advantage of the newest tax breaks and save money
• Kiplinger's tax and financial planning library; up-to-date IRS publications
• Retirement savings enhancer; helpful tax-law assistants
• Error Check automatically reviews for common errors

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006460RM
• Item model number: 1016600-04
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 8, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,624 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

TaxCut Deluxe puts you in control of your federal taxes like never before. Deluxe is packed with resources to help you take advantage of the newest tax breaks and save money on your taxes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad mistake, April 9, 2005

By 

Able Devildog "jackjack5" (PACIFIC PALISADES, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TaxCut 2004 Deluxe [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

This is the last time I will use TaxCut. I bought TaxCut last year because TurboTax cost $10 more and had a lot of bells and whistles I didn't need. I didn't really have any problems with TaxCut last year. This year was a whole different story. It is harder to edit than TurboTax which isn't always easy. I could have done my Federal and State returns manually in far less time.

Initially I wanted to import the data from last year's TaxCut but somehow the file was missing and so was my backup copy. So I tried to import the data from 2002 TurboTax which TaxCut would not do. It had to be a 2003 return. That meant I had to reinvent the wheel and manually reenter all the information which was one reason I use a computer program for, to avoid that tedious repetition.

The first real problem I ran into was when I ran the Final Review, it came up with an error message which prevented me from E-filing and the error message was vague giving no clues as to how to correct it. It involved an itemized deduction which did not make sense because I hadn't itemized deductions. But in looking at the forms list of My Forms, a list of the forms that I had supposedly completed, there was a Schedule A. When I examined the Schedule A I found it had entries for property taxes, charitable contributions, and deductible interest. Where these items came from I don't know because they didn't come from me. Then I tried to delete the Schedule A but I couldn't until I deleted the charitable contributions worksheets. It took me some time to figure that out. Once I did that I was told I could file a 1040A form.

Then I did the California State taxes which went smoothly until I tried to enter the estimated taxes I had paid to the State. There was no place under the State Interview to do that and if those payments were not entered I was faced with paying a penalty. I went to a live chat with TaxCut and was told they had to be entered on the Federal forms which I did and that corrected the problem. However, now I had a Schedule A with the Federal form and could not file a 1040A.

Printing completed forms was wasteful. Many pages had no information on them. I wanted to print only the pages that had information on them and I want to duplex print them but when I hit the Print button it gave me no choices. It printed out every thing on one side of the paper.

My biggest gripe however, was with the E-filing. I have an EFTPS service with the IRS which allows me just to type in my EFTPS Number which allows the IRS to deduct any payments from my bank. But TaxCut is not set up for this and makes the user go through a tedious process of entering and re-entering all the bank information not only on the Federal Return but also on the State return.

Worst of all, TaxCut has the gall to charge for E-filing when both the IRS and the State do not. Earlier this year both TaxCut and TurboTax announced that they would no longer charge for E-filing but apparently that was phony.

Lastly, when I wanted to calculate my estimated taxes, the process was tedious. TaxCut does not assume that your income will virtually the same and requires that the user fill in all the blanks instead of posting the figures and then allowing the user to change them if needed. And there was no interview in the State program for estimated taxes. I had a lot of trouble finding out how to do it and then when I printed out the forms, it printed one small quarterly form on a sheet rather than putting them all on one sheet of paper. No wonder we cut down so many trees.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a nightmare!, February 17, 2005

By 

Joyce L. Woodward "Joyce" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TaxCut 2004 Deluxe [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I've used Turbo Tax in the past and the last two years I used Tax Cut...cheaper and it seemed okay.

My taxes aren't really complicated, but I like the value with the rebates and it's nice and neat and backed-up my computer.

I got Tax Cut Deluxe again and the state program for Wisconsin.

I could not get my state paperwork printed without a big "this is a draft only " notice plastered across it. I finally contacted the online chat at Tax Cut and had to uninstall my Tax Cut programs and download the updates (that I thought I had already downloaded) and reloaded my Tax Cut software and do this and that to my computer which did fix (after alot of work) my State update problems so I could print out finalized forms but now my computer has four error messages on it everytime I start up into my Windows program...never had that before. I was going to go back to the chat line about that mess when I found yet ANOTHER problem.

I noticed earlier at one point that my final refund amounts on my federal changed while I was simply perusing my forms after I was finished and I got suspicious. I hadn't changed any figures during this time. So I was ready to file my taxes and I picked up a hard copy of the federal 1040 instruction booklet.

I compared my line 43 amount on the Tax Cut prepared form to what I would have manually filled in if I had done my own taxes using the 1040 booklet. The 1040 booklet amount is 24 dollars more (more taxes I should pay) than what tax cut calculated according to my adjusted income on line 42.

What the? So I got back onto the chat service today and inquired as to why their calculations for line 43 were different than the amount on the tax tables in the booklet. I was baffled, not only were they different, but the amount that tax cut figured wasn't listed anywhere in the tax tables that I could see.

The service rep wasn't very helpful...I reminded him that the tax cut program, not I, had filled in line 43 on the federal form.

He questioned the info that I had entered during my interview. I reminded him that the amount of tax on line 43 is calculated by whatever is on line 42 (a correct adjusted gross income, I checked it out) so it shouldn't matter how that number came about.

He did some calculations on his end and using my taxable income, he got the correct tax as listed in the 1040 booklet, the amount that I was NOT getting on my tax cut calculations.

The last comment he made was, "I see what you mean" and then I heard nothing more from him. I hadn't been disconnected from what I could see, I kept inquiring as to what was going on, was he checking this out, was he still there, after four minutes of dead silence (and total forty minutes of being on line with him) I disconnected. I am very, very very unhappy about this poor service.

I will NEVER buy this product again. I would have saved myself several hours or work if I had done this the old fashioned way.

What a nightmare!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This product is horrible. I don't trust it for my taxes., February 3, 2005

By 

Elaine L (River Edge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TaxCut 2004 Deluxe [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

And here's why ..

--> I originally did an Itemized Deduction and since the Standard Deduction is higher, I chose Standard. On the forms, Itemized Deduction was printed. I went back to the screen and it still says Standard Deduction.

--> The software says that I have an underpayment on the first review. So I go back and do the review again (didn't change anything) .. and the underpayment warning went away. Now I'm confused on whether I really have an underpayment.

--> I elected not to display my phone number on the forms and it's still printed on the forms.

--> I have a long first name. The software won't allow you to put in more than 10 characters in the first name field.

--> The NJ state forms are printed with characters on top of each other and not readable. Since IRS will be scanning these forms, I am not sure how long I will have to wait for TaxCut to correct the format.

--> On the boxes where it display Refund or Owe amount for Fed and State, the amounts are so far off the screen that you can't even see it. Example: instead of displaying "Refund: XXX.XX" , it's displaying "Refund:..........................................XXX.XX"

--> There are typos on the interviews. I see questions like "Did you ...... form New York" It should be FROM New York.

--> On the screen, the "Delete" button is on top of the "Back" button. If I want to go back, I'll have to click on the tabs on top.

I bought the TaxCut Deluxe and also bought state version for NY and NJ. I have been doing my own taxes for many years using TurboTax and thought I'd give TaxCut a try. Needless to say, I will be buying TurboTax again this year and take a lost on this TaxCut.