- Platform: Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / Me / XP / 95
- Media: CD-ROM
- Item Quantity: 1
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All the Federal Forms You Need! Includes forms:
FREE! TaxCut State: Get one FREE TaxCut State program (after mail-in rebate) when you purchase TaxCut Premium. TaxCut State sold separately; see inside for rebate instructions.
FREE! E-file: Get your refund fast with one FREE electronic filing, after mail-in rebate. Return must be filed by 10/15/04. E-file up to five returns with TaxCut.
FREE! Live Professional Tax Advice: Talk to an H&R Block trained tax professional online or by phone. One solution FREE after mail-in rebate.
IMPORTS your personal tax and financial information from last year's TaxCut or TurboTax federal return, Microsoft Money, Quicken, and H&R Block DeductionPro.
1099-MISC / W-2 Reporter and Preparer: saves you time and money by printing out W-2s and 1099-MISCs for employees and contractors and all the associated IRS reports.
Help for Small Business Owners:
Special Tools for Business Returns:
Retirement Planning Features:
Home Ownership and Rentals:
Investment Tools and Advice:
Family Tax Strategies:
NEW! H&R Block Tax Payment Planner: estimate your 2004 taxes and adjust withholdings to maximize tax benefits.
H&R Block Advantage Features:
NEW! H&R Block Plain Talk Tax Tips: save money with more than 25 new topics including savers credit, bunching deductions, overlooked deductions, student loan interest, tip income, claiming your college student, and more!
UPDATED! H&R Block Advantage Report: when you finish your return, TaxCut generates a personalized tax report from H&R Block that will help you save money and improve your tax situation.
H&R Block Interactive Video Library: Understand the implications of changing tax law to achieve the maximum tax advantage for today and tomorrow. (Not available in download version.)
H&R Block Home Mortgage Advisor: calculate savings from purchasing and refinancing your home and understand how your mortgage loan options affect your taxes.
H&R Block IRA Advisor: explains differences between Roth and Traditional IRAs and determines which account provides maximum tax benefits.
H&R Block Express IRA: Offers a seamless, paperless way to open an IRA. Once you've determined if a traditional or Roth IRA is best for you, you can instantly open one with part or all of your tax refund. And you can include the deduction on this year's return. Eligibility restrictions and additional fees apply.
UPDATED! IRS Publications: get easy, fast access to the publications you need along with helpful information on what they mean.
Kiplinger's Tax and Financial Planning Library including:
UPDATED! Tax Law Assistants: understand which new tax laws affect your return and get the maximum tax break possible.
IMPROVED! Help Central: makes it easier than ever to find assistance as you complete your tax return.
IMPROVED! Error Check: automatically reviews your return for common errors to help identify possible IRS audit flags.
Refund/Owe Meter: provides an up-to-the-minute status of your refund or amount due as you enter data.
NEW! Topic Navigator: view where you are in the process of the tax interview and navigate easily from one part of the return to another.
NEW! Get Ready Screens: prepares you for each section of the tax interview so you have the correct tax documents and information ready.
NEW! Tuition Assistant: learn about the deduction for the tuition fees vs. the Hope Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit, then determine which is most advantageous for your tax situation.
NEW! Simple Pay: Reduce your personal out-of-pocket filing expenses by deducting your e-file fees from your refund. (Additional fees apply.)
NEW! Credit Card Payment: pay your personal balance due to the IRS with the major credit card of your choice.
Electronic Refund Advance: Get a loan for the amount of your personal refund from Imperial Capital Bank (up to $5,000) directly deposited into your bank account, usually within two business days of the IRS accepting your electronically filed return. (Must qualify. Additional fees apply.)
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I am in the unfortunate position of having bought BOTH TurboTax and TaxCut, so I can give a first-hand comparison. Since I'm limited to 1,000 words, I'll give one example and my opinion: SPARE YOURSELF AND BUY TURBOTAX.
I am is the President & CEO of a small S-corporation. I am also cheap. I thought I'd save a few dollars and purchase TaxCut Premium instead of TurboTax for Business - my thinking was that I'd be looking out for the "little guy" developers while saving my pennies.
End result: I had too many problems to list. The software was buggy and hard to understand (at one point I lost my return data by downloading updates for all forms - this causes an array overflow in TaxCut).
More importantly, the TaxCut interview is terrible, almost non-existent. As an example: my company was first incorporated this year. That means I can amortize startup and organizational expenses, but in order to do so I need to attach an election statement. TaxCut gave me no way to make this election, and no interview whatsoever to cover that topic. Their "interview" just tells me to fill out form 4562, section VI (which I could do with a pencil).
I finally got so fed up with TaxCut that I bought TurboTax to compare the two products. I suspected that TurboTax might be more capable. I was right.
Back that the startup expenses example: TurboTax immediately deduced that I was a new corporation from my short tax year, SUGGESTED that I make the election, and provided the appropriate statement forms. Fantastic!
This is only one of hundreds of examples...but space permitting, I am trying to do you a favor: don't be penny wise and pound foolish - buy TurboTax.
The interview is not exhaustive. The user must have a fair amount of tax knowledge to adequately utilize the software. The interview does not suggest forms that should be used.
The update process corrupted my data. A long session with tech support concluded with me re-entering the return.
After this pain, for some reason, I decided to stick with it and download the state business product. After much work, the return would not print because the forms had not been approved by the state. When I asked customer service about this, they assured me that approved forms would be available in a few weeks. Well, as of this writing it is 3/9/04. Business returns are due on 3/15/04. Exactly how long should I wait for "approved" forms?
All in all, the product is difficult to use. If you are not an advanced computer & software user, you will really feel some pain.
I could go on, but read the other reviews, some good points are brought up.
I'm on the way to return the product for a refund.
I experienced many of the problems of the other reviewers, including:
--Gaps in the interview process that simply refer you to IRS instructions.
--Software refused to launch after installing state product, requiring a reinstall. Fortunately, I had already printed out a draft of my return, so I'm just looking at having to do some data entry rather than start from scratch.
--State product for my state (NY) was worse than the free, fill-in version of the form available from the New York State website. Not only did it simply display the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance instructions instead of walking me through my return, but the "updated" form refused to print because, according to the software, it wasn't approved by New York State.
Fortunately, TaxCut offers a no-questions-asked refund, which I took them up on for the state business product. Because the refund is for a downloaded product, I didn't have to mail any disks back or fill out any forms to get my refund.
I'm sticking with TaxCut, bugs and all, for my federal return because it is less than half the price of TurboTax , and because I don't want to pay for and wait for shipping of a product I have no way of knowing is any better.
Here's what I suggest for other intrepid souls who wish to use TaxCut to file their business returns:
--View the product for what it is: simply an aid to filling out your own taxes.
--Become thoroughly familiar with your own tax situation; get tax books and download the IRS forms and instructions as well. Don't rely on the software to know anything you don't--and be pleasantly surprised when it does.
--Check your completed return carefully for any anomalies (mine inexplicably included a form I didn't need).
--Do not purchase the state product; you'll do much better with the interactive forms available from your state website.
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