Customer Reviews

TurboTax Basic Federal + eFile 2008 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Be aware! Do you have children or parents that you have been filing returns for? The Intuit TurboTax 2008 license pricing is a dramatic change to your tax preparation expense!

With TurboTax 2007, I completed our return and a return for each of my three minor children. Preparation of up to five returns was included. This year, Intuit wants me to pay a significantly higher price for the first return and pay another $10 for each of my kids returns. You pay when you get to the printing phase, AFTER you have transferred and filled in all of that important information.

Intuit says they have included a federal e-file at no additional charge. If this is all true, what is the 60% price increase Intuit is asking me to pay this year going to do for me?

Even if all you do is your own return, can you believe, with that higher price, that a federal e-file is included at no extra charge?

I have been a TurboTax/MacInTax user for around 20 years but when e-filing has become something Intuit forces everyone to buy, even those who cannot or do not want to use it, it becomes clear that Intuit has lost its way.

Intuit lost a very dedicated customer today. My strong recommendation is that you consider H&R Block's Tax Cut before you decide which tax preparation product to purchase this year.

Apparently Turbo Tax got the message. On 12/16/08 they revised their pricing structure and you can now do 5 e-filings and an unlimited number of paper filings. I have used the product for 15 years and I am using it again in 2008 since they have had second thoughts about their pricing model.

This is about the 9th year in a row I've used Turbotax and havn't taken negative reviews very seriously for it has always been useful to me as a homeowner/multiincome with children etc. But nothing too out there. This year some of what folks are saying is true. For example: Entering deductions your are stopped at the initial page and asked to upgrade to get to the full benefit of deductions etc. This gives the IMPLICATION that they aren't going to give you the full benefit of the program until you pony up an additional [...] bucks! I declined but when I got to the point to enter my Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) They referred me to IRS for 936 to figure my tax deduction. WHAT? If I wanted to pore over IRS documents I would have done that in the first place and skipped Turbotax! I will have to seriously look at an alternative for next year.

I have used Turbo Tax for years ... am very disappointed to hear about their new fee schedule. I cannot even file myself and my husbands return without paying extra (we file separate to save $$ on state taxes) -- my minor son has to file to get back the small amount his employer has withheld - it would be a net loss to pay extra to file his. I know I can file online for free through IRS free-file for him -- but what a hassle - Turbo Tax had been so good to me in the past... so long, old friend.

There have been major changes to the pricing structure and policy in this year's version of TurboTax, most of them unfavorable to most customers. Be sure to check the reviews for the other versions of this product (which also apply to this version) before buying.

Did you know that TurboTax 'phones home' whenever you start the program, regardless of whether you select check for updates or skip? TurboTax attempts to connect anyway, first with five tries to a DNS name obscured site 74.125.7.93 then again with three tries to 12.149.173.15 (which resolves to [..]). All of this activity occurs surreptitiously.

I use an old ZoneAlarm firewall where every program must ask permission to connect to the internet -- TurboTax Permission Denied, naturally, after allowing connection during the initial installation and update. Of course, I'll allow connection again when it's actually needed. (Note that I run ZoneAlarm version:6.1.737.000, a version prior to recent ZoneAlarm versions that allow Microsoft to connect without asking).

Despite TurboTax's disgusting marketing ploy (since rescinded), I purchased the product because it remains a better fit for my taxes. It is just so irritating to put up first with price gouging, again with countless ads built into the program (some deceptively suggesting that you need an 'upgrade' to manage the tax issue currently addressed), and now the attempts to phone home without notice or permission. Evidently TurboTax didn't learn their lesson from the SAFECASE/C-Dilla spyware episode in 2003 (FYI, do a Google search).

Interestingly, I started writing this critique just after starting TurboTax. Moments ago, some 5 or 10 minutes after denying the initial flurry of attempts to connect, TurboTax just tried again ...

Like others, I will switch to Tax Cut this year. I don't like getting ripped off either.

I've been a TurboTax user for quite a long time, and the tax prep software has been fantastic. There's several small things that as I sit here to write this I probably can't remember. It's just when you're doing your taxes, you go "That's cool", and move on. :) I do love the ability to check against my own stupidity in entering things incorrectly. This software is great at what it does. Properly file my taxes. Usually finds me a few bucks better in deductions and all that, too. Honestly, it's tax software. Hard to write a lot about it. We all know about filing taxes, this software does that well.

However, about the pricing which most people seem to be talking about..

I don't have a problem with this move. Mostly because I only file one return, and I e-File. For me, this move saves me $5. The program has traditionally cost me about $20 (I buy basic), and then I efile, so my cost in the last few years was $35. Amazon is currently selling this for $30, so I'll save $5.

If I was someone who did multiple efiles then I might feel differently, but for me, this is a positive. I'm not naive, I can see where people might have issues with this due to situation. That I don't have a problem with.

However, a lot of the complaints I'm reading here are from people who seem to like to complain. God help you if you have a positive opinion about something, you get branded stupid, your opinion is invalid. It seems that the only way you can be accepted anymore on the Internet is to have a negative opinion. Sigh.

Edit: Since I posted this review, I saw some additional text go up on the product description for TurboTax. This text reads "FREE: 5 federal e-files and unlimited printed returns included with every TurboTax 2008 product." This was not part of my original review, and it seems to imply Intuit has backed off some of the initial E filing limits. As I have not filed, I cannot attest to how this actually works at this time.

Since this company has increased their price signigficantly this year I will go with HR Block for $14.88 at Walmart. Don't let corporate america keep sticking it to you, look for alternatives and put them out of business.
Oh, and by the way if you can do software taxes the other way will cost you .42 cents and is not any harder if you don't have a special situation. The old pen and ink with forms available at Libraries still works fine.

Turbo Thief"
I have been a TT user for 15 years and a beta tester several times. The product itself is pretty good but the greed at Intuit is unbearable. In 2005, TT eliminated the free e-file coupon and raised the price. Now in 2008, TT again raises the price, charges for 1 e-file (weather you use it or not) and limits the number of returns to only 1. At half the current price, the product would be expensive. Now the cost is outright obscene. I couldn't possibly recommend TurboTax anymore.

I have read all the negative recommendations and blog posts here on Amazon and think "Larry" sums them all up.. "A name change is in order for this product now. It should be called 'Turbo-Thievery'."