Customer Reviews

TurboTax Business 2005 [Old Version]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Beware of C. Quarton's review of TurboTax for Business, for which he rated the product 1 star due to missed deductions and credits. He's actually referring to individual versions of TT, not the business version. This (the business) version is for preparing corporation, partnership and LLC returns (forms 1020, 1020S, 1065) and it won't prepare individual (1040, 1040A, 1040EZ) returns. His review therefore does not apply to the business version because he is referring to credits given to inviduals, not business entities. I have reported his review as "inappropriate" to Amazon...if his review is still here when you read this, I suggest other users also report it as inappropriate so that Amazon removes it or moves it to one of the individual TT products.

I have used TT for Business (corporations, LLCs) for several years. After I file the returns, I take them to my accountant who then uses them to prepare my personal return. Neither myself nor the accountant has discovered any errors with the business returns. It's a fine product; easy to use, accurate. Buy it with confidence and ignore C Quarton's negative review.

I recently purchased TurboTax Business 2005 to complete my S Corp returns. Having used both TurboTax and TaxCut products for personal returns over the years, I have found this business version to be less easy to use. However, it is a good tool to do a "dry run" of taxes and get organized for a meeting with a tax pro. Note, the software to complete your state taxes is extra.
Pros
TurboTax interface and interview format is very helpful and easy to use.
Easy to toggle back and forth between actual tax forms and interview screens.
Help content for GENERAL topics is good.
Even if you still have someone else prepare your returns, this program offers good value for the money.
Cons
Help content on specific items can be very light and even non-existent.
During the error checking, the program may uncover errors but does not provide insight and guidance on how to fix them properly. I found myself having to do independent research to figure out how to resolve certain errors.
If you have tricky aspects to your return and you are not too familiar with the tax code, you will definitely need a tax pro to look things over.
Interview screens for state program is less robust.

I purchased this product from Amazon. After spending probably 15 hours of work entering information, I returned to my computer today to find that the only information remaining in the tax file was my corporate name and address information. All income, expenses, deductions and depreciation entries were gone.
I've had no problems with my system and no failures so I'm at a loss on what happened to all of my work. I regularly saved a fresh copy and the program itself requires that.
The only thing I did other than work on the return was to file an extension, so maybe it has something to do with that, but I don't know what...
Be very careful, there are other reports on the Turbo Tax Forum of users losing their data, even after filing their returns for this year!

Turbo Tax for business worked great for federal return, however it did not work for the NY state return. After spending about 2 hrs on the phone with customer support they did return my money, since they could not make the NY state return work either.

This is a "no brainer" program. As long as you follow the interview you can get through it. But They don't always ask the questions you need and if you find you've left something out it can take all night trying to figure out how to get the information onto your tax form. It's sometimes difficult to find the information you need. But it beats the heck out of trying to understand the IRS instructions.

I love turbo tax, and I was happy to let the software figure out all the forms I needed to file with the typical simple questionnaire format.

I have a complex return and lost all or some of the data twice during periond while I was entering data in the return. I am writing here after finding that Turbo Tax is heavily editing posts on their forum to minimize the problem. I have used this product for years with great success, but my confidence in its quality and accuracy are severely shaken this year.

I run a very small business so every penny counts. I do all of the bookkeeping and accounting myself using Quickbooks. What is great about the Turbotax system is that Quickbooks feeds right into the program and does most of the work for me. In addition, it does a great job depreciating my equipment for me. The product is just as easy to use as the Personal tax software as it walks you through everything. I couldn't live without Turbotax. It doesn't replace hard work, but it sure helps with it.

This product was purchased late because I heard that early editions were buggy. This edition was full of bugs and didn't get straightened out to well into the tax season.

After doing business taxes manually three years in a row, this program helped us immensely. I recommend it to all small businesses who can't afford an accountant.