Customer Reviews

TurboTax Home & Business Federal + State 2007 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

TURBOTAX is everything it is advertised to be.

I started using TurboTax in 2002 and have used it every year since. As my tax situation has grown more complicated with investments and a business, it has more than met my needs. It is easy-to-use, complete, and hassle-free.

I take comfort in knowing that it doesn't overlook deductions, credits, or expenses. Once I have gone through the interview process (which is ridiculously simple), I know I have touched all the bases.

Its Deductible is so good I bought it outright a couple of years ago. For charitable donations of clothes, mileage, and money it is excellent. To have a software package that properly values a short sleeve silk women's blouse in good condition is worth it's weight in gold.

TurboTax has saved me money on taxes and given me peace of mind.

It has now been TOO many times that I have been convinced to buy a product from Intuit, and then only after buying, find out that the product does not do what is claimed by the manufacturer. Several times I have found this true with QuickBooks Pro, and now most recently, TurboTAX. Most of these problems seem to be related to the MAC platform, and I don't think they have anything to do with Apple or the Mac, rather Intuit's lack of care and support for the MAC community of users. Watch out!

This product, "for Windows and Mac", does NOT "create W-2 and 1099-MISC forms for your employees and contractors" on a Mac. Read fine print no. 4. "Windows only".

This product, "works with Quickbooks" does not import "data from ....Quickbooks....to save you time". Again, the fine print (Turbo Tax website) is that it only imports from Quickbooks for Windows (2006 or higher).

I could go on about the myriad ways in which Intuit has left the Mac community out in the cold, but I won't, because most of my additional complaints are about the Quickbooks product.

If you have a Windows computer, don't pay too much attention to this review. If you're on a MAC, abandon Intuit as soon as you find a better alternative. My impression - Intuit STINKS on a Mac!

For all MAC, users such as myself still using OS X 10.3.9 and below, for some reason (not made clear in packaging unless you use a microscope) this product is only compatible for 10.4 and above. There are still thousands and thousandss of us MAC users, who, for product compatibility reasons, have not moved to Tiger and above.

I've been trying to determine what it will cost to purchase TurboTax Home & Business (federal and state) with e-filing. Whether here at Amazon or on Intuit's website, pricing is impossible to decipher.

For example: I received a TurboTax disc in the mail saying "Free before you buy" -- customers are invited to "try it out" and then, after finishing with their returns, to call a toll-free number to pay for the software. However, nowhere in the literature does it tell us what the price will be.

On the Intuit website, there's a price for Federal + e-filing ("state returns extra": clicking a link takes you to an ad for the state forms, but price is not listed), Federal and state ("e-filing extra": same deal, price not listed...), and nowhere is there a single, bottom-line price for Federal, State and e-filing. And I just received an offer from Borders offering "30% off on TurboTax" -- it's difficult to determine whether it's a good deal or not since the base price (on which the 30% discount is based) is different from the base price on the TurboTax website and again, there's no single offer on the website (at least not that I could locate) with a total for federal, state and e-filing.

Why the confusion? I'm going to hazard a guess. Intuit knows that filling out tax forms is a difficult and stressful project for most of us, and so, rather than list the price for their products in a straightforward way, they've intentionally obfuscated pricing and built in "gotcha" mechanisms that will force most customers, after purchasing the product initially, to pay more than they counted on before they finish the job.

Should consumers reward this kind of behavior? In my opinion, under no circumstances should they do so, regardless of the popularity of the product. If Intuit succeeds with this kind of a business model, expect other companies to follow suit in the future.

I'm not sure how I'll do my taxes this year, but this much is sure: I won't be using TurboTax.

I used to do my taxes without software. Then my return became much more complicated 4 years ago when I started a business that required an investment in equipment; also sales, shipping, etc. I had no idea what forms to use or how to depreciate the equipment over the years.

I was a little nervous about trying TurboTax (thinking instead maybe I needed to go to a professional). But I got TurboTax to give it a try. By simply asking questions the individual should be able to answer, TurboTax makes what would be a very complicated return simple enough for the average person to complete. I've gotten TurboTax every year since.

One piece of advice: know what your needs are and be sure you buy the edition that covers those needs. Last year I had to upgrade from Premier to Home & Business because Premier dropped some features that I needed.

I work in one state and live in another, so I file two state returns each year. If you're in a similar situation, you should know that only your first state is free. Additional states cost $34.95 each.

This bug nearly cost me $1000 in tax savings because the software doesn't conform to IRS publication 590 rules. According to IRS 590, if one spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work and the other is not, then the one that is not can deduct up to $4000 in a traditional IRA provided the MAGI is less than $159,000 for married filing jointly. The software thinks that number is between $83,000 and $103,000. Last year, the limit was $156,000 and I had no problem with a $4000 traditional IRA with last year's software. They need to fix this quickly as many of us have to file early for college financial aid purposes. I have been on hold for over an hour now trying to alert them to this bug. It worked last year and all they had to do was increase the limit from $156,000 to $159,000. There were no rule changes. I spent $150 to check this with a tax professional.

I knew what I needed and Amazon seemed like the best place to get it, since it was the lowest price. I loved the product, but I did expect to have additional costs for an extra state. I also had to pay extra to e-file. If you buy straight from the Turbo Tax website, the e-file fees are already included. I would recommend buying from there and downloading from there as well if you're going to e-file, but if you'd rather mail in your return, Amazon is the place to get it, because it still is the cheapest price.

I'm sending this back. I've used MacinTax, then TurboTax for 15 years, with increasing dissatisfaction, as more useless junk gets added into the program. Now to discover, after getting the product and performing an apparently normal installation, that it will not open... and I cannot use it...is the last straw. In very small type on its cover, and on the start up sheet INSIDE the package, is the information that it will work only on OS 10.4 or higher. OS 10.3.9 is a still-popular OS X operating system. This Intuit decision is TOO much. Goodbye Intuit.

TurboTax is a product I love to hate. Of course Intuit is the monopoly and TurboTax is an Intuit product. Why did all my other Mac Address book addresses blink in and out as I typed my registration name? Even when I wasn't typing, the field kept on blinking. It was as though Intuit was uploading all the names in the addressbook. Then, when I looked for the use agreement, I couldn't find it to see if I had somehow agreed to give them my addressbook names???

Moving along, the TurboTax program's wording was better but still bad, leaving customers in the dark, even if we could read. The program crashed repeatedly while trying to copy my files to CD so it really can't do that. Other than that, it was a little faster and easier, I suppose due to more interaction with the Feds and California. Was my return right? I doubt it. I think Intuit is still in a bit of a conspiracy to aid the governments in exchange for their networking.

The worse part was in the end when I saw the steep prices to file online. There, true to Intuits form, I truly felt very RIPPED OFF!!! I wondered if its lone large competitor, Taxcut, was the same way?