Customer Reviews

TurboTax Home & Business Federal + State + Federal efile 2009

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

I have always used turbotax but this year but they changed their pricing. The package says one free state download. True, you can download one state of your choice. However, you only get to prepare one state only. All additional state preparations are at $39 via download of even the same state. Thus for example, you have two family members living in California. The first person downloads the free California state download. If the second family member, who also needs to file the California state return, the second family member needs to pay $39 to turbotax via the software, to prepare the second state return, again, even if it is the same state. Contacted turbotax and it took several tries until they stated that this is the case. The first few times they would not confirm it but rather dodge the question and give an ambiguous answer, not admitting to the change.


1/16/10 update: after installing an online software update yesterday, it seems that turbotax has now changed their policy/software back to the way it was in previous years (probably due to the numerous complaints that they have received). Now, as with last year's edition, you can do more than one state preparation for the same state, for the one free state that you have download. I have now given it 4 stars instead of the previous 1 star, with 4 stars becuase turbotax, as stated above, tried to previously limit the one free download to also mean one state prep (which is not the case now). Other than the previous frustration regarding the state download problem, turbotax has always given me great results. Great advice/info when you tag the help function. The help function will guide you for whatever is currently on the screen, thus you do not have to hunt for the information.


2/17/10 update
I have still been hearing that some people cannot do more than one state prep for the free included one state download. I have downgraded the star ratings from a 4 previously to a 2 now because the state download/prep problem still exists for some people. If the problem is fixed, I will upgrade the star rating then.

Don't know if it is real but "Bob Meighan, VP of turbotax" wrote to one of my comments on the deluxe version stating that:

****************************
Bob Meighan says:
Anthony... TurboTax does not charge extra for preparing multiple state returns for the same state. There was no change in our pricing policy this year. I believe if you received a different story from one of our agents, I suspect it was because they probably thought you were referring to TurboTax Online, where you are charged for each return.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax
****************************

Again I don't know if Bob is for real. If so, I would kindly ask Bob if he could change the turbotax website to state officially, for once and for all, that a buyer of the desktop version shall have unlimited state preps for the same free included state download.

I have also heard from another buyer that turbotax said this was due to a software flaw and should be fixed by Feb 25. We shall see. In the meantime, even though I can do multiple returns on the same state, many others cannot, thus buyer beware.


2/28/10 update:
The problem seems to be fixed. I am upgrading the ratings from 2 stars to 4 now, after it seems to be finally working now. I have received a comment stating that now it is possible to prepare more than one same state return from the free one included state download. Please let us know if it IS or IS NOT working for you.

I have used previous versions for about the last 10 years. All my previous experience was with the "Premier" version. The only reason I bought this version this year is that for some reason, they moved the Schedule C functionality from Premier to the Home and Business version, and thereby increased the price by about $20 for the same thing. That is the only reason I downgraded the product: I feel that they are gouging small business customers with this change, and I think they should correct it by putting this functionality back at the Premier price level.

As for the use of the program, I just downloaded and installed it. Installation was flawless. In a quick overview of the program, it seems to be stable so far, unlike the reviews for the CD version of the same software. I like the new format for "Explore on My Own" to take you out of the guided process and allow easier handling of specific tax topics: Turbotax has always had a similar function -- I just like this view of it better than before. The importing of my previous tax year info and personal info was easier and more seamless than in prior versions.

Another reason I came back to Intuit this year was that even though they occasionally have bugs with their products, they stand behind them with excellent tech support. My recent experience with conflicts between Quickbooks and Microsoft Vista and 7 operating systems resulted in numerous hours on the phone with their tech support -- they were both persistent and generous with tech support time until they found a work-around to the incompatibilities. Knowing that they take this approach was a huge factor in having the confidence to proceed with their TurboTax product again this year.

I've used TurboTax for years. Perceived product quality has been generally very good, albeit uneven. This year was a shock. Import data from last year? Yes, OK -- the product opens 6 copies of itself and a little box says "Checking for Solution." It crashed and dumped me on a support site that was of little help. So I enter personal information by hand. TT then runs OK for a few hours as I enter tax information. I enter stock prices -- very tedious. Stock split? Yes, OK. Crash. Reinvest dividends? No place for a fee. Sold stocks in various lots? Crash. You get the picture. As a software developer I can picture what has gone off the rails, but that's all guesswork. I just want to get my taxes done. Save yourself some grief and look at other offerings. That's what I'm doing.

(Updated 2/7/2010)

So far so good. Can't detect *any* real change since last year's edition. Funny, they list as New some really lame things like that now you can get your refund deposited on a WalMart charge card (?!.), but no change that I can detect in the interface and in how it interacts with you. I am actually OK with that, because over the last several years there has been some nice steady improvement year after year. It is OK for me now.

One nice "shortcut" I discovered last year is that you can always switch to Forms interface away from the Walk-Through interface. This lets you avoid having to be annoyed by many redundant and repetitive questions. You pretty much just enter your numbers like in a paper form. Nice.
[Update: Not so fast... Yes you can force edit this way, but TurboTax does not seem to be actually taking in the numbers you enter! So that your total's won't change. Frustrating...]

What I wish they improved? Investment cost basis calculation pages. This improved a little bit a year or two ago, but still is far from straightforward. In particular, the way to describe you gain/loss as Long or Short Term is rather convoluted. What I would really like to have is the option to enter your stock or mutual fund sale directly as "Various Short Term" or "Various Long Term". The way it is now, you can only say "Various" where your sale contains securities from more than one purchase date, even if you know that the whole amount was Long Term or Short Term. And then the program will force you to review each and every sale again, including those you already entered and reviewed before!

And BTW, a tip - don't choose the Help option when entering your investment sales. All that will do is it will bring in a lot of unnecessary and unhelpful questions, and much more confusion. Go with Spreadsheet-Like entry option.

I started using TT Home & Business 2009 the second decade of January this year. As this was with my 2005-2008 returns before, previous year got imported flawlessly, no problem at all. I work in Mac OS X (which probably does not make much difference in this case). Every once in a while, TT will inform you that some updates are ready (happened twice now), and it will download and install them smoothly. From previous experience, I know there'll be a few more updates. I definitely would not start using TT in November-December, thank you very much. This is clearly a kind of product where there is a deadline to issue it, and granted it will be quite buggy for some time...

It would sure be nice to have some better alternatives, but I only know of TaxCut. If you look at TaxCut's reviews, there are just as many angry users there. Must be something about financial software, I guess...

I have some small but complicated investments and also a small business, fairly complicated. I have been using TT since my 2004 return and have not had any of the bad issues others describe. This 2009 edition, BTW, is so much better than what it was back a few years ago, light years away. I of course do not question what others say, just wanted to balance the bad reviews a little bit here. Promise I will update here should my experience change.
[Updated couple times now. Got a bit more annoyed with those investment sales, but overall, I still believe the product is not bad, considering that they are almost a monopoly and don't really have to try too hard each year...]

I've used the Turbotax products for many years now and if I can find another similar product this may be the last time I buy the Intuit Turbotax product. Some issues I've encountered: This 2009 version is VERY SLOW--loading and doing calculations. It appears it has become bloatware without an increase in improvements. Also, I a bit suspect of the state tax side (working as resident/non resident) that I'll have a CPA double check the calculations.

My advice is if you have another choice (is there a competitor?) give that product a try. It is hard for me to imagine how an established product such as this can get worse but it has. Sigh.

This version of the TurboxTax is the worst of all Turbotax software. I have used TurboTax for quite a few years. I bought TurboTax Home & Business 2009 and hoped to run a few numbers before the end of the year. After I installed the program and started the program, it CRASHED. I tried a few solutions that Intuit put on its web page ([...]), and none of them solved the problem. It seems to me that they knew they had this critical bug, but they released the software anyway. In addition, all the solutions provided by Intuit requires an understanding of how computer works.

I am very disappointed at the quality of this product. Stay away from it.

PS: my operatiog system is Windows XP Professional SP3.

Selecting which Turbo tax is right for you is more complicated than it seems. Even if you get what you think is the best version, there are always more ways that they try to charge you while using the product. Also, not all versions of "TurboTax Home & Business" are created the same. I can't get my version of TurboTax Home & Business to download the "Free" State return... Even though it says it includes it on the box.

There are so many ways that they could improve this product and make it more customer friendly. There are so many Nag screens within the product you almost think it's shareware. If they just made it a fast and easy way to complete taxes, I could recommend it. They know it's a cash cow and are trying to milk it for all it's worth.

I don't have an overly complicated return, but the Government has corrected my return every year I've used Turbo Tax.

I don't trust TurboTax at all, and every year I try something else as well. Unfortunately, Turbo Tax is the only one that imports all my data well enough.

Wow, talk about a major screw-up. I've been using TT since 2002 and I can't believe they just made me spend 1+ hours to get the thing to install on my super-stable Windows XP machine. And I'm a software guy with 25 years development experience, so I knew what to look for - I can't imagine a normal user figuring this out (for those who care, it all ties back to them using .NET, and Microsoft's inability to update this smoothly).

TT Support instructs you to navigate through various Microsoft blog entries, download & run this, uninstall that, restart a couple of times, upgrade to that, and try installing TT again... and then call us if it still doesn't work. This is NOT how you write commercial consumer software folks! It's so bad I almost thought it came from Adobe :-) Apple marketing could/should have a field day with this mess.

I did finally get it installed and running, but getting there was so bad I'm definitely going to look elsewhere for tax software next year. Now I'm looking forward to hitting all the crashes others have written about. Intuit has really lost their credibility with this one.

TurboxTax installed fine, then downloaded 5 updates. Reopened TT and up pops "We have encountered an unexpected and serious error condition and need to close the application". This happens every time TT opens. You can tell Intuit about it, but there is NO solution. Support says a week to 10 days for a fix, we'll see. I have used TurboTax for years and this is a big disappointment. It seems that they have known about this problem for at least a month, but are still selling this buggy version anyway.

I would not buy this product until it is fixed.

Have used Turbotax since 2006 and have always been pleased. Cannot get this one to open once loaded. Have tried replacements but nothing works. The previous years still operate but not 2009. I get a "We have encountered an unexpected and serious problem and must close" I worked with a Turbotax rep for 4 hours and had no luck. There were others who had the same problem that she could not help...some had been helped by a utility patch. We tried everything but to no avail. Frustrating.