Customer Reviews

2006 TurboTax Deluxe Federal + State Deduction Maximizer Win/Mac [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(158)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

The Turbo Tax software was really useful. HOWEVER they offer you "Audit Defense", a service that is supposed to represent you if you are ever Audited by the IRS. Well guess what, I was audited by the IRS. The accountant that they assigned to my case was in Pennsylvania (I live in DC, my case was being reviewed in DC). The guy NEVER called to ask what my situation was. After I initiated the call, he tried to tell me not to "fight the 2005 audit and maybe they will let the 2004 audit slide". I wasn't trying to "fight" anything, I wanted someone to Present My Case! After my date was up, I didnt hear from the guy, 3 weeks later I get a letter in the mail from the IRS saying I owe money because I didnt show XYZ information. DO NOT GET THE AUDIT DEFENSE! It is like going to court with a Public Defender, you are asking to lose...

I just finished a pro-forma tax return last night and, as has been the case for many years, using TurboTax was relatively easy and "bulletproof."

My criticisms below are therefore meant to be constructive...

1. While the deduction finder feature was great, it was tedious.
2. File saves could be more frequent or automatic.
3. Calculation fields attached to most, if not all, numeric entry panels would be a big plus.
4. File transfers from Quicken were spotty. Some items were missed due to field defintion conflicts between TT and Quicken 2003.

It's the gold standard for home tax prep, though, and I would not hesitate to recommend using it.

I'm very happy with the software, with one exception... You can't import your Deduction information from It's Deductible Online. Last year the software suggested that we use the online version of It's Deductible giving the impression that we'd be able to import our information into the Desktop edition of TT. Unfortunately that is not the case. In a nutshell, if you have a lot of Deductions in It's Deductible Online, then you'll need to start your return using the online edition of TT (it's free till you're ready to file so you don't have to pay twice), import the deductions, then export your tax file to the desktop edition of TT. It's a real pain, and if you've already filled out your Taxes up to the point where you enter in your deductions, you'll have to start all over again.

If it weren't for this major hassle, I would have rated this a 4 or a 5, but finding out about this problem more than half way through my taxes, and having to start all over again is a big zinger.

Before you buy this, you should be aware that Intuit charges $15 for each e-file, Federal or state. There's no free e-filing with Turbo Tax, period. Seriously, I think $15 is a lot to pay for e-filing. There are websites that give you completely free e-filing; my favorite is TaxAct (at taxactonline dot com). With TaxAct, you get the complete Federal plus state package for $7.95, which includes e-filing. Or you can use their standard package to prepare Federal and e-file for free, with *NO* income restriction!

I don't work for any of these companies, nor any tax-related company, nor any such entity. I just don't think it's right for Intuit to charge customers such a ridiculously high fee for e-filing, whereas people can e-file for free elsewhere. BTW, if you use Turbo Tax to prepare your return, you'll have to use Intuit's e-filing service if you want to e-file; you can't just take your file to another website and expect that website to do it for you. I used TaxAct in the past and they are very dependable. You can find reviews of TaxAct products in major magazines and on major websites.

Good luck.

This year they stopped paying for the federal online "e-file" - worth $15. So have the other guys, but... now that they know you're hooked on efiling, they've quietly removed that benefit.
I think the federal government should pay us for doing all the data entry for them!

Been a Turbo Tax user for many years now. This year's interview process seems clearer to me than last year's, although once in a while I find some of the instructions ambiguous and occassionally have to resort to the Help files. I'm also glad the pricing is straight forward now as the rebates in the past have been a pain ... but I do think they should include eFiling at no charge or at least state the fees ($14.95 each for Federal & State) right up front. By time you add up the costs you might want to consider having your taxes prepared instead of doing it yourself.

That said what I enjoy most about the product is the gratification I get from doing it myself, really undertanding my taxes and filing very early to collect my refund. So this is what frustrated me most this year, I went to file only to find out that I can't submit my return electronically because of a simple Turbo Tax error for a Box 14 item.

If you're in NJ then pay attention... here is what Intuit has to say...

"Hello,

You are receiving this e-mail message because you signed up to be notified when a solution to the following issue became available:

Error: "Box 14 Amount: New Jersey UI/HD/WD cannot be greater than $105.83"
Error: "Box 14 Amount: New Jersey SDI cannot be greater than $124.05"

An update that will fix this problem is expected for release in early February. If you would rather not wait until then to e-file your New Jersey return, you can print and mail a conventional paper return.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for using TurboTax!

The TurboTax Support Team"

So now I can't get my refund for a few weeks longer than expected, which means more money not in my pocket. Hey, I was expecting to pay those Christmas credit card bills, now I get to pay interest instead. Gee thanks Intuit for letting me know I can print a paper return and wait a few weeks anyway! Very frustrating!

At least they have a notification system to update me that a fix is pending, IF you can find it on thier support site and IF you sign up for the updates.

If it weren't for this I'd rate it 4 stars.

This was an interesting years for me financially. I made more money and had more expences than in the past and decided to use both Turbo Tax and a friends who works for the Block people. HRB took three hours to complete the task and found that I owed over $150. Turbo Taxt said $40 to the IRS after 120 minutes. I went back to HRB and found that he missed two deductions and the program was right.

OK I am strange and do not mind paying my fair share, but I also want to maintain control of my money. Turbo Tax allows for that and more.

I was disappointed that the investment function was moved to the Premier edition, which costs $25 more. All right, this year I will need to do paper filing and manual calculation for 1040 Schedule D.

I used the TurboTax software for my federal and state returns for 2005 and encountered a serious problem - the state return did not remove my social security earnings which are not taxable in Indiana. I had a difficult time getting the problem corrected but, more importantly, are there other program errors which can only be found if the return is thoroughly examined. I also found using "It's Deductible" to be very annoying and time consuming because it used the exact same categories that were used the previous year and all names must remain the same. You find this out after you have entered all of your deductions and then you have to go back and change things - ex: you can't use "ABC University" one year and "ABC Foundation" the next. It shouldn't even use last year's categories. It is too expensive to not be able to trust it. I'll be trying TaxCut this year - along with the included e-filing.

Last year, TaxCut left Mac users out in the cold when they stopped making a version for that platform. TaxCut customer service is pathetic as well. At the same time, Turbo Tax had solved a few problems that they'd been having for a couple of years. When I switched back, the only problem I ran into was not being able import the previous year's TaxCut info into TurboTax.

The interface for the program is good. It's fairly easy to jump back-and-forth within your return. The major drawback is that if you're ready to file, the program won't let you until it gets all of it's updates. Beyond that, TurboTax earned my business back with a program that is easy to use and pays for itself.