Customer Reviews

TurboTax Premier Federal Returns 2005 Win/Mac [Old Version]

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

 

 

This year, TaxCut has decided to forego a Mac version altogether. Fortunately, Intuit seems to have gotten past their spyware problems from a couple years back. They also seem to have wised up that people don't like to jump through hoops to register the product. Plus, they've gotten away from charging a premium for the Mac version. So a good program has gone back to being just that, a good program.

Unfortunately, there is no option to import that data for former TaxCut users. You'll have to import it by hand if you desire to do so. While TurboTax made earlier claims that the option was available to Windows users, it has since been revealed that neither version has the option available.

Every year, Intuit seems to do one goofy thing just to annoy people.

If you need this for business or rental purposes, fine. Otherwise, save some money and buy the Deluxe version and get a 'free' state download. All that and saving some money.

The description for this item erroneously states that it "Includes one FREE 1040 Electronic Filing, a FREE TurboTax State download". I can find no reference to it on the actual product.

If you need the State version, be sure to get "TurboTax Total Tax Solution Premier 2005 with State".

If you have used TurboTax in the past, also be prepared for another major change to the interface. It's not bad, but some things, such as the hybrid vehicle deduction, are hard to find and can easily be overlooked if you aren't already aware of them.

If you think you are buying a complete tax package you are not, the Premier doesn't give you a whole lot more tax info, but also doesn't include any state tax. It is going to cost you $29.95 more. Buy the cheeper Basic and Delux which include the state. Voiced my thought to Turbo Tax, received a canned letter back, I don't think they even read it.

I did my taxes on this program, saved the file, and went to dinner. Ever since I have been unable to open the file. The tech-support people know that there is a problem, but it has been over a week and they have not solved it. Their suggested solution is to burn your tax file to a CD, take it and your original CD to a Windows computer, install a Windows version of TurboTax, open your file, take out the password, save the file, burn it to a CD, and return to your Mac with your fingers crossed, hoping for the best. I do not have a Windows computer, so this does me no good.
For at least one week Intuit has failed to address this problem successfully. In the meantime, I have gone to the local IRS office for forms, and will be doing my return the old-fashioned way.
Other than not being functional, the program looks good, so I give it two stars for its pretention.

TurboTax Premier for tax year 2005 is a notable improvement over recent years. Gone are most of the self-aggrandizing promotions and registration issues of recent years; in the place of all the self-promotion, I found the 2005 package to be extremely stable, useful, and generally quite logical. I think the program itself is worth a four star rating, however if you live in a state with state income tax, realize that the state download is not included in this package and will cost an additional amount. For those who must file state tax returns, I recommend "TurboTax Total Tax Solution Premier 2005," which includes a single state tax return download, and is overall a much better value than purchasing this package for federal returns and a state download.

Installing the program was uneventful and straightforward, as was downloading the state product (in my case Minnesota.) Updating the program was likewise a non-issue. I found the interview this year to be more logical and user-friendly than in years past. I have a fairly intricate return, and I had very few issues navigating the interview. The one place that I did have some confusion (cleared up by "Your Income Tax 2006" by J.K. Lasser) was in entering qualified tuition expenses, as the program gives you two separate possibilities to enter them. That is a fairly trivial issue and affects few people, but does point out that there is still room for improvement in the program (especially in the "help" features.) I also have a perpetual question (that is really insignificant, but makes me wonder "What were they thinking?"): why does TurboTax make you enter your phone number, but fails to print it in the correct space on your 1040 (making you print it by hand), yet on the state return it does print it out? These are obviously very minor observations, and in no way detract from my recommendation.

I have tried TaxCut in years past (though I did not do a direct comparison with TaxCut for the 2005 tax year), and while it is cheaper, I still believe that TurboTax is the better value. It is complete (especially the Total Tax Solution Premier program), fairly intuitive, and produces accurate returns as well as very useful worksheets for your records. TurboTax is fairly expensive, but I believe it's worth it. Remember to factor in the cost of the state download when making your purchasing decision.

TurboTax for the 2005 tax year is a marked improvement over years past, and I recommend it for preparation of all but the most mind-bogglingly complex returns. For those, I recommend a CPA.

Be careful the version is federal only and you are required to pay an additional $29.95 for the state version. My bad let the buyer beware and read more carefully.

I was able to download the State return for free, although it is not intuitive (no pun intended). You must start a return, and then the "Online" selection appears at the top. Select "Download State" under "Online". It will walk you through your state selection and ask you to pay for a state return. Look closely and you will see a hyperlink which says something like "I have already purchased this". You will then go to a form with a place to fill in the order number and confirmation number - but I didn't have either! There also is a telephone number 1-800-325-1558. You have to call the number go to Sales and give the person the serial number which also appears on the screen. The salesperson will give you the order number and confirmation number (provided you have purchased Deluxe or Premier). And you thought taxes were hard!!
I have not used any of the software yet, so I am giving it 3 stars because of the lack of user friendliness on this feature.

I've been using TurboTax for 8+ years and recently, the Premiere version. This package is NOT a good package if you intend to file a state return. The additional cost of downloading the state add-on is $29.95. Compare this to the bundled package price of $69.99, and you end up paying more.

VERY disappointed this product is being marketted without the state add-on. This will be the last time I buy this online from Amazon.

Turbo Tax takes the drudgery out of doing Taxes,the best tax program out there.

For the past five years I have used TurboTax on-line to prepare our taxes. Last year, after filing our taxes, the IRS sent me a letter informing me that I was eligible for an additional refund credit. After refiguring our taxes by hand I found $1,700 in two credits that TurboTax failed to identify. I was able to receive $1,400 of this amount, but the other $300 would have required refilling from scratch (changing the number of dependants).

This week, after looking over previous tax years, I now find that there was an additional $1,009 credit on our 2002 taxes that TurboTax did not find.

I can no longer trust TurboTax to manage my taxes. These were simple Earned Income Credits (EIC) and Child Tax Credits (CTC), which TurboTax should have never missed. How can a company release tax software that does not double-check these items when there are child dependants clearly listed? It is inexcusable.

Now, they no longer offer the $14.95 e-file refund? I recommend RUNNING from this Intuit TurboTax product. We will be using TaxCut instead.