Tax Preparation Software for 2003?

Aaron asks: "After last year's debacle with TurboTax's copy protection system, I want to avoid their software (even though they say they won't do it again). But after reading some of the reviews on TaxCut, it sounds a bit buggy. What tax preparation software are people using for their 2003 taxes? I've heard of TaxACT, the free tax software - is that any good? I don't suppose any decent tax software works on Linux..."

Comments

Tax Act is the bomb

[mcgroarty]

I used TaxAct last year. It's free for Federal, though you want to purchase State. Split the cost with a couple friends if you like -- there's no protection, and one of their engineers actually suggested this (or said he thought many did it) off the record.

It was very easy to use and about as enjoyable as software can get before telling you that you owe a couple hundred bucks to someone. There wasn't any ambiguity -- it explains every step concisely, and even gives some tax saving tips for the coming year when you're through.

I was done in about ten minutes, and didn't feel anything had been unclear or "weird." The interface impressed me enough that I sent some feedback about it. (Least Painful Windows App Ever)

I'm looking forward to using Tax Act again this year; it promises to import last year's data so I should pretty much just have to punch in my W2, some money earned on the side, and then be done with it.

btw -- Anyone tried it with Wine?

Re:I don't understand

[sfjoe]

I had the exact opposite experience. Turbotax worked just fine for me. Intuit became a gang of boneheads last year so I tried TaxCut. TaxCut also worked fine for me and H&R Block has little history of boneheadedness. I'll stick with TaxCut - who knows what the PHBs at Intuit are planning next time around.

running on linux

[itwerx]

Registration issues not withstanding, I've had good luck getting TurboTax to run under Wine.
(And besides, they've repented, why keep bitching about it? They do a good job.)

Another reason to use Windows

[GCP]

I've been using Linux for some time now, and there's little chance of my giving it up, but I still can't STOP using Windows. My taxes are complicated enough that there's no way I'd give up the benefits of TurboTax unless it's for something equivalent or better.

Where does Stallman think a free (as in yadda, yadda), reliable, continually updated TurboTax clone is going to come from? How does Stallman do *his* taxes (assuming he even does them)?

Re:Another reason to use Windows

[Trelane]

I'd also love and pay well (up to 2x the price of windoze software!) to be able to get a copy of quality Linux tax software.

What would be interesting is if someone made a FOSS project that did everything but the specializations inherent between state and federal [and potentially other countries]. It'd then be up to a legally certified group to provide files [strucured with XML?] that provides the list of specializations (e.g. what counts as a deduction, the various worksheets, etc.).

There is a common theme between all the components; someone could start such a project. Then one would plunk down money for your specialization files, since they have to be prepared every year. However, this completely avoids the cost of software development for the tax specialist.

It could work

Re:Another reason to use Windows

[GCP]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the business logic involved in a tax program. How many rule sets can you think of that are as convoluted and byzantine as the US Federal Tax Code? You're dismissing the hard stuff with the wave of a hand and then focusing on the easy stuff. (Except for the liability part, which you correctly identify as a huge issue.)

And even with a small army of testers, so many issues still slip past QA that the first thing TurboTax does when you start it up is look for new patches. Yes, I've written custom spreadsheet functions that will apply the basic tax bracket ladder algorithm to your gross salary. But that isn't even scratching the surface.

And every time the tax laws change (e.g. at least every year), a lot of that logic has to be updated and tested some more.

Just consider the money TurboTax brings in. Half of the US buys it, and then buys it again *every year*. If it were as easy as you seem to believe, why wouldn't every company that could afford liability insurance get into that game?

I know they learned their lesson

[mpechner]

I had dinner with someone who is a salesman in Intuit. They absolutely will not pull crap like that again. They know they lost a lot of business to Tax Cut and will be working to get those customers back this year. No Worries.

Be lucky that you're not german

[datalife]

In Germany we got 205 laws and approx. 96 000 regulations dealing only with taxes.
You definitely need a pro AND a programm, if you want to save money.

A side node:
60 % of the world tax literature is written in german for Germany.
It seems as we invented the damn thing!

Re:I don't understand

[GoofyBoy]

>why do you still want to boycott them.

Because its the strongest thing you can say to future companies.

Marketing guy A: "We should have a really restrictive DRM lock that requires the user to mail a sample of their blood."
Marketing guy B: "Wait a second. Remember the mess TurboTax got into when they did something like that?"

Alternative answer 1:
Marketing guy A: "Yes. But they did it wrong. Look how they are doing now, didn't hurt them in the long run. We can try to introduce it in the sneaky and slow way which owners will accept. Even if its less than sucessful, we can always bounce back like they did."

Alternative answer 2:
Marketing guy A: "You mean from that dead product? The one idea that sank the entire company? Maybe you have a point, I would hate to follow in that company's steps"

Re:I don't understand

[Maple Syrup]

You know ... as much as I'd like to stay away from Turbo Tax to send Intuit a message ... I used TaxCut last year, and it was a truly awful experience.

It's not that TaxCut was buggy, it's just that, unlike Turbo Tax, (where an ordinary human can understand the program's questions) the questions in the TaxCut "interview" were written *by* tax geeks *for* tax geeks.

While my tax situation isn't complex enough to require a paid tax preparer, it's still complex enough to be easy to screw up. There were lots of places in TaxCut where the designers clearly just transcribed the (confusing and difficult) Federal forms, instead of putting the work into simplifying the questions and making them understandable.

Using TaxCut, I had to look over a number of sections *very* *carefully* (read: 45 minutes to go through 3 screens) before I was sure I had entered the data correctly. As it turned out, it was a good thing I did this: I had, in fact initially entered the wrong data, solely due to the the poor design of the interview.

In short: a classic example of poor useability.

Bottom line: this year I'm back with TurboTax.