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

TaxCut

[elmegil]

Kiplinger's Tax Cut even says on the front "no product activation required". Given that TaxCut and TurboTax have been the de facto standards for years, and H&R Block partners with Kiplinger's, it's a no brainer.

frist spot?

Get a pro

[ObviousGuy]

A professinal accountant may cost a little more, but they will usually find ways to reduce your tax burden above and beyond what any software could do.

TaxAct

[Gildenstern]

I've been using TaxAct since 1998 now. I've never had any problems with it and it seems to work well. It has a very nice interface. I get the 20 dollar version from their website. That gets me the State and Federal versions. I used Turbotax the year before and and this seem almost the same to me.

I don't understand

[MerlynEmrys67]

Company does something bad... People dump bad product - company cleans up act - why do you still want to boycott them.

Personally I will be VERY happy to go back to TurboTax this year - TaxCut sucked horribly and I have liked TurboTax for almost a decade now

Moral of the story - company does what I want them to - I will send my business back to them

Re:I don't understand

[Gzip Christ]

Company does something bad... People dump bad product - company cleans up act - why do you still want to boycott them.

There's an old saying: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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"

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:Tax Act is the bomb

[cookiepus]

While it's great to hear positive user reviews about the software, I think I am suspicious of the fact that it took you 10 minutes to complete the process. It sounds like you've got a very simple tax case, in which case any software will do fine.

BTW: for simple cases, under certain levels of income (about 25k I think) you can do your taxes for free on TurboTax.com (or could do it in years past, anyway)

Now here's the deal. I was a dependant for half of 2003, but then I got a full time job in May. I was a resident of NYC for half of that year, and half of the year I was not. I have a W2, and some 1099's. Some business expenses. Some charitable donations. I paid for college. I invested in a 401k....

With these more complex tax situations, it's not going to take you 10 minutes to file no matter what software you use. In fact, in the past I noticed that after all the permutations, where was no way that TurboTax and TaxCut agreed on how much my return should be

(I was running TaxCut on the PC and TurboTax on the website, they've got their full version on the website and it's free around to fuck around with, just costs money to file once you're ready)

I believe that last year, TaxCut gave me a better refund. It's just a question of what items of the tax law the software is aware of. I certainly know fuck-all about it. Until Tax Cut asked me whether I had put more miles on my car for business purposes than I did for going to the store (something of that nature anyway) I didn't know that shit would have any relevance to my tax return whatsoever.

If you have a tax situation of any complexity, using the right software makes financial difference. If all you've got is a W2 then you're probably OK using any of them.

I'd like to see some feedback as to who had a good experience with any of these programs when it came to tax nuance.

Has it occurred to anyone here...

[slashdot_commentator]

That a tax system that requires spending money on complication-processing software, or having to hire an accountant/tax preparer, is a tax system in dire need of reform?