Product Review: TurboTax

[jducoeur]

Having spent yesterday working through TurboTax, it's worth taking a minute to record my observations.

Overall: really, better than I expected. We've never bothered buying tax-prep software before -- our finances aren't all that complicated, and we're both good at numbers and following directions. But my mother wanted to use it for her taxes this year, and since it was just sitting there on the desktop machine, we figured we might as well give it a spin.

I don't think it saved us a ton of time per se. Gathering up all the appropriate paperwork was still the biggest task, and it still took a couple of hours to work through the program. This isn't really surprising: it still needed to gather all the information we would need for doing it manually. And it actually took *longer* to calculate the charitable deductions, because it is more persnickety than we really need at that point. (It wants us to enter the details about each charity, whereas we would normally just take all the receipts and total the number, so there was a lot of extra typing.) It probably saved about an hour of our time -- maybe worth the $37, maybe not.

That said, the improvement in *stress* was considerable. Sitting there with the calculator and worrying about misplaced decimal points is an aggravating part of doing the taxes ourselves, and making sure we do all the calculations right even moreso. It's stuff we can do easily, but there's a good deal of worry about having done it correctly. So having the software deal with all the calculations is a significant relief: we still have to double-check the data entry, but that's easier than double-checking the calculations themselves.

Not to mention the fact that, since it deals with the state calculations, it means we don't have to go through the horror of the MA State phone-based tax system, which is always unbelievably tedious. It's well worth paying for a stamp and sending in the paper copy instead, if it means we don't have to sit through that.

So the result is that we both came out of the process less cranky than usual. *That* is probably worth the money, so I suspect we'll buy it again next year...

Comments

[elizabear.livejournal.com]

I've been using MacInTax/Turbo tax since 1990 or so. It is indeed wicked easy, and I've gotten my parents hooked on it too after I did their taxes 4 years ago. We also e-filed, and got our state refund in 3 days, and our federal in about 10.

The best solution I've found for the paperwork gathering: I have a folder in my file cabinet for each tax year. Every single time I get a document I will need for taxes, it goes into the folder. When I sit down to process the taxes, I have everything ready.

[elizabear.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Costco has a $15 off coupon for TurboTax every year. Don't buy it until the coupon shows up, which is generally at the end of January or the beginning of February. The package is well worth the $23 I paid.

[jducoeur]

Ah. In this particular case, we bought it about April 9, so the coupon had long since disappeared down the rabbit-hole...

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

During the year, it's easy to keep populating that folder as the charity receipts and payroll forms come in. The "gathering" part is thornier right about February, when I have to track down 1098s for all the bank accounts and make sure I got my 1099-MISC from my casual job, which is often late, and that sort of thing. But yes, I've already started the TAXES 2008 folder in the cabinet.

[sjo.livejournal.com]

You might be amused to know that my little sister was one of the original writers of TurboTax. She no longer works for Intuit, but hey, it's a claim to fame for her.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Agreement. We've been using versions of MacInTax/Turbo Tax for at least five years. For the past three, I've been using the web version. The year we moved states it was particularly reassuring.

Plus e-file is so nice.

Edit: money-off deals can often be found. I get 25% via USAA.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Andy and I have been using H&R Block's online tax software, and I really love not having to do math and puzzle out all the various forms. Plus, electronic filing rocks. I'm really not sure why we didn't make the switch to tax software earlier.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

This was my first year using TurboTax as well. Even for my fairly basic taxes, it was so much easier, and doing it online provided that vicarious thrill of almost feeling like I was surfing the Interweb.

[laurion]

Agreed. I have simple finances, where my loans are more complicated than my incomes, so I don't *need* TurboTax, but for years I've been using their online product. My bank gives a discount code for it, and the filing is free. The cost of the service is nominal, and the simple methodical way it takes me through everything and does all the lookups and tables for me is worth the peace of mind. The electronic filing cuts some time off the whole thing, and I usually have my refund by the end of January.

If I wanted tables and lookups and charts and cross references, I'd go play 1st edition D&D.

[peregrinning.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, ease of mind is worth paying for. Having been dinged (six years later) for filling out a tax form in error, I prefer using TurboTax so I don't have to worry (nearly as much) about such things happening again.

[tpau]

the best is the online thing. i've used it for years and it means not only can ido half my taxes and then fonish on another machine in another state, but i can go and look up or print out my info for years past. AND it remembers my stuff from year to year so i only need to confirm if i have moved or changed jobs or whatnot

[cellio]

I've been using TurboTax since a year after I started itemizing (= bought a house). Copying numbers and reading the itty-bitty print is tedious; it's worth it to reduce my problem to one of data entry.

I have a drawer where everything tax-related gets thrown during the year. During tax prep it gets filtered and gathered up into a file folder.

[etherial.livejournal.com]

I *love* doing arithmetic by hand and filling out forms and whatnot, but the convenience of TurboTax online really does outweigh it.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

My favorite aspect of using Turbo Tax, especially the online version which I can log onto from work or elsewhere, is that I can start it then leave it aside and come back and pick at it one little nit pick at a time as I find the needed information. I find it much easier to do that with software than with paper and pencil. This fits my work habits well as my filing system, such as it were, is very scattered.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

I've been using TurboTax forever, it seems. I have a moderately complicated return (homeowner, mutual funds/401k, that sort of thing) that would drive me bonkers otherwise. I recommend it extremely highly. Next year, given the tsuris of both myself and my wife losing/changing jobs within 3 months, it will be absolutely mandatory, I'm sure.