What Tax Software Do You Use?

r_jensen11 asks: "I know this topic has been asked at least once before, but seeing as how 6 years have passed, I figured the question is due again. It's about that time of the year again when we find out how much we owe Uncle Sam (or as in my case, how much Uncle Sam owes me). Software has changed drastically in the past 6 years, since the previous query I found on Slashdot, as well as many tax rules. Does anyone here use tax software other than TurboTax and TaxCut? I know that there are also online forms I can fill out, but which ones are accessible to people that use OSes other than Windows and Mac OS X? I'd preferably use a program that I can use off-line and store my information locally instead of using eforms, but if I have to resort to eforms, which ones should I investigate and which ones should I stay far away from?"

i'm old school

It's still pen and paper for me, just like d&d.

me too

It's still pen and paper for me

Sure, but it's easier to get the forms with a browser and KPDF than it is to drive to the library. Also, it's easier to add the stuff up with gnumeric than it is to use a calculator. After that, the check's in the mail.

Of course, all of it's a stupid curse. Uncle Sam knows exactly what you made and has the resources to present it to you over the web. Taxes should be as easy as going to a web site and choosing between "I agree" and "I have something else to report" then doing it.

I'm going to continue to use paper as long as Uncle Sam does, mostly because the programs made to do taxes have proved themselves less than trustworthy.

H & R Block

Have an accountant do your taxes. They're cross platform, less error prone, and in many cases charge about the same price as popular tax prep software costs.

Re:H & R Block

"Have an accountant do your taxes. They're cross platform, less error prone, and in many cases charge about the same price as popular tax prep software costs."

As complicated as the US tax code is, this is the BEST advice for anyone above the poverty level. It is also why our tax code will not be reformed. There are way too many accountants out there who make too much money on handling taxes, and they support the candidates who will keep the status quo. Tax reform is very much needed in the US. I lean towards a flat tax or national sales tax.

Re:

As complicated as the US tax code is, this is the BEST advice for anyone above the poverty level.

The qualifier "for anyone above poverty level" applies especially to H&R Block. For anyone needing more, a qualified tax accountant is often the better ch

Re:H & R Block

Having an accountant do my taxes is great for getting my taxes done this year I agree. But it doesn't teach me enough about the process to help me make decisions throughout the following year.
Doing it myself keeps me informed of what is being taxed and how.
Having a program helps reduce the time it takes to enter the data and make the calculations and find help and forms when I need them. I can get into it as much as I need to (which you might say is true for an accountant too), I have all the records and processes when I need to consult them later to see what the tax implications are of doing or not doing something, etc.
Plus to use an accountant I have to assemble all my documentation myself anyway (all the taxable records) which is a major part of the tax effort - once I got all my papers the rest is not so bad.

Given that, I use one of the major programs, and I don't believe it matters much which you use.

Swift move...

...Ex-Lax. [lawyers.com]

It's better to use real accountants.

Re:H & R Block

Note!!! H&R block people are NOT accountants!! Sure they have accountants for dealing with buisnesses. But the people who the average joe tax return at H&R block are not accountants and are just trained to fill out the same form you would if you went to their online website...

In Florida the CPA association filed a advertising complaint against H&R block because several of their commercials implied their people were better than accountants "We'll catch the refunds that your accountant missed" and crap.

Re:

My only mistake was in filing married, jointly.

Hmm.... One can only wonder:

1) Was the mistake in filing as *married* when one is not?
2) Was the mistake filing *separate* returns with both marked as "married, filing jointly"
3) Was the mistake getting *marri

Re:

I have an even better method. We do a 1040. We had H&R Block do our taxes once. Now I use Turbo Tax online. The nice thing about Turbo Tax is that you can do your taxes without paying until you actually file. I try to duplicate the result myself usi

why not just use the forms?

Print the forms, get a calculator, and do the math....whats the problem?

Re:

What's the problem???? If you do anything more than endorse 26 paychecks, fill out a W2 and a 1040ez, there are lots of problems.

Once you get past the surface, the tax laws are not clear. Many of them use phrases like "reasonable proof" or "adequate do

Re:

I sincerely hope you're kidding.

Print the Forms, Get a Calculator and...

Figure out the partial reductions on child-benefits that interact with other parts of the code;

Disover that when you moved from one state to another you end up with Dual Status state r

TurboTax online

As I recall it worked equally well with Firefox as IE last year. We've used it every year for the past 4 years or more. I'm not sure what a standalone program might do for us over the online offering. My returns are simple, but my wife has to deal with Schedule C, and investment stuff, it's served us well, as far as I can tell.

Re:TurboTax online

TurboTax online

I think it's the same service (provided by Intuit), but other students or such like myself who have an AGI of $27,000 or less can go to taxfreedom.com [taxfreedom.com] and do their federal taxes online for free. The program this year is actually quite good from both a technical and interface point of view.

For state income, some states let you do free filing online via their own websites (like UT [utah.gov]), but AL, AR, AZ, GA, ID, IA, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NY, ND, NC, OK, OR, RI, VT, and WV are all members of the Free File Alliance, and you can usually file taxes in these states for free online.

I'm a poor student, so my only goal is to get my refund back as fast as possible. Granted, my return is simple, but it took only 6 days last year from submission to direct deposit. In any case, I've found that there's no reason not to file online, especially if it's free.

Re:

Oh yea, I definately don't use turbotax software. But the online turbotax is really one of the best out there. Used it for the last few years. Lucky for me my wife got a job at a CPA firm last year, with a nice perk of free taxes... Hmm her boss gets to k

taxact

taxact.com

already done and efiled - no charge if you go directly to their site. DO NOT visit the IRS site first or you will pick up a cookie which will make them try to charge you for efiling if your AGI is above $52k regardless of how you actually enter the taxact site later.

Re:

Same here. taxact all the way. I use the d/l'd version though. I just feel better about having my tax info stored locally.

Re:

Yup- Taxact.

I've already filed! And with Direct Deposit, I'm looking to get my refund in just a few more days!

Hire an accountant

A good accountant will do your taxes for you.

A great accountant will have a tax loophole named after him/her.

I hope you don't think

That Uncle Sam returning that nice interest free loan you have given them by over witholding is "Giving you money back". Biggest fallacy in the book, have the standard tax tables overwithold - then make people think "Gee, the government is giving me money - they are so nice".

If you are getting a large refund - look into talking to an accountant that can tell you how many deductions you REALLY need to be closer to break even. My goal is to hit somewhere between a 100 dollar refund to paying 500 dollars. I can afford 500 dollars, and I'd just assume be making the interest while the money sits in my bank account before giving it to the Man.

But PLEASE don't take my advise - talk to an accountant (IANAA) to find out what is correct for you

Re:

That Uncle Sam returning that nice interest free loan you have given them by over witholding is "Giving you money back". Biggest fallacy in the book, have the standard tax tables overwithold - then make people think "Gee, the government is giving me money

Re:

I don't even begin to know where to answer this one....
Lets start with 60 being a 12% annual rate of return on 500 dollars
Lets move to the government only has your money on average for 6 months - doubling your annual rate of return
Lets just say that I d

Re:

Consider that it is not the interest that one could earn on the hypothetical $500 rebate but rather the rebate itself that is in question here. If I received that money up-front in my paychecks, I could potentially avoid additional use (and accumulation of

Re:

HEHE, cept if you have kids, you now get $1000 bucks per kid back even if you didn't pay that $1000 in. Getting $2k back more than I paid this year :)

Yea I really am that poor.. :)

Re:

Amen. Last year, some breaks I wasn't expecting (didn't consider moving deduction at the time) pushed my refund to about $150. This year, I'm estimating $15 in refund. And that's only because the telephone excise credit swings it around from me owing th

A bigger falacy.

That Uncle Sam returning that nice interest free loan you have given them by over witholding is "Giving you money back". Biggest fallacy in the book ...

The biggest fallacy in the book is that fiat currency has an intrinsic value. Look up Alan Greenspan's little essay on the gold standard, and realize that you are not free without a secure store of value. The withholdings are a time consuming but insignificant part of the bigger scam.

Re:

What are you talking about? Yeah, the value of fiat currency floats. Yeah, the government uses that to mess with the economy. It's called monetary policy. What's your point?

Re:

I think his point is, rather, that if your currency is not backed by something of value (e.g gold) and then the value of it floats around, it is far too easy to have that value withheld from you in an instant, as you actually don't own anything except pape

Re:

Backed vs. fiat currency is all just semantics. In either case, the government controls the supply. If a "backed" currency economy collapsed, do you really think the government would let you trade in your currency for whatever it's backed against? Of co

Re:

I would think people know that already. Isn't the general rule to pay 90% of your taxes and owe 10% which could be sitting in a saving account earning interest?

Some people take the safe approach out of fear.

On a side note, the burden of income taxes affect

"At least once before"

I know this topic has been asked at least once before, but seeing as how 6 years have passed, I figured the question is due again.

It has been answered several times in the past couple years:

• 2005
  • Best Tax Programs? [slashdot.org]
  • Open Source Tax Products? [slashdot.org]
  • Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? [slashdot.org]
• 2004
  • The Future of Tax Software on Linux? [slashdot.org]
  • Tax Preparation Software for 2003? [slashdot.org]

Excel 1040

Google Excel 1040 [mchsi.com]. It works for me. I blew off Intuit after their activation debacle [slashdot.org]. That and the fact that Office Despot consistently has lower prices for Intuit's products than Intuit's website. After Intuit, H&R Block's product seemed ok.

FreeFile

Over two thirds of tax payers can file online for free. The IRS runs Free File [irs.gov], which helps you to select a service to file through.

Most of these were browser and OS agnostic last year & a good choice for those with AGIs low enough.

Mod Up, people should know this...

This is part of a negotiated settlement between the IRS and for-profit tax preparation companies during the Clinton years. It, after all, makes more sense for the IRS to offer free software for the public to encourage everyone to file electronically and standardize everything, etc. More efficent for the IRS, and therefore you. But that would hurt some big companies (I'm sure you can intuit whom I mean). Thus a deal was struck a while back, which as far as I know is not promoted/advertised by the tax-prep software companies.

The result is that people who make less than a certain amount (Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $52,000 or less) are entitled to free software by the "Free File Alliance, LLC" (ie, the tax software industry). During the Bush administration, the # of people who has qualified for this has gone down every year...

The government believes that private industry, given its established expertise and experience in the field of electronic tax preparation, has a proven track record in providing the best technology and services available. In addition, the government believes a partnership with private industry will: provide taxpayers with higher quality services by using the existing expertise of the private sector; maximize consumer choice; promote competition within the marketplace; and meet objectives in the least costly manner to taxpayers.

FYI.

Always found it strange

That there's a market for tax software in the USA.

Are there other countries where such software would be worth it?

In the country I live in the income tax system seems simple enough that anyone who is too stupid to figure it out is unlikely to be making enough money to fall in the taxable bracket.

Re:

You could live in a country that will supply you with free (not Free) software downloadable from the Tax Office website [ato.gov.au], which walks you through the whole process, step by step, asking reasonably easy questions with decent, context sensitive online help to

The best tax technology on earth

...is a qualified tax accountant, which you can access via an online virtual community called OutDoors, which features amazing high res graphics and panoramic 3d first person perspectives. When you locate the tax accountant, he or she will upload your financial data at a staggering speed with his or her eyes and ears, and using the revolutionary HumanBrain processor, calculate the maximum refund available to you.

It's quite a rush, get ready to ride the mongoose.

Re:

I agree entirely. Either way, pen and paper or a professional should be the only choices you look at. Software for tax is either overkill or underkill.

TaxAct

I used TaxAct last year. Haven't touched TurboTax in years --Intuit are fairly nasty and willful spammers, with a long history of abuses, spyware, and other charming traits. TaxCut was okay, but they ditched the Mac, so I had to go with something else an

Re:

My TaxCut box for 2006 taxes sitting here on my desk says it works on the Mac and my friend installed it on his Mac so I don't think they've ditched the Mac.

My Web Browser

Title says it all. I have an account, log in once or twice a year, and file my taxes. I can do it wherever I am, on whatever computer is available, as long as it has internet access and a secure web browser. Back when I used software, I found I was always waiting for the software patches to come out, and they always came out AFTER most of the features of the software would have been usable (right near the end of filing time, instead of in January during planning time). Now, it's always up to date, and I can check in whenever I want to see where my registered savings and charitable contributions should be to maximize my return. Plus, such sites are generally free for people below a certain income level (and cheaper than tax software for people over that level).

Re:

Regardless of the legality of income tax, lots of men with guns will eventually show up to put you in jail. So, you can just think of taxes as your "get out of jail" card. The only problem is that it's not free.

Re:How about... none?

Unconstitutional? There's a Constitutional amendment, the sixteenth, that explicitly authorizes income taxes, ratified in 1913. To quote:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Now, as most of our rights are guaranteed by amendments to the Constitution (like the right to keep and bear arms), and as most of the time when laws are struck down it is because the violate the terms of the amendments and not of the original articles (particularly those pesky first ten amendments), I think you're going to have a hard time arguing against the validity of the sixteenth amendment.

By the way, by definition, amendments have priority over the text of the articles - after all, they are *amendments*. Any discrepancy between an amendment and the articles must be resolved in favor of the amendment.

Re:

Yes, because of course it is an entirely rational argument to claim that differences in punctuation invalidate a ratification (they don't), or that Ohio didn't become a state until 1953.

Re:

Sorry, you are incorrect. The Supreme Court cannot strike down a Constitutional Amendment as unconstitutional. If an Amendment is ratified, it is in the Constitution by definition. And things that are in the Constitution cannot be unconstitutional. See

Re:

fire your employer, disappear from the IRS's tracking systems. Cash and barter are your friends.

srsly. I've never filed a return myself, and haven't had one filed on my behalf since I used up all the college money my dad had saved. Had a regular job after

Re:

Are you serious? The IRS has an entire FAQ [irs.gov] on that issue.

Re:

Yes. It used to be not compatible.

Now there is a standard tax file format [gnucash.org] that a lot of software is implementing.

Quicken and other packages also import this. TurboTax will ask you if you want to import from Quicken. Just say "yes" and then choose .TXF fo

Re:

Ummm, no, 'completely free' it is not by any means.

It's free of additional charge, for those who have already paid the high price of using Windows 2000/XP/Vista. It's not available for real operating systems or alternative hardware, and naturally the actua