TurboTax or Tax Act?

[Homer]

Luckily we don’t have to pay state income tax so we can just use the free part of these programs but anyone like one over the other? Reasons? Both have free federal returns but can’t decide which one to use.

Anyone ever do a head to head comparison of the two?

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[Homer]

*bump*

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[Spring Chicken]

I’ve used both and they are very similar. Turbo Tax has a few more features, Tax Cut costs a bit less. I like Turbo Tax slightly better, but either works well for my simple return.

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[skeeter]

I’ve used Turbo Tax and H&R Block At Home software. Both do an excellent job.

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[DBP]

I use something called DoItYourself. It’s free, and I’ve never had a problem with it.

Requirements:

√ Pencil with eraser

√ Scratch paper

√ Applicable tax forms

√ Postage stamp

Optional:

√ Calculator

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[Homer]

But you might be missing deductions or something that you don’t even know you are missing. Can’t hurt to use one of the free tax programs…they do all the calculating for you…and there’s no transcribing errors from “pencil”.

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[Homer]

But you might be missing deductions or something that you don’t even know you are missing. Can’t hurt to use one of the free tax programs…they do all the calculating for you…and there’s no transcribing errors from “pencil”.

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[DBP]

Aw . . . I’m just teasin’ ya, Homie. Sorry for the diversion.

Yeah, I could miss a deduction or two on my own, but I still like to do my taxes myself, by hand.

Several years ago I tried one of those software tax programs. First I used the program, and then I did the taxes myself, for comparison. I came out ahead with my own figuring . . . the software had actually missed a deduction.

I like to read the instruction forms and know what it is I’m filling out. The software programs don’t tell you any of that, though. They just take you through on a computer screen and it’s all automatic.

***********************

As a professional comedian, I’ve followed the evolution of tax forms over the years with much interest. I remember several years ago, they had a line on there at the end where you could volunteer to send the IRS some extra money above and beyond what you owed. It wasn’t an offset against future taxes either, it was just money you volunteered to give to the government.

“Would you like to send an additional amount to help reduce the federal deficit?”

No joke. That’s what it said. But they eliminated that one the very next year, presumably for lack of interest.

Then just a couple of years ago, I remember struggling with some particularly difficult language on one of the schedules. There wasn’t a single sentence on there that I could understand. The whole thing was pure glop.

When I got to the end of the form, there was a special message from the IRA:

“Do you know how we can simplify this form? If so, please contact us at once.”

No lie. That’s really what it said.

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[Genesee Hill]

TurboTax.

It works as good as Turbo Lax.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9gVkdy3aE

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[Homer]

HA, DBP, too funny. Would a donation to the IRS be tax deductible? ;-) Yeah, just so hard as I have been using the free TaxAct but there is also a free TurboTax and to be honest, the free TaxAct is pretty obtuse and kinda a pain! How much you charge DBP?! ;-)

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[bsmomma]

I haven’t used Tax Act. Last year and this year I did a comparison on H&R Block .com and TurboTax. H&R Block had our return quite a bit higher than Turbo. We have a business and for some reason Turbo Tax showed us as ineligible for the home office.

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[Homer]

That’s really interesting…now I’m even more torn between which free service to use since all we need is for Federal Returns!

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[Author]

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