I like TurboTax's ability to import data from a personal finance application such as Quicken, Quickbooks, or Microsoft Money. For entrepreneurs that keep track of their invoices and expenses, this can save a lot of time by automating some of the data entry.
TurboTax provides extra guidance for tricky tax topics
You can finish a tax return with TurboTax rather fast quickly if you have a simple, straightforward tax situation. This makes even the basic edition of TurboTax a great deal for people who want to finish their taxes quickly. Speed and accuracy are important, as no one wants to rush through a return only to make a mistake. TurboTax even caught a data entry typo I made when entering my W-2 form. This is a common tax preparation mistake, and TurboTax quickly prompted me to verify my numbers to make sure everything was correct.For complex tax returns, TurboTax Home & Business, Intuit's top-of-the-line tax software, handled my demanding and complex tax scenario with a minimum of frustration. Their step-by-step interview questions were clear, appropriate, and not too overwhelming. The Online versions of TurboTax share all the same features as the desktop software. If you need to set up business assets, you will find TurboTax offers a great set-by-step approach to depreciation.
Intuit includes the ItsDeductible software for calculating the fair market value of items donated to charity in Deluxe and higher versions of TurboTax. Premier and Home & Business versions feature extra help in calculating your cost basis in stocks and mutual funds, which is a common situation many people need help in figuring out. Premier and Home & Business also include my favorite feature: a 401(k) Maximizer for figuring out how much you can contribute to a 401(k) retirement plan without decreasing your net paycheck.
TurboTax includes Live Community for Help
Intuit has turned the entire TurboTax user base into a community for sharing tips and providing help. The Live Community provides a Question-and-Answer forum for getting help either with the software or with tax issues, right from inside the software interface. The questions showing up from the Live Community are context sensitive. For example, when I was entering bank interest, I saw the question "How do I report interest on a savings bond?" You can also ask a question right from the software too. While I was skeptical last year about Live Community, I've have come to appreciate that I can find answers to my questions faster than digging through Intuit's help site. Still, using the Live Community requires taking the extra step to create a user ID and log in. The "Search Q&A" link below the Live Community logo lets users search for messages in the Live Community and by-pass the registration step. This helped me save some time when all I needed was to find some quick answers.TurboTax provides plenty of help content site inside the software as well. Important topics are explained through a "Learn more about this topic" link or through in-depth interview questions when clicking on "Guide Me". From the program's Help Center, users can search for help content, access official IRS Publications, find tips for using TurboTax, and watch videos covering common tax situations.
Still hard to find some modules in TurboTax
TurboTax continues to improve and revise their navigation system. As in previous year, TurboTax sports a clean and uncluttered interface, which I think will help people stay focused on the preparing their tax returns with a minimum of distraction. However, I still have trouble finding specific data entry screens. For example, the "Select Specific Topics" button under the Deductions & Credits tab will bring up a complete list of all tax breaks. Whereas the "Guide Me Through" button will guide you step-by-step through the most popular deductions and skip over less popular areas of the tax form. The same is true in the Income areas of the software. Just be aware that there are multiple ways to find the same module.
Just like last year, I had trouble finding where TurboTax puts the worksheets for a SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) plan; I've been able to find this only by searching for it. It strikes me that TurboTax should prompt entrepreneurs to look at SEP-IRA and solo 401(k) plans as part of the process of uncovering all possible tax deductions.
Also hard to find was where to report a foreclosure and canceled mortgage debt. TurboTax asks if you are impacted by these issues at the beginning of their interview process (in "Tell Us About 2008"). Even though I indicated that I lost a home through foreclosure, I did not see any foreclosure or home sale modules appear by the time I got to the final review. However, once I accessed the modules myself, TurboTax accurately calculated the foreclosure and canceled debt.
TurboTax Product Versions and Prices
Desktop software versions:- TurboTax Basic ($29.95 federal only + $39.95 state. Up to five e-file federal returns included.)
- TurboTax Deluxe ($59.95 federal and state. Up to five e-file federal returns included. State e-file is an additional $19.95.)
- TurboTax Premier ($89.95 federal and state. Up to five e-file federal returns included. State e-file is an additional $19.95.)
- TurboTax Home and Business ($99.95 federal and state. Up to five e-file federal returns included. State e-file is an additional $19.95.)
Online software versions:
- TurboTax Free (free federal + $25.95 state)
- TurboTax Basic ($14.95 federal + $34.95 state)
- TurboTax Deluxe ($29.95 federal + $34.95 state)
- TurboTax Premier ($49.95 federal + $34.95 state)
- TurboTax Home and Business ($74.95 federal + $34.95 state)
Next page: review of the free edition of TurboTax
