File Taxes On the Go with TurboTax for iPad and iPhone

[MacRumors]

This year, Tax Day in the United States falls on April 17, 2012. Intuit's TurboTax has long been a favorite of many self-preparing taxpayers and has consistently worked well for Mac users as well (unlike Quicken). For the 2012 tax-filing season, Intuit released two versions of TurboTax for iOS users as well.

One is a stripped down version for the iPhone called TurboTax SnapTax. It's limited to taxpayers who don't have any children or deponents, don't own a home, have income only from a W-2, interest, or unemployment, and make less than $100,000 a year. It includes state and federal e-filing for a $24.99 in-app purchase and is quick and easy.

The other is TurboTax for iPad, a full-featured version of TurboTax, even including the Home & Business version for self-employed payers. Filing fees are all paid via In-App Purchase, with federal returns starting at $49.99 and state returns an additional $39.99. Users have the option to e-file or print out their returns the old fashioned way.

The New York Times' Gadgetwise blog was very impressed with TurboTax for iPad:

Long story short -- it was a dream. The app is basically a giant questionnaire, in which you answer hundreds of questions about your financial state of affairs. I had all the necessary paperwork (well, almost -- tracking down the Social Security number of my 1-year-old son took about 30 minutes): W-2s, property-tax statement, mortgage interest statement and a 1099 for some non-retirement investments.

The TurboTax app is well designed and well written. It dispenses with jargon and uses plain English. For example, sometimes you are asked a question that sounds odd; the app will point out that this kind of situation is uncommon, reassuring you that it may not apply to you. Filing, payments and refunds can all be handled electronically -- which is nice because not only does it cut down on paper, you get your money (if you're getting a refund) faster.

TurboTax for iPad is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

TurboTax SnapTax for the iPhone is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: File Taxes On the Go with TurboTax for iPad and iPhone

 

[fruitycups]

Wirelessly posted

Pretty sweet

 

[BJMRamage]

tried the iPad app.

it was missing the charitable givings section where you could say 6 button-downs that were good quality and it would tell you a charitable price to use.

Wasn't until the end where i find out you need to pay in all InApp Purchase. Cannot pay with Credit Card. so, I called and had to have the get me info on saving the file, transferring from iTunes to mac and downloading their paid version and finishing it there.

 

[ProVideo]

This is one area where I still want a desktop or laptop. Usually, I'm going between excel sheets where I have different values marked down and added up. It's just easier to have excel open while I have TurboTax and copy and paste the info from one to the other.

I've tried to do data entry like mileage, expenses, and invoices on my iPad and any time I've tried it seems to take twice as long because of the on screen keyboard and lack of features available in the application's Mac OS counterpart.

 

[kevinkt]

Is my taxes gonna really become easier to do with this? Serious question has anybody used it?

 

[ProVideo]

...

 

[badmac78]

Wirelessly posted

Used it. It's good. The comment about spreadsheets is a good point. It was almost better to have my computer up with the spreadsheets and the app in my iPad so I didn't have to flip back and forth. I like the in-app purchase. That way I don't have to pull a credit card. What's missing is iCloud integration. Having to tie back to iTunes to get the files off is a bit old-school now with iOS 5.

 

[xlii]

The older you get the more complicated doing your taxes get. I don't see doing mine on an iPhone. Now for those who do the short form it's a different story. But if you do the short form you don't need to buy a software program to help you fill out the form. It's so simple even a 5th grader could do it.

 

[brownpaw]

Do remember that if you make less than 31k, or are active duty military, or qualify for the earned income credit, then you can use TurboTax Freedom Edition that includes free federal and state filing.

 

[pacohaas]

Federal taxes can be done for free on other sites, not sure why turbotax thinks it's ok to charge $50 for the same thing plus $40 more for state

I just did mine for free and I itemized with a 1098, 1099s, Schedule A, Schedule D, and a Form 8888 on taxact.com. Paid them $8 to submit State for me rather than fill it all out again on my state's web site, but that would have been free if I had. I don't see how turbotax is any better than the free alternatives, they all have walk throughs and hand holding to fill your forms out for you.

Is it just so you can say you did your taxes on an iPhone?

 

[ZipZap]

Why would anyone buy this EVER when you can get the Fed and one state for the PC for $39.99 at costco and other online etailers.

If they are not going to make the price competative then skip it as you have to be stupid to overpay like that....or I guess a 100% mac user (sorry )

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Federal taxes can be done for free on other sites, not sure why turbotax thinks it's ok to charge $50 for the same thing plus $40 more for state

I just did mine for free and I itemized with a 1098, 1099s, Schedule A, Schedule D, and a Form 8888 on taxact.com. Paid them $8 to submit State for me rather than fill it all out again on my state's web site, but that would have been free if I had. I don't see how turbotax is any better than the free alternatives, they all have walk throughs and hand holding to fill your forms out for you.

Is it just so you can say you did your taxes on an iPhone?

What he said.

 

[ctdonath]

Federal taxes can be done for free on other sites, not sure why turbotax thinks it's ok to charge $50 for the same thing plus $40 more for state

Early adopter fee. Enough people will go this route that charging more is viable. Their list price for PC version is about the same, subject to discounts to compete against other tax programs. No real competition on tablets, so no discounts.

 

[nutmac]

I wish Intuit would settle on more unified pricing model across their tax products (desktop application, TurboTax.com, and iOS apps). The information should be accessible and syncable across all product editions.

Better yet, allow users to enter all the information on base edition and offer in-app purchase if upgrading to higher-end product can offer higher refund (or lower amount due).

 

[justperry]

The US government should provide programs to do just this free of charge, writing such Apps for both Windows and Apple OS's is just 0.000001% (wild guess)of the US states debt.
As I commented on similar topic on MR a small country like The Netherlands (16-17 million citizen) provide just that for free, on both Windows and Apple OS.
Of course there is nothing wrong with a 3th party developer to just write such a program but for private use I think it's just plain stupid to pay for such an App.

 

[monoskier]

Taxes are due in slightly over a week. Isnt this a little late???
Or has the app been out for a while and MR just now writing it up. Either way, it's a short window