TurboTax on Mac - Reviews?

[Dave00]

I was thinking of getting TurboTax for our taxes this year, which will be very complicated (got married last year, my wife moved and has income from two states). I was all set to buy but there are overwhelmingly negative reviews on Amazon re: the mac version - that it won't install state, among other things. Anyone on these forums had some experience with TurboTax? Also, there's 3 versions, which of course makes the decision even more fun.

thanks in advance -

Dave

 

[iriejedi]

Best $50 ever

I've been using it for years - every thing you described it will ask you

Have you paid in another state?

Have you bought a house?

Have you married?

etc....etc....

You get one state for free and the second state is like $20.... it can even download all your W2s and many other info directly to ensure no input errors.... not to mention eFile and direct deposit of return....

I have also used it in the past in combo with HRBlock to get an idea of all the paper work I should need by running throught the program once and it also helps you find deductions you might not think you can deduct... (moving expenses??)

Also - the final kicker - the cost of the program is tax deductable....

You'll love it!

Iriejedi

I was thinking of getting TurboTax for our taxes this year, which will be very complicated (got married last year, my wife moved and has income from two states). I was all set to buy but there are overwhelmingly negative reviews on Amazon re: the mac version - that it won't install state, among other things. Anyone on these forums had some experience with TurboTax? Also, there's 3 versions, which of course makes the decision even more fun.

thanks in advance -

Dave

 

[wordmunger]

Works fine for me. I've been using it since around 1989, back when it was called Macintax. I've loaded three different state programs over the years, and they've always worked fine.

EDIT: One thing I wouldn't recommend is using the "import" features for anything other than getting your information from last year's tax form. It always seems to screw things up, and it ends up being easier just to enter the data manually. Don't try to download your stock dividends from your broker, and don't try to import your other info from Quicken. It doesn't really work, it doesn't grab all the info you need, and if you messed up at all entering the info into Quicken, your tax forms will be wrong, too.

 

[hcuar]

I actually prefer Tax Cut over Turbo Tax. The questions it asks plus the interface seem to be quite a bit better.

 

[Bear]

I rememebr using TurboTax one year and its interface (in my opinion) was horrible. So I went back to TaxCut and have been using it ever since.

 

[cpjakes]

I've used TurboTax through Yahoo to do my taxes. Pretty easy and it does go through a lot of the questions. My girlfriend and I bought a house last year, so I'm not sure how it might handle that, but it's worth a shot if we start early. I assume (since I haven't logged in yet this year) that it would be able to easily import last year's information.

cpjakes

 

[iShater]

I've been using TaxCut on the PC for a few years and last year used it for the Mac. It worked fine for me, but my buddy is going with TaxCut this year. So I think it depends on what you have used in the past.

If you are new to using the tax software, either TaxCut or TurboTax will work for you I am sure.

 

[sigamy]

I used TurboTax Web last year and probably will this year also. Seems to work fine, I'm married with kids and a house and it covers all the bases for us.

I'm not worried about storing my data on the web but you may be...

 

[Dave00]

Thanks for all the responses. The main problem seems to be that for the deluxe version, the "free" state returns don't work on the mac. Maybe this is only for the Tax Year 2004 version? For those that used it in the past, did you use the "Basic", "Deluxe", or "Premiere" versions?

Thanks again for the info.

--dave

 

[Gerg]

I've been using it for about 7 years without trouble, including different states and even amended returns.

This year, the IRS if offering lots of free on-line tax preparation packages, and one of the is a Turbo-Tax branded package. GO to www.irs.gov for details.

Imagine that, something free from the IRS!

 

[wordmunger]

Thanks for all the responses. The main problem seems to be that for the deluxe version, the "free" state returns don't work on the mac. Maybe this is only for the Tax Year 2004 version? For those that used it in the past, did you use the "Basic", "Deluxe", or "Premiere" versions?

Thanks again for the info.

--dave

The state returns have always worked on the mac. You can't download the 2004 state returns yet because they aren't ready yet (I just checked!). They are usually ready by the end of January.

I'm using "Turbo Tax Deluxe 2004"