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TurboTax Deluxe for Mac 2002

TurboTax Deluxe for Mac 2002

List Price: $49.95
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Intuit FINALLY fixes major bugs in its updates!!!...
Review: Intuit has indeed corrected the problems with the Mac updates!! UNFORTUNATELY, it took them so long that I was forced to wait over 5 WEEKS!! Although they were able to fix this mess with those machines still running OS 8.1/8.5, I WILL NO LONGER PURCHASE TURBOTAX. I can't tell you how MANY hours were wasted downloading files that would not install on a Macintosh with 0S 8.5.1. I will give Tax Cut a try next year.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: On the down slide
Review: Many errors, awkward. I've used Macintax and turbo tax for many years. This year was the most problem filled one yet. Ane they make the filing rebate harder and harder to collect.
My last year with this.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: So far my return has been held up for a week due to an update which is not available (passive loss form); an update that is available for the Windows version. I've been told it will be available after Feb 10 (no answer on when, just not any earlier than Feb 10).

Other than my inability to file electronically until the update is available, and the fact that this costs almost double what the Windows version costs it's a great product.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Incredibly Frustrating
Review: The install was easy, and the software worked fine, but it's absolutely riddled with advertisements for other Intuit products and services disguised as helpful advice, which really increases the time it takes to do the taxes by about 50% if you scan them all to make sure you're not missing important instructions. The trouble started when I tried to download the state version, which I was unable to do all weekend, despite a flawless and speedy Mac with a DSL connection that works like a dream with every other website in the universe. Their server must have been on the blink or something, because I never even got near a download page - it didn't even bring up a page for filling in billing info. Clicking the buy button for either download or cd just resulted in a 5-minute wait followed by a timeout error message, even though we tried it over and over at all hours of the day and night. They have the absolute worst customer service I've ever seen. You can't even get a phone number without paying $... which means it would have cost me $...for the privilege of ordering the software, plus the cost of software and shipping. There was a message all weekend stating that both the free online chat and telephone customer service were closed. And in their automated online help, there is nothing to deal with downloading or purchasing problems...Intuit shouldn't even sell a Mac version of the Federal software, if they're going to make it so hard to obtain the state part. Monday morning, using my work (windows) computer, after a completely fruitless discussion with their chat help department in which they kept telling me to go to their online shop which I just finished explaining was down all weekend, I finally was able to order the CD from Intuit, paying all kinds of extra postage to get it quickly, since I don't want to wait a couple of weeks only to find out it doesn't exist, which I'm beginning to suspect. I paid about 50 bucks for the original software, and we may yet end up taking it to a tax guy and paying $... to get our taxes done. If I still had my original receipt, I would have returned it by now. I will not use it again next year.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS AWFUL PRODUCT
Review: The Mac version of Turbo Tax is as realiable and hearty as its predecessors on PC with the added bonus of no spyware or installation restrictions. The downside is that importing previous tax returns is a hassle... I ended up re-entering a few essential details rather than struggle with the conversion process. Having said that, I don't regret switching to a Mac or using Turbo Tax... it's made filing my annual return a lot easier and stress free now that I've moved beyond the simplicity of basic IRS forms.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mac Version is Awesome with Minor Quirks
Review: The Mac version of Turbo Tax is as realiable and hearty as its predecessors on PC with the added bonus of no spyware or installation restrictions. The downside is that importing previous tax returns is a hassle... I ended up re-entering a few essential details rather than struggle with the conversion process. Having said that, I don't regret switching to a Mac or using Turbo Tax... it's made filing my annual return a lot easier and stress free now that I've moved beyond the simplicity of basic IRS forms.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: CA State Tax Problems
Review: There are some problems with the CA State Tax. The California State Tax software does not go to completion. I own a beige G3 MT Mac, OS 8.6 with a Radeon For Mac graphics card. After three weeks, I was unsucessful in trying to get the software to work, even after several "updates". I promptly got my money back.

The Federal version works fine but this deluxe version does not seem to point out where there are potential problems nor does it recommend tax cuts as it once did in the previous versions. If they make a basic version for the Mac, I would preferably purchase the least expensive version because there are no tax advantages in purchasing the Deluxe.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Buy TaxCut instead
Review: This company has the poor customer service. When having troubles loading on a Mac I look for help. All they offer is a chat site that did not work with my operating system 8.6. Phone calls for help cost $14.95 each. If you buy TaxCut software instead you can talk to real people for free. I am returning TurboTax and buying TaxCut instead. Also, TurboTax will not import TaxCut data from last year BUT TaxCut WILL import TurboTax infor from last year (and ofcoures TaxCut from last year>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worse every year!
Review: This is my 10th year buying this tax program, and I'm really disappointed. It displayed the recursive update problem others have reported about in this review section (update over and over again, and it still would like me to update again). I guess that's fixed now, but at one point none of my forms W-2 ended up on line 7 of my 1040, which is great for lowering my taxes due, but not correct. Now that mysterious omission has moved on to line 8a, none of my interest income appears there despite it appearing on Schedule B line 4 (which reads "Enter result here and on form 1040, line 8a"). The state filing used to be a simple download, but now you have to buy it and get a rebate to pay the difference (not including sales tax). But the "purchase" button on the web page that TurboTax directs you to doesn't work -- I push it, and all I get is a spinning watch. I tried reporting these bugs to Intuit via their bug feedback page, but no response.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good product, but buggy
Review: This is the first year I'm using tax preparation software to do my return (I am using it on a Mac OS 10.2.3 machine, with add-on for California). I would say that TurboTax's interface for data entry is quite friendly and easy to use. It is the best aspect of the program. And if your employer and/or financial institutions enable downloadable tax data, then you can download the data directly to the software. Definitely diminish the chance of miscalculation, and for the latter, errors for data entry.

However, it has an annoying bug. I would like to save my returns in PDF format. What better way to do this than to use Mac OS X's "Save As PDF" feature? Turns out that it doesn't work as seamlessly as I expected. Looks like TurboTax's algorithm to print is to spool several print jobs to print your returns. In the case of the "Save As PDF", this will result in several PDF files. This creates a problem, because "Save As PDF" will write these jobs to only one file, and so the later print jobs will overwrite the earlier ones. Also, looks like the last print job is always the barebone federal return (no worksheet). If you try to print both federal and state, first it will send a job for the complete federal return, then the complete state return, and lastly the barebone federal return. Because of the overwriting, the PDF for the barebone federal return is the only one you'll get. One not-so-ideal workout is to time the spooling (race with the computer!), and quickly rename the file during the processing of one of the earlier print jobs. After several tries, I managed to get the PDF files of the returns that I want. Of course, you need lots of patience and fortitude to do this.

To summarize, TurboTax is a good product, and in the Mac version there's no annoying protection scheme as in the Windows version. But I get the impression that it's not extensively tested, probably because of the pressure to update the product every year.


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