TurboTax Premier 2004 Win/Mac

Rating:
Summary: Intuit dropped the ball this year!
Review: Big drop off in quality this year (Turbo Tax Premier). I've been using TT for many years now and this is the first year where they haven't improved upon the product, as a matter of fact, it's a big step backwards. Looks like they're trying to cut costs by consolidating the desktop and online versions into one product interface. Next year, for the first time, I'll be taking a look at the other tax programs. Wake up Intuit!!!

Rating:
Summary: Good basic functionality but poor value...
Review: Each year it gets a little more cluttered with advertising, & licensing garbage. Also, there are too many different products making it difficult to choose the right one each year -- wish they would just sell one product that did the job!! The software also seems a little less helpful each year. The "Deluxe" , "basic" & "Premier" software should be replaced by a single product -- this wasteful marketing (including various mail-in offers, etc.) just makes extra pointless work for all of us. The Premier verion is greatly overpriced and offers little beyond the basic and Deluxe models to justify its existence ... all of the functionality listed for this model should be included in the basic product.




Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended for Complex Tax Situations
Review: Highly recommended for its well-written tax interview. Especially recommended for people who are self-employed or who have rental income. My biggest complaint is how long it takes to prepare a tax return on TurboTax Premier.

Pros:
Clean user interface and understandable questions makes Turbo Tax easy to use. Generally, I get so fed up with interview-style questions that I switch to the forms mode and just avoid the interview altogether. The Turbo Tax interview, however, kept me so occupied answering questions that I didn't even think about switching to the forms mode until after the fact. Now that's good design! Contextual help questions in the form of "explain this" links. Obscure interview questions often come with a disclaimer ("This is uncommon") to keep you moving along and not getting bogged down needlessly. Imports data from the previous year's Turbo Tax or Tax Cut, and can also import data from Quicken or QuickBooks, which makes data entry even easier. I was very impressed with Turbo Tax's "Fair Market Rent Expert" tool for calculating the fair market rent of a rental real estate property. The program uses this as a way to suggest that the rent you charged was below market, thereby raising suspicion that your rental losses would be limited by the passive activity loss rules. The program finds the median rent for comparable rental units in your county, allowing you to easily compare the rent you charged versus local averages.

Cons:
My biggest complaint is the amount of time it took for me to complete a tax return. I measured the time starting from the moment I put the CD-ROM in the computer, so the time includes installation and tax preparation. It took me a little under one hour to complete a very simple tax return (53 minutes). A complex tax return took a little under two hours (1 hour, 54 minutes). By contrast, web-based tax program from another company took me one hour (start to finish) for the same complex tax return. The rest of my complaints are moderate to minor inconveniences.

Very Minor Problems:
Could not find where to enter a business asset during the interview. The program help file was not very enlightening, as it instructed me to enter the assets on the asset entry worksheet. Ok, but where is that located, and how do I get there? I finally found the worksheets by switching to forms mode. But this should have been part of the interview process. When entering Section 1244 stocks, Turbo Tax does not automatically split the losses into Section 1244 losses on the Schedule E and carryover losses on the Schedule D. The program prompted me to revise my cost basis on the Schedule E, and to input the excess loss directly on the Schedule D. Allocating income and losses is one of the reasons I want tax software! To its credit, Turbo Tax is the only tax software I have tested that actually handles Section 1244 stocks with any degree of competence, so I am actually happy that I was able to enter as much as I could. Some of the questions on the state interview were vague. (The explanation for Section 197 property was particularly vague, and sent me to the Internal Revenue Code just to find out what the program was talking about.)

Glitches:
Not all IRS forms were updated at the time of testing.

Test Cases:
Simple return: Single taxpayer, no dependents, one W-2, some bank interest, and one state return. Complex return: one W-2, Schedule A with itemized deductions, Schedule C, Schedule D, Schedule E with rental property, Schedule E with K-1 from S-Corp, Section 1244 Small Business Stock Loss, and one state return.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent as always
Review: I am not sure of R. Brenner's problem, but Turbo Tax installed great for me. This is my third year using it. The first year, I tried both Tax Cut and Turbo Tax. TurboTax was much more easier to use and much more helpful.

Turbo Tax is an excellent product. Don't take my word for it.
Ask PC Magazine [...]



Rating:
Summary: If the Website is down, DON'T BUY IT
Review: I bought this CD because the website version has been down very often recently. Once I loaded it I was amazed at the poor functionality and the lackluster value compared to the identical version available on their website. I honestly never really liked the web version either but the ability to port the data from previous years has been a plus, BUT this software (CD) version is the pits. There is no advantage to buying this for $30 more than just waiting it out for the website to work AND if you have never used it before, and the web site is not working, then shop around, maybe try the H&R Block web version. They never seem to have technical issues with connections or content like Turbo Tax and they could be considered a little more professional for what you pay for. Intuit just thinks they have the market cornered because they were one of the first web versions. I would say that after the poor performance I've seen this year, I will not be a returning customer. Good luck on your return!

Rating:
Summary: Lousy this year!
Review: I don't agree with the biased CPA below (can't buy judgement in a box). I've used TT for years and am an accountant. For MANY people it's fine. Sure, if you are rich and have complex tax issues, you may need advice. And if you are self-employed you may need help coming up with more deductions which will save you more than you pay for the help, that's fine. But for most people, with basic tax returns, tax software is fine.

BUT BEWARE OF THIS YEAR'S TURBO TAX!

Don't do it! Most likely it won't install correctly. Many people this year, including me, simply cannot run Turbo Tax. I spent hours on tech support TWICE, tried the "fixes" on the message boards at their web site, and still nothing. It simply will NOT run.
Intuit used to be a good company with good products and good customer service and tech support. But that was 10 years ago. Now? Lousy everything. I know more about their products than their tech support people. They seem to have been pulled off the street and given one hour of training.

I may try Tax Cut but I'm bummed about the review below that says TT is better than Tax Cut. If that's true, TC must REALLY be lousy! But what else can I do? TT won't work on my computer.


Rating:
Summary: Value Dropping quick
Review: I have use Tubro Tax for a long time, but the value is dropping off quick. Might as well just get the "basic" version as the "premier" has even fewer features than last year. I was disappointed that they dropped the "Tax Forcaster" funtion from 2003. I did not have any problem installing, but was forced to do a complete reinstall with an update corrupted the program. But the overall quality and value is declining. My advice is just stay with the basic if you don't need to do the state return and hope the Intuit company takes notice and starts to improve their products.

Rating:
Summary: LANDLORDS, BEWARE!!!
Review: I haven't used TurboTax in years. I own several apartment buildings and things got complicated. This year I thought I'd give it a try, but TurboTax Premier wasn't up to the job. In going through EasyStep, there is no way to enter when particular buildings were purchased! That's right - no way to account for depreciation! Unbelievable. I chatted online with their tech support twice, and they couldn't find a way around it.

Someone who wasn't paying attention would lose a lot of money by paying a lot of extra taxes.

This is incredibly inept on the part of TurboTax. I will never try buy again.

In my opinion, the program sucks.

P.S. There is a money-back guarantee, but it ain't easy. You have to chat with them online to get the address, and then return the CD ROM via UPS and pray that you get your money back. Or just do a credit card chargeback.

Rating:
Summary: Does not include State forms
Review: The instore TurboTax Premier usually includes State forms for the price. This version from Amazon does not. I should have
read the details a little closer.



Rating:
Summary: SAVED TIME AND MONEY WITH TURBO TAX!!!!
Review: THIS WAS MY FIRST YEAR USING TURBO TAX. I USUALLY USE A TAX ACCOUNTING SERVICE SINCE I HAVE A JOB AND A HOME BASED BUSINESS. I PURCHASED THE TURBO TAX PREMIER AT WAL-MART FOR ABOUT $60 AND THIS INCLUDED A REBATE FOR ONE FREE E-FILE AND IT ALSO INCLUDED STATE TAX, VIA INTERNET DOWNLOAD. IT LOADED ON MY PC(WINDOWS XP) WITH NO PROBLEMS IN UNDER 5 MINUTES. IT WAS A BLAST TO BE ABLE TO DO MY TAXES AT HOME WITHOUT WAITING IN A LONG LINE OR PAYING A TAX SERVICE UP TO 4 TIMES MORE THAN THE PRICE OF TURBO TAX.

THERE WERE ONLY A COUPLE MINOR CONS: I KEPT GET AN ERROR MESSAGE TELLING ME TO LEAVE A SPACE BLANK THAT WAS ALREADY BLANK AND AFTER CLEARING IT OUT A COUPLE TIMES IT LET ME PROCEED. THE OTHER CON IS AT THE END WHEN IT'S TIME TO PRINT FORMS TO MAIL IN. IT TELLS YOU TO PRINT A COPY FOR YOUR OWN RECORDS BUT IT ISN'T CLEAR ABOUT PRINTING A COPY TO MAIL IN TO THE IRS OR STATE AND FINALLY IT TELLS YOU THAT IT WILL TELL YOU WHERE TO MAIL YOUR FORMS BUT IT DOESN'T. YOU HAVE TO LOOK ON THE FORMS AFTER YOU PRINT THEM TO FIND THE MAILING ADDRESS FOR THE IRS OR STATE. OVERALL I LIKE THE SOFTWARE AND WILL BE USING IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!