Rating: 
Summary: Wouldn't use anything else!
Review: I started doing my taxes with Mac-in-Tax years ago. Since then, I've occassionally wavered and used other products (both mac and pc), including Tax Cut, but always run back to my beloved TurboTax. Does it include some random things that I don't care about, make me pay a premium for using a mac, and have an odd spyware issue? Yes. But some of the innovations - like being able to download some W-2s, make things more fun. It is far better than pencil & paper, more user-friendly than competing products, and allows you to do your taxes with no internet access at all (if need be). In all, I don't consider using anything else.
Rating: 
Summary: Non-Qualified Stock Option (NQSO) Bug!!!
Review: I used TT again this year, but NEVER again. Non-Qualified Stock Options (with short-term gain; multiple share price sale) are NOT listed properly in the 1040 table columns. The final numbers seem correct, but the 1040 data (stock sale proceeds and resultant gain/loss) is corrupted. IMO, this would be an audit trigger for sure. I literally caught this bug as I was stuffing my envelope to send my return to the IRS. I used OS9. If you used TT for NQSO reporting -- DOUBLECHECK YOUR 1040. Instead of waiting for TT to get their act together, I just used TaxCut and it work perfectly.
Rating: 
Summary: Foreign Tax Credit Bugs and Clueless Support
Review: I've been using TT Premier for Home and Business for the second year now. Both the 2002 and 2003 versions crash (in OSX) if you need to use forms for Foreign Tax credits. Moreover, the software mistakenly puts foreign taxes paid as the Revenue on the key forms. You need to change this manually. Finally the software does not understand the some critical issues around classiyfing foreign revenue. I had to double-check the Internal Revenue Code on this, but basically Intuit does not understand the definitions of "Passive Income" and "High Witholding Tax" (they are both "Passive Income" but have dramatically different tax rates. When I spoke to their support people, it was a joke. The support person didn't have the same software package on his computer and had to guess at what the screens were. He was simultaneously chatting with one of the higher level support people who couldn't understand what he was typing and also got frustrated.) Suffice it say, a lack of choice has made me use this software, but it's sad when a non-professional has a better understanding of tax law than Inuit's programmers. This software is probably good for basic taxes, but be careful if you have anything more complicated than w-2 and 1099's to handle.
Rating:
Summary: Updates a nightmare, no customer support
Review: I've used Turbotax ever since the MacInTax years, and the software was always easy to use and update--until now. Using an iMac with OS 9.2.2 and Turbotax Deluxe 2003, over a 56K modem the update that promises to take "just a few minutes" actually takes about 120 of them, that is, if something does not crash on you first. The updates would apparently install successfully but the program kept telling me, "You've never checked for updates"--and refused to let me fill out form 4652 for Depreciation based on that. After attempting the download at least three or four times, I ordered the "update on CD". It took 10 days to arrive. After installing it, the same error message appeared again. Also, apparently the "update" does not put obsolete files into the trash. Therefore, finally after several 'Update" attempts I ended up with several folders and did not know which files were up to date or which files my program was pointing to. So I spent several hours going through all the folders manually comparing file creation dates. This enabled me to finally complete form 4652 but after finishing the State return, I once again received an error message, "You've never checked for updates". All I've spent the last three weeks doing is checking for updates! The State return was very disappointing also, because, if you need to quit in the middle, the software cannot remember where you left off--so you may have to click through literally tens of screens to get back to where you were. Intuit's online "support" was a pointless waste of hours and hours of even more time. With this year's product being so unsatisfactory, I simply could not justify sending Intuit a single penny more to get it working. I shouldn't have to. I began my tax return at the end of February. Now it is April 13 and I still have not got this garbage product running. Next year I won't mind spending hundreds of dollars more to take my taxes to an accountant. Time is money too, and life is way too short to waste any of it trying to fix a product that ought to have been debugged and finished BEFORE it was shipped.
Rating:
Summary: ZERO MAC SUPPORT
Review: Intuit treats Mac users as second class citizens. I bought Turbotax Deluxe 2003 for the Mac. I installed the Federal return CD, but could not get the "free" state download. Repeated calls and emails to customer service resulted in the advice that I PAY FOR MY "FREE" DOWNLOAD, and then seek reimbursement. I've been using Turbotax for 4 years, and have always had problems getting them to honor their rebates, so no way am I going to trust them to reimburse me. Their claim of a free download is fraudulent.
Rating:
Summary: frustration with tt once again
Review: last year I could not efile my tt return. of course, intuit's online help was useless.... and was never able to solve the problem. I had to print and file it...but, at least the program worked.
alas this year, the program crashed continually....the program is actually worse than last years.....
at least intuit is consistent- I tried online help again, and it was totally worthless.
here goes... I installled on mac os X panther...everything smooth until I get to the sch A business expenses. afetr completing the section and hitting return, the program crashed. well, tried again and crashed 5X. I give up signed up for chat hep- waited for 20 minutes- and the help says "reinstall the program." Ha ha ha. yeah sure, but to humor them I did it. guess what, it did not work.
Intuit basically sucks. they appear to unleash their tax program on the public w/o actually making sure it works. too bad there isn't more competition for this PATHETIC PROGRAM.
Rating:
Summary: Now if they'd stop charging a premium for Mac users.
Review: Regarding the C-Dilla issue... this is the statement from Intuit, makers of TurboTax. Keep in mind, it was never in the Mac software anyway. "In response to customer feedback, we have removed the technology from TurboTax 2003 products. In addition, Intuit is changing its policy and updating the TurboTax software license agreement, enabling customers to use TurboTax software to install, prepare, file and print multiple returns for themselves and their family from multiple computers." I've always found TurboTax to be a very good product. If this C-Dilla issue proves to have been resolved, it may be again. However, their insistance that they need to charge a 25% premium for the Mac version is just foolish.
Rating:
Summary: cautions!
Review: The following is from a message I sent to someone. My relatively low rating is based on the fact that Intuit couldn't be bothered to point these two things out. This is using OS 10.3.2. I too discovered that I had to scroll all the way down the license window before the 'accept' button became active. I wasted many hours finding this out. It wasn't my intelligence---pure desperation! I also have never seen this before. I can't begin to tell you all the useless things I have been doing all day!! One interesting point I noted. When I finally did do the install and started up the program, it wouldn't work. It claimed that there were missing fonts. It turns out that the five fonts installed by TurboTax were installed with the default setting of 'off.' Once I activated them in FontBook, everything was OK.
Rating:
Summary: cautions!
Review: The following is from a message I sent to someone. My relatively low rating is based on the fact that Intuit couldn't be bothered to point these two things out. This is using OS 10.3.2. I too discovered that I had to scroll all the way down the license window before the 'accept' button became active. I wasted many hours finding this out. It wasn't my intelligence---pure desperation! I also have never seen this before. I can't begin to tell you all the useless things I have been doing all day!! One interesting point I noted. When I finally did do the install and started up the program, it wouldn't work. It claimed that there were missing fonts. It turns out that the five fonts installed by TurboTax were installed with the default setting of 'off.' Once I activated them in FontBook, everything was OK.
Rating: 
Summary: I must be one of the lucky ones!
Review: This is my fourth year using TurboTax products (twice on PC and twice on Mac). I installed TurboTax Deluxe for Mac 2003 on my iMac (1ghz, 512mb RAM) that is running Mac OS 10.3.2 (Panther). Install went off without a hitch and lasted less than five minutes. Now the fun of completing taxes begins... I entered all of my (and my wife's) information in TurboTax's questionnaire style format. Total processing time will vary depending on how complex your tax situation is (itemized deductions, stock sales, small business owner, rental properties, etc). The total time spent completing 1040A was approximately 2 hours. From there TurboTax asked me if I'd like to purchase and download the the state edition in order to complete my state taxes. In the past, I've always manually computed my state taxes, but this year I decided to see just how easy it is to have TurboTax do it. After reading all the information, it was apparent that I needed to purchase the State product, however, after completing a rebate form, the $29.95 will be refunded (in 8 weeks). Download on DSL took approximately 45 seconds. Installation another minute. Then I became really impressed with this product. Having already completed my Federal Taxes, it took TurboTax less than a minute to complete my State Taxes. A couple of questions followed and it was completed. Printed two copies of each filing and I was off to the post office. Some observations/recommendations:
1) Stable program - I had no problems with TurboTax of any kind. 2) Very fast - no one likes paying taxes, but at least this wasn't time consuming. 3) If you want to complete your state taxes at the same time as your federal and only enter data in once, I highly recommend you purchase and download the state product. -NOTE- I am in no way affiliated or employed by Intuit (TurboTax, Quicken, etc). I have no experience with getting rebates from this company, but even if they are dreadful as another reviewer suggested, I still think it is worth $29.95. If I did it manually, it would have taken me at least an hour and I know my time is worth more than thirty bucks. 4) Despite the higher cost (versus the PC edition's price) I rated this five stars. Don't get me wrong, I'm upset that Intuit charges more for essentially the same product. However, as a long-time PC user who switched to Mac about a year and a half ago, I'd rather pay a little more than switch back to a PC. At least in my experiences, my PC would crash about once per week after the first six months of use. Highly recommended.
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