Rating: 
Summary: Worked well for me
Review: Tax Cut did everything I expected and more. The four stars was only because it was a little difficult to read the help messages and their rebates are a borderline scam (save absolutely all your receipts and retail paperwork, or you may not have what they require for the rebate)... Improvements there would give it five in my book. I'm not sure why all the complaining, Tax Cut worked fine for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Importing from Turbo Tax is broken
Review: Bad piece of software ! I imported from Turbo Tax and found out after filing that they imported my last years data incorrectly!
Plus all the stuff the other guys also say are true - bad navigation , confusing layout. Hopefully the filing goes thru the 2nd time without problems . You have to choose between 2 bad products Turbo Tax and TaxCut!
Rating:
Summary: Beware!! Internet security lacking for e-filing.
Review: Just tried to e-file my taxes with this product. After 2 unsuccessful attempts, I checked their FAQ for transmission problems. (See for yourself at www.taxcut.com/customer_support, then click e-filing, transmission errors, connectivity problems) They recommend disabling your anti-virus software, disabling your firewall and circumventing your router. Apparently, they don't want you to protect your very valuable personal information at ALL!! I'm horrified. These are basics!! If you're going to e-file I recommend looking elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the uncertainty and aggravation
Review: Annoying, frustrating problems with TaxCut in order of importance - #1 - Calculations are off. In doing my state taxes, the always visible window of running totals for fed/state amounts owed (or refunds due) was showing my state refund at one dollar amount, while the main screen was telling me "I see you have a refund of (ten dollars less than the running totals window was showing)". Not good. In printing out my state returns, one copy read "1078" for medical deductions; the next day when I printed out another copy the numbers were altered (no one else was working on this but me )and the number printed out as "178", which threw all of the other numbers off. Also on the state return, my refund on screen appeared as one number, and on the printout of the instructions on how to file, the refund number was off by $200 (on screen it had been off by $10).
#2 - The TaxCut Deluxe box advertises (screams) that if you buy the Deluxe version, the State program is free. How do you go about getting the necessary form for your state refund? Don't bother looking on the TaxCut Deluxe box, you'll find no helpful information there. If you download the state product, you will find no references whatsoever to this mythical "rebate"; and if you get clever and visit the H&R Block website, you're also in for a surprise - finding this information is not easy (almost impossible actually.
Do enough digging and you will eventually be led to a link that tells you the form you need is buried in your program files under TaxCut/Setup in PDF version (why would anyone think of looking there in the first place??) It's not there, so don't waste your time searching.
If you're not computer savvy and you are trying to work through these instructions, you have probably already given up. The key to success here is to refuse to accept worthless automated replies for an answer and demand the rebate form that was promised to you. That tactic eventually worked for me. If they really cared about the customer and wanted to avoid deceptive marketing practices, they would have simply posted the needed forms on their website. H&R Block certainly does NOT want to make it easy for you to get the refund they lured you with to buy their product.
#3 If you are downloading the state program, you are given a choice of purchasing a $4.99 "download backup protection service." Click "no" as I did and learn afterwards that you were charged for this unwanted tack-on anyway. Email your complaint (best of luck finding the contact email) to have this resolved.
Last point(s)...be careful when you set up & install TaxCut..unless you scrutinize the instructions you'll find EarthLink busily installing itself as your new dial up ISP(again the less computer savvy would be duped into thinking this installation was a necessary element of the TaxCut program)
Finally, after all of this, be prepared to endure quite a few irritating pitches for H&R Block products/services & related information while you're stressing out, aggravated as hell & trying to concentrate on completing your returns.
Rating:
Summary: Stay away
Review: Form navigation is poor (budget a LOT of time for a Partnership return), there are too many bugs, and you have to wait forever for updated forms.
Rating:
Summary: It does the job
Review: This review is for people who use 1040. I did not have any major problems when using the TaxCut:-
1. I managed to import data from TaxCut 2002 so I saved time when doing my tax.
2. It did all the calculations for me (save time)
3. All the smart 'gadgets' ask the questions to make you aware of your financial matters during 2003.
4. Any discrepancies, it will tell you when you 'run' the
'Check my form-utility' thing. So, you can do the validations yourself.
5. When it comes to doing tax, this thing is as good as it gets - if you compare it to the tax advisor(1040 form only! I cannot talk for other types of forms). I cannot justify paying $150 to a tax advisor when my return is about $500.00.
6. When you e-file, it asks for your Adjusted Gross Income. It's very handy because TaxCut remembered it for me - by retrieving it from my 2002 data. Potential Problems(Well these are the problems that I faced)
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Resolution problem. my laptop has a very high resolution (1600 X 1200) so some of the texts and lines do not appear correctly. I had to re-install it on my pc (has a regular resolution) and it works fine!
2. E-file tax rebate problem
What an Einstein! Who put a rebate form in the Quick Guider. I'm not a messy person so I threw away the quick guide. Guess what, I threw away the e-file rebate for ($14.95). I am still waiting for them to get back to me.
3. Multiple stamps for multiple rebate forms
My god! I have to use 4 stamps to get the rebates back. Plus you have to photocopy your receipts 4 times, and the serial numbers too. Yup, when giving back money, they don't make it easy for you.
4. It rounded some numbers for my capital gains/loss(in state form) , i.e. $37.8, but left it 'un-round' in my federal formi,e $32.78.
Hence, I received some warnings when trying to e-file the state tax.
5. The annoying part is when you want to get back to the software, it doesn't know where you left off. Hence, you have to remember what you did last time. Overall, I am pretty happy with TaxCut. I was using Turbo Tax for a while but the 'copyright' thing bothers me. I don't want a software vendor to install any malicious monitoring program on my pc. My suggestion:
1. Make sure you gather all your receipts first before start working on the forms - That is one thing that it can't do; advise you that you forget to file your capital gains/losses.
2. Print out the forms and verify the numbers before you e-file them. I just wanted to be sure.
Rating:
Summary: TaxCut Premium you get what you pay for.
Review: After 5 years using Turbo Tax I decide to try TaxCut premium.Why not?.... I got programs like anti-virus, Will and deduction pro with rebates and free money 2004, state and e-filling after tax off course. Did I mention Price? I will end up spending just $65. To begin, I open the program full screen, to the right of the program the help section, with answers to your possible questions,to the left empty space on the bottom the same empty space. Wait!!! only a quarter of the screen is usable? ok! let look for a view zoom or enlargement for the screen, no luck. I said oh well!! for the price.. I started answer questions but wait!! I have passed pages after pages and I only have the 1st W2 completed? What is wrong? I finally realize the quarter screen will cause problems and instead of finishing in a day it may take days.I started to look the possibility of returning the program but again look all you got, anti-virus, money 2004, deduction pro, state and a will program. I download to the program my gains and losses from Quicken, huge mistake. It was repeated twice, forget about deleting the double entry, everytime I delete a sale the screen goes to default, main screen up second screen down;(remember the 1/4 screen? creates scroll bars) so, scroll those bar for long time and you lost track of what you did.In top of that if I delete an entry its create another of the same so, I end up deleting the same entry 5 times; finally last click I'm done with Gains and losses.
Wait!! Oh no!! the program also deleted some of my gains and losses.Do I have to start over? Heck, no!!! I took all the special offer softwares and rebates back to the store and return the open TaxCut to H&R Block for a refund. I went back to my Turbo Tax and all the screen are usable when you get long forms or questions. I love it!! Forgive me Intuit for trying to use a cheaper piece of junk program called TaxCut. Remember, you get what you pay for......
Rating:
Summary: Unethical Business Practice
Review: I used TaxCut last year with few problems and I decided to opt for the 2003 downloadable Deluxe version. TaxCut informed me it would e-mail me when it was available for download. I NEVER received an e-mail notification and finally called them a few days ago ... granted it was a huge pain in the rear just to find a phone number to talk with a human being. After a few inquiry e-mails with their on-line customer service, I got some numbers (952-253-8558 for on-line users or 888-4TaxCut). After sending me back and forth between a few mostly incompetent "customer service" representatives, they informed me that they indeed sent me an e-mail in November notifying me of its availability. I receive no spam in my e-mail in-box, so it's not as if I would've forgotten or deleted the e-mail from them! I consider myself a responsible person! They were basically calling me a liar and said "tough sh--." All I was asking for was a reimbursement of the extended download service ($5). This, evidently, was asking for the moon. So, now I have to purchase the extended download service to even use the software I purchased in September 2003. Yeah, it's only $5, but the general principle of this bugs me. I wonder how many other people they've gouged. It's extremely poor and unethical business practice and I would recommend paying the extra cash for either TurboTax or a professional tax preparer.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the uncertainty and aggravation
Review: Annoying, frustrating problems with TaxCut in order of importance -
#1 - Calculations are off. In doing my state taxes, the always visible window of running totals for fed/state amounts owed (or refunds due) was showing my state refund at one dollar amount, while the main screen was telling me "I see you have a refund of (ten dollars less than the running totals window was showing)". Not good. In printing out my state returns, one copy read "1078" for medical deductions; the next day when I printed out another copy the numbers were altered (no one else was working on this but me )and the number printed out as "178", which threw all of the other numbers off. Also on the state return, my refund on screen appeared as one number, and on the printout of the instructions on how to file, the refund number was off by $200 (on screen it had been off by $10). #2 - The TaxCut Deluxe box advertises (screams) that if you buy the Deluxe version, the State program is free. How do you go about getting the necessary form for your state refund? Don't bother looking on the TaxCut Deluxe box, you'll find no helpful information there. If you download the state product, you will find no references whatsoever to this mythical "rebate"; and if you get clever and visit the H&R Block website, you're also in for a surprise - finding this information is not easy (almost impossible actually. Do enough digging and you will eventually be led to a link that tells you the form you need is buried in your program files under TaxCut/Setup in PDF version (why would anyone think of looking there in the first place??) It's not there, so don't waste your time searching. If you're not computer savvy and you see these instructions, you have probably already given up. The key to success here is to refuse to accept worthless automated replies for an answer and demand the rebate form that was promised to you. That tactic eventually worked for me. If they really cared about the customer and wanted to avoid deceptive marketing practices, they would have simply posted the needed forms on their website. H&R Block certainly does NOT want to make it easy for you to get the refund they lured you with to buy their product. #3 If you are downloading the state program, you are given a choice of purchasing a $4.99 "download backup protection service." Click "no" as I did and learn afterwards that you were charged for this unwanted tack-on anyway. Email your complaint (best of luck finding the contact email) to have this resolved. Last point(s)...be careful when you set up & install TaxCut..unless you scrutinize the instructions you'll find EarthLink busily installing itself as your new dial up ISP(again the less computer savvy would be duped into thinking this installation was a necessary element of the TaxCut program) Finally, after all of this, be prepared to endure quite a few irritating pitches for H&R Block products/services & related information while you're stressing out, aggravated as hell & trying to concentrate on completing your returns. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Bugs in Software
Review: After using TurboTax for 2 years, I decided to give TaxCut a try. Big mistake! After going through the interview process, an error check produced about 4 warnings. None of the warnings made sense to me. A second error check was done just before filing electronically and found 2 errors. I had to override the computed values for a couple of fields to correct the problem.
Then, I got errors trying to send my return electronically. The advice from H&R Block was to remove my router, disable my firewall, and disable my antivirus software! My friend told me the problems sending electronically has been there for 2 years. Then I purchased TurboTax and everything worked flawlessly the first time. I will never buy TaxCut again.
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