Rating: 
Summary: Better than TurboTax
Review: I switched to TaxCut this year because I am unwilling to put up with TurboTax's "product activation" inconvenience, but I used TT for many years, and also checked out this year's TurboTax (ex-wife's copy) for comparison purposes.The programs share several annoying flaws: 1. Neither works right on a network, which is nonsense; lots of people have home networks for sharing printers, internet connections, etc., and it is often convenient to do at least some work on one's business computer. In the case of TT, given their piracy paranoia, I presume this is intentional, so lots of people at an office can't share a single copy on a network. What's TaxCut's excuse? TurboTax at least tells you, up front, that they "don't support" use on a network. Tax Cut doesn't (or, if it does, I missed it). 2. The quality and quantity of help and technical support have been going down year by year in TurboTax, whether within the program, by phone, or on their web site. This year, TaxCut is no better, help-wise, than TT (dunno about past years for TC, since, until this year, I was a loyal TurboTax user). Neither is really acceptable this year if you have a problem, and neither is as good as TurboTax was a few years ago. I encountered problems with both programs that I only managed to fix because of people on newsgroups and boards--no thanks to Intuit or Block. At TurboTax, things may be slightly worse, simply because they're having to devote so many resources to dealing with product activation problems. But Tax Cut is no great shakes in the help/tech support areas. And past TurboTax experience suggests that both will only get worse as April 15 gets closer. 3. Both TT and TC are obnoxious about hawking their other programs/services/tie-ins. I find the TaxCut interview process slightly better designed than TurboTax's, as I didn't have to mindlessly click "no" to inapplicable questions as much with TaxCut as with TurboTax. TaxCut also makes it easier to deal directly with forms. For people who don't know what they're doing, but don't have ultra-simple returns, TurboTax's more mindless approach may be better. But all in all, the programs are very much alike, to the point that I assume a lot of espionage and comparison is going on between them. I'd give Tax Cut a very slight edge on functionality, and it's considerably cheaper. If you don't object to Intuit's product activation nonsense, I'd still give TaxCut an endge. Of course, I *do* object, very, very strongly, to TurboTax's product activation nonsense. I find it completely unacceptable, and I will not buy TurboTax, or any other Intuit product, as long as they're using it. Lucky for me, Block doesn't have the nonsense, and is a more-than-acceptable alternative otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: We need computer experts not just tax experts
Review: People use tax software so that they can save money as well as prepare their taxes very easily without having deep knowledge of tax laws. 1. Taxcut is way too complicated for average user. Almost all its screens are written as they were copied from IRS publications. 2. It is very buggy program. It crashes when updating as well as importing w-2 or previous year's tax returns. 3. Technical support/ Customer service spends 15 minutes asking for all your name, address, phone information and they just don't know anything about how to fix problems. If online FAQ solves your problem then you are lucky. 4. Comapred to Turbotax, Taxcut sometimes forces you to enter information directly on forms. 5. I had lots of problems when printing forms for Taxcut state, all my forms were wrong and out of print margin. 6. I bought taxcut as well as Turbotax for comparison. I am a computer engineer and with increasing piracy and invalid use of intellectual property, don't get surprised if Taxcut introduces the same technique of product activation next year. This is not unusual. We should not forget the clear ease and performance of Turbotax that Taxcut can't even get closer. What H & R block really need is good programmers who can transform tax forms and calculations into user friendly environment. I am sticking with Turbotax and everybody who is a regular Turbotax user who changed their minds this year should also do the same. Believe me, by 4/15/2003 Turbotax sales will be higher that Taxcut. That's my word.
Rating: 
Summary: The End
Review: I went to TaxCut because of the spyware problem in TurboTax last year. The program started out fine, but would not end, and could not make electronic submissions to Fed or State. Talked to everyone in TaxCut and I felt I was debuging the program. Had to snail mail the State after finally getting the Fed return to work. Took an extra two weeks to do this.
Rating:
Summary: Former TurboTax user happy to have switched
Review: I would caution everybody to take the amazon.com reviews for H&R Block's TaxAct 2002 and for Intuit's TurboTax 2002 with a grain of salt, especially all the one- and five-star reviews which are anonymous ("A sofware user"), or sound similarly fake, (such as "Barry from San Diego, CA" and "Larry from Boston, MA"), especially reviews from names who haven't posted other amazon.com reviews previously. It seems likely to me that a few people who didn't like SafeCast, C-Dilla, and the product activation required for TurboTax started posting multiple bogus negative reviews about TurboTax (and positive reviews for TaxCut) without even having used the software, and that one or more Intuit employees or stockholders then began posting multiple one-star and equally phony reviews here for TaxCut (and fake five-star reviews for TurboTax) just to "even the score". There's a lot of baloney here in the reviews for both these software products. Read these reviews with a cynical eye. I've been reviewing products here for awhile, and this is based on my honest experience. I have no business interest in either company. I used TurboTax for my tax returns from about 1995 through 2001. I did a lot of Internet research about TurboTax 2002 and its installation of SafeCast and C-Dilla and its product activation, and decided in the end that I did not want TurboTax 2002 installed on my PC. But I was worried about having to type in all the taxpayer, W2, investment, charitable contribution info, etc., from scratch, just as a new user would have to do. I need not have worried. TaxCut 2002 imported all of it, just like TurboTax does, from last year's TurboTax return, without a hitch. Installing and updating TaxCut 2002 was a snap, just like TurboTax 2001. Be careful, as with any new software, to disable antivirus and other running software, first, and you shouldn't have a problem. Once installed, TaxCut ran very stably with Norton Antivirus running in the background on my WinXP PC. I have cable modem service, run through a router with firewall. TaxCut 2002 ran and updated just fine, as did previous editions of TurboTax. I did not try to run either product over a network, so I can't comment on that. I did not have any technical support issues which required me to call H&R Block, so I can't comment on that, either. (Both these issues have been cited by other reviewers claiming to be unhappy with TaxCut 2002.) TaxCut 2002 is not as visually appealing as TurboTax 2001. As an example, entering 1099 data in TaxCut's Interview, the data entry boxes overlap some of the program text regardless of screen resolution, making things a bit hard to read, but not fatally so. The visual appeal of tax software is not a big deal to me. TaxCut's printed tax forms look just fine. You can use Interview format, or Forms entry format, or go back and forth as you please, with TaxCut just as well as TurboTax. Item-specific help is available in TaxCut 2002, as with TurboTax, however, it was a little easier to access in TurboTax 2001. In *neither* product is it as easy as it should be to quickly find an answer to a specific question about a line on a tax return. Just like TurboTax 2001, TaxCut 2002 has a very annoying tendency to market additional goods and services to its users. Low marks for both programs for this aggravation. In the end, TaxCut 2002 did everything I needed accurately and without hanging me up. Its significantly lower price and the ability to avoid potential problems with C-Dilla and product activation required by TurboTax made it the better value for me this year. I'm glad I switched and can recommend it to other Intuit refugees.
Rating: 
Summary: Tax Cut has no Spyware C-Dilla, Turbo Tax Does!
Review: H&R Blocks Tax Cut doesn't use the Spyware tool C-Dilla. Intuit introduced this Spyware, C-Dilla, tool to it's longtime customers last year. The Spyware, C-Dilla, prevents you from doing your taxes on your notebook, then transfering them to your desk-top for printing. The Spyware, C-Dilla, prevents you from retrieving your taxes, in case of an audit, if you buy a new computer. Don't have a hard drive failure near tax filing time with the Spyware, C-Dilla, installed. Intuit made the choice between Turbo Tax and Tax Cut easy when they introduced the Spyware, C-Dilla. They sent their customers in droves over to buy H&R's Tax Cut. Thats why I started using H&R's Tax Cut!!!
Rating:
Summary: No sweat taxes
Review: Wow, the reviews are quite spotty for a very good and capable program. I am always wary of reviews, and it appears Intuit (Turbo Tax) may have required its employees to submit competitive reviews. I am not affiliated with either product and have used both, but last year switched to Tax Cut for several well publicized reasons--see previous posts. Tax Cut is cranky about using TT's data, so be prepared to fill in some data. Had worse problems when I switched from Tax Cut to TT three years back and needed to re-enter all the previous year's data. These programs do keep improving each year. I run XP, have broadband cable, run a wireless home network, and have had no issues with initial loading, downloading updates, or getting the program to work. The rebates for upgrading, free state program, on-line filings, other included freebies, all showed-up within 60 days. I also used the call-a-consultant service for advice on a real estate question and was charged the the nominal fee. Tax Cut handled all the forms on my 1040 fine, which included capital gains, carryovers, etc., and I had no repercussions from the IRS or worse, California. The program doesn't have as much "fluff" as TT, and is pretty straightforward, with not as much hand-holding, but is not invasive either. The only negative was it was a little baulky in getting the Fed return co-odinated with my CA State return, but this could have been "pilot error". Overall, a competent product.
Rating: 
Summary: how do I download it
Review: I just wasted 22 bucks. I have no way to download this product
Rating:
Summary: Tax Cut has no Spyware C-Dilla, Turbo Tax Does!
Review: H&R Blocks Tax Cut doesn't use the Spyware tool C-Dilla. Intuit introduced this Spyware, C-Dilla, tool to it's longtime customers last year. The Spyware, C-Dilla, prevents you from doing your taxes on your notebook, then transfering them to your desk-top for printing. The Spyware, C-Dilla, prevents you from retrieving your taxes, in case of an audit, if you buy a new computer. Don't have a hard drive failure near tax filing time with the Spyware, C-Dilla, installed. Intuit made the choice between Turbo Tax and Tax Cut easy when they introduced the Spyware, C-Dilla. They sent their customers in droves over to buy H&R's Tax Cut. Thats why I started using H&R's Tax Cut!!!
Rating:
Summary: 2002 Tax Cut
Review: I have no idea how this program works. It will not download. Went back and it said it had downloaded and would not let me try again.
Rating:
Summary: Easier than doing it on paper...
Review: I disagree with the users who say that the software is not user-friendly. We popped in the CD and away we go... Our taxes were done in about five hours. (My husband is super meticulous otherwise we might have been done sooner.) We've used Tax Cut every year for the past three years, and it's always been a big help. One of the really nice features is that Tax Cut saves your information (social security number, address, names, birthdates, etc.) so that each year it is a bit easier to do your taxes, especially if typing is not your thing. + Fast, easy to use + It RED FLAGS anything that the IRS might question -- this offers you a great opportunity to review what you've typed before sending + You can download new laws or tax cuts before you submit -- the laws are always changing so this is especially nice if you want to search for added deductions you might be missing + Usually comes with a rebate to do your state taxes, too + The little explanation videos are crisp and clear (except for the English usage, see below) The only drawback that I can think of is that the language of the "Help" portion of the CD is meant for people who consider themselves masters of the English language. I'm a former ESL teacher, and I can just imagine some of my students pulling their hair out or turning to Webster's every sixty seconds. So this may not be a great investment for an ESL'er. I'd suggest going to an accountant or allowing yourself A LOT of time to digest the language.
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