Rating: 
Summary: I've switched to H&R Block Tax Cut
Review: I used TurboTax and MacInTax (the Apple variant of Turbo Tax) for about 8 years. In 1999 I found the software had some rediculous bugs in it, and the instructions were lacking (didn't tell me where I should post a $$ amount). I called Intuit to tell them about the error, and to get further instruction on where to put the $$ amount. Their customer support was poor, and very frustrating. They didn't want to hear about the bug. I was trying to HELP them, but they said that if I wanted to report the problem I'd have to write them a letter. They refused to take the information over the phone! They also refused to provide any further instruction on how to use the software. I was not looking for tax counselling, I was only trying to get a basic question answered. So ... I switched to H&R Block Tax Cut. The software was approximately the same design as the TurboTax. I didn't encounter any problems with it, and I didn't have any occasion to call their customer service.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't use this program if you're running Windows 2000!!!
Review: I'm running Windows 2000 Professional and ended up with major problems that resulted in lengthy downtime and difficulties in getting back up and running. Like one of the other reviewers, I had system crashes and hardware and software problems that took ages to solve. I'll never try that again! I used TurboTax for my 2000 tax year on Windows 98 and didn't have any trouble at all.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but review your forms
Review: I've bought this product for that last several years, and have always found it very useful. However, it almost cost me $3,600 in refunds last year. I have a rental property, and after entering all of the information it calculated that the deductions for the rental property were not allowed. I did a once over on the forms and then sent them in without realizing that it hadn't included the deduction (pretty stupid thing to do after I thought about it). Thank goodness the IRS caught the mistake and added the $3,600 into my refund. I've bought the product again this year as it does help in tracking information from year to year. But, I'll definitely be thoroughly reviewing the forms before sending them in.If you've got complex tax issues such as if you're a heavy stock trader, own a rental property, live overseas, etc. it's a worthwhile product. If you've got a pretty basic tax return that only includes family and mortgage deductions you might question whether it's really worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good software, price too high, easy to use
Review: I've criticized TurboTax for five years (since it bought Personal Tax Edge for TurboTax). It has taken since 1997 for Intuit Software to finally produce a simple to use, competitively albeit high priced, federal tax software program. They finally did it. This is a good tax software product. Unless this is your first year completing your federal income tax on a computer and need hand holding, buy the ... not the deluxe or premium versions of Turbo Tax and buy the all-states state tax version (January 27th) of Turbo Tax as well. (The $.. tax software is exactly the same minus a talking narrator and lots of extraneous nonsense.) The federal and state integration (at least for PA) is perfect....TurboTax and a good computer makes tax form preparation for e-filing or print and mail a snap. All tax forms and tax preparation guidance is included. Integration with Fidelity data is perfect ....
Rating:
Summary: Not great for multi-state returns
Review: I've used this product since 1995 and like it a lot. It has handled complex situations, such as when I married and my wife was a non-resident of the US. However, in 2001, I spent some months working in California, so I must file dual-state returns between Virginia (resident) and California (non-resident). TurboTax doesn't handle this very well. It tells you to do your non-resident state return first, but unfortunately there's a weird setup between VA and CA that requires you to do VA first, even if you're a VA resident. Granted, this is a quirk of the tax agreement between VA and CA, but be aware that the same situation exists between VA and a few other states. Otherwise, a great product and I highly recommend it. From 2002 on, I am back to single-state returns, so I anticipate no problems at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy and quick, and the video comments really explain well
Review: I've used TT for several years and it just gets better and better. Often reading an explanation just doesn't cut it, and the videos (on the CD) are understandable and clear. The interview porocess is thorough and printing is quick and easy--a great product!
Rating:
Summary: TurboTax = Reload Operating system
Review: I've used TT for several years and though somewhat buggy; I've been able to work my way through the problems. I have rental properties and have to fill out several schedules. TT never correctly calculates "Credit to Other Taxing Juristdictions"; I usually end up forcing the correct entries in the Forms view. If you have this credit; you also can't file your state return electronically. For 2001, TT insistence on loading their version of IE 5.5 gave me grief from the start. One touch updates and downloads of the State product left me on the phone for hours. Finally the tech emailed me an external link to download from. It so screwed up my system that I ended up reformatting my hard disk and reloading all my programs.
Like at tax time I needed another headache!
Rating:
Summary: TurboTax = Reload Operating system
Review: I've used TT for several years and though somewhat buggy; I've been able to work my way through the problems. I have rental properties and have to fill out several schedules. TT never correctly calculates "Credit to Other Taxing Juristdictions"; I usually end up forcing the correct entries in the Forms view. If you have this credit; you also can't file your state return electronically. For 2001, TT insistence on loading their version of IE 5.5 gave me grief from the start. One touch updates and downloads of the State product left me on the phone for hours. Finally the tech emailed me an external link to download from. It so screwed up my system that I ended up reformatting my hard disk and reloading all my programs.
Like at tax time I needed another headache!
Rating:
Summary: Installation Problems
Review: I've used Turbo Tax for several years now, but never again. The original installation messages were disconcertingly wrong about my system. Once installed, when I tried to do the one-click updates I got an alert that said simply "One-click updates problem. . ." -- nothing else, no clue. When I downloaded the manual updates, they seemed to install - finished with "OK", but when I went into TT, I got a message "TT has detected patches that are not installed." I went to the support site - nada. Tried their live advisor -- could not connect. Other support options included: $14.95/minute for advise on a non-working product or 45 minute wait for free support. Who has time or $ for these things? If television had started like this, we'd still be listening to radio. I checked the message boards and found that I seem to be one of the lucky ones -- TT doesn't work, but my system still does.
Rating:
Summary: Caution if you are using this product with Win 2000
Review: In the past this was a great product. However, I found the 2001 product version to be very unstable running under Win 2000. It caused numerous program crashes, resulting in lost data and time. Eventually I had to go with another program.
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