Rating: 
Summary: Beats Turbotax-- cheaper, better service.
Review: I had trouble buying Turbotax this year, so I "settled" for Taxcut, and am now ready to convert. It's cheaper and works just as well. According to a lot of Usenet griping, Intuit's product has some product registration issues, including a C-Dilla app that it installs on your machine without asking, and no ability to install the app on more than one machine.
Save 33% and buy Taxcut instead-- I will do so next year.
Four stars vice five because it has a somewhat hamfisted interface, and a buggy calculation on the AMT form that tech support says will be fixed in the next update.
Rating: 
Summary: TaxCut is full of bugs!
Review: I have used this program for the last three years, switching from TurboTax. I had always been happy with it so I bought it this year without looking on the Net to see if others were having troubles with it... Yes, even bought the "Platinum" edition because I have a business. What a mistake. This new version is full of bugs (and judging from the Internet comments a quick search found, I mean REALLY full of bugs). Even though I bought it a few weeks ago, my install told me that I had a pre-January version -- so I started by having to update everything (since, the program told me, it couldn't even fill out some of the simple forms and process them without error). Six hours later after chugging through the forms, things started going haywire. My spouse was suddenly earning only about 10 percent of what I knew she'd earned (and which I had carefully entered on the form), my son (the program told me) needed to fill out a 1040 form of his own due to his earnings -- which I had not entered since he had none. Finding the form, I found he had "earned" a MINUS 7,000 some dollars. Right. Then my withheld money couldn't be entered. And finally instead of owing money as I had expected, the program claimed the IRS owed me almost 10 grand. Right. If you use this to do your taxes, be sure to add a "go to jail" button as the IRS will think you must be a crook when they see the form. It is a total mess of a program. I'm taking it back to the store and hoping I can find something that works before April 15, now that I've wasted a whole day fighting this blankity, blank poor excuse for a program. Never again will I buy TaxCut. The company has lost a formerly happy customer due to its almost criminally sloppy programming. --DL
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I have used TurboTax for several years, but downloaded TaxCut for 2002 after reading about the C-dilla software issue. If you've used TurboTax before, you'll be disappointed in TaxCut. First the good. TaxCut downloaded and installed easily. It imported my 2001 TurboTax tax information easily. Now the bad. First, the interview failed to ask about my real estate taxes as I was entering my deductions. Fortunately I remembered, but I had to search around to find out where I had to go to enter them, otherwise I would have missed out on that significant deduction. What else might have been missed? The second problem is related to the code boxes in 12a and 12b of my W-2 forms. I have two W-2s, each of which has an amount in 12a (which has code C) and box 12b (which has code D). I entered the codes and amounts appropriate for each W-2. However, when I finished filling out my Federal return, TaxCut went through it's check, gave me several warnings, and in the process of reviewing those warnings, I noticed that on one W-2, both 12a and 12b were coded "C", on the other W-2, both 12a and 12b were coded "D". I have corrected this at least 10 times, each time my change appears to be accepted. Yet each time I go to verify my W-2 information, the boxes have been reset to both C and both D. Now I don't know how those codes are used in the filing process, but the program appears buggy and made me lose confidence in the whole package. If TaxCut won't accept my W-2 codes, what else is wrong that I can't see? My tax information is critical and I don't feel comfortable using this program to file my taxes.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS PROGRAM
Review: I have used TurboTax for the last 15 years (actually 5 years were MacinTax but that's beside the point), and never had a problem. Like everyone else I tried this program because of the price and the other "issues". This program locked up 35 times, and never downloaded any of the updates. I went to the website, download pages were not available, the customer feedback form was also not available, hmmm... Here's where it gets "good", I CAN order an update CD for only $5.95! OR... Why do I feel like my "value" is going out the window? My advice, brave the spyware and get a product that works and won't suck your wallet dry.
Rating:
Summary: Best Value-- Beats Turbotax
Review: I switched this year, and am happy. Turbotax's interface is a little slicker, but they both do the same thing, and Taxcut does it cheaper. It imports from Quicken and handles E-filing, and basically works just like Turbotax. (Four stars vice five for the less-than-perfect interface and because I had to call tech support about a form problem.)
They had an initial problem with the AMT form (6251) but have corrected it with the latest upgrade. No spyware, no arrogance, free tech support. Buy with confidence!
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Use
Review: I used TurboTax last year but after reading the horror stories customers wrote about registering, I opted for TaxCut for 2002 (plus TaxCut is cheaper). The initial installation went very smoothly. I then downloaded the updated files and forms. I have a cable connection but it took rather a long time. During the download, the process seemed to stall for a long time but eventually everything downloaded and updated properly. Doing the program itself was easy - you are taken through an "interview" process in which you are asked to supply the information and numbers required to complete your return. Piece of cake! I supplied the information, printed out my return and checked it over, and it looks good. Throughout the session you are kept informed of what the program is trying to do, and are given applicable links to click if you (the user) needs more information about the interview item. Negatives: I updated the forms and files before the interview process brought up the subject. When the interview suggested it, I clicked the button again and it seemed like the program froze. There was no download status or other status box telling me what happened and when I clicked on other links, nothing happened. I couldn't close the program, either (Windows XP) - the only way I could get out was to tell XP to turn off the whole computer, not just the program. Maybe this happened because I already downloaded the update? I don't know. The other negative is that during the final check it gave me a warning that my FICA withheld was more than the the 6.2% limit, but that was not the case. Maybe a rounding error? I don't know about that, either. But those are the two "problems" I experienced. Other than that, the program ran smoothly and was well worth the money. If you don't have a really complex return (if you have something that complicated then you should be able to afford a live person), it does the job in a competent way. TurboTax worked well for me last year, but I think I will stick with TaxCut from now on because (1) it is cheaper; (2) no registration nightmare; and (3) LESS annoying ads for other vendors. While TaxCut tries to get you to subscribe to other services, etc., it seems much less obnoxious than TurboTax.
Rating: 
Summary: works fine with my browsers!
Review: I'm puzzled by the complainer from CT who can't run Tax Cut without Internet Explorer. The software doesn't require a web browser to run, though of course you need one to update it or get online help. I tried unloading IE and loading Opera. Then I loaded Tax Cut and clicked on online help. It connect to the Tax Cut website without any complaint. If there's a problem here, it may be with Netscape. I can't check, because I recently installed Netscape 7.01 and it won't connect to the web at all!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Choice
Review: I've used both TurboTax and TaxCut over the past few years and both make relatively painless work of preparing tax returns for Uncle Sam. I lean toward TaxCut because it seems a bit more user friendly to me. One annoyance: Internet Explorer MUST be loaded on your computer or the software will not run. Mr. Gates must need more pocket change.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough to convert me
Review: I, like many other former TurboTax users, purchased the TaxCut software expecting a lower quality product that would get the job done with minimal bells and whistles. I found that TaxCut is not only visually appealing in a simplistic yet professional manner but it is also incredibly easy to use. It takes care of the biggest chunk of work by being able to import your tax file from the previous year for either TaxCut or TurboTax software. This made the transition to TaxCut practically transparent. TaxCut has all the features and functionality you'd expect in tax software without the spyware hocus-pocus of TurboTax. I suspect it will take Intuit a while to recover from their design screw up. Of course, that will depend greatly on H&R Block's ability to enhance and more aggressively market TaxCut. This is the stuff that open market competition strives for! Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: More than fine for the job
Review: Intuit's changes to TurboTax this year encouraged me to make the change to TaxCut. My thought was: why should I pay a premium for TurboTax to install spyware and activation requirements on my computer, when I can buy a similar program for less? To be honest, after several years of using TurboTax, the navigation on TaxCut took me a little while to get used to. Once I got the handle, though, it was fine. Every now and then, the program left an issue or two poorly explained, but I can recommend the program overall as a strong alternative to TurboTax.
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