Rating: 
Summary: TaxCut Deluxe and DeductionPro
Review: I had none of the problems that several have complained about using TaxCut Deluxe 2003. I have used TurboTax before. I switched to TaxCut last year because of the many complaints TurboTax was getting about their registration program, spyware, etc. I had no problems completing my taxes, no duplications of W-2's, no problems getting updates. I found my experience with using this tax program not much different from TurboTax. I do have a problem with H&R Block though. TaxCut Deluxe offers a rebate for DeductionPro. The tax program will even take you to the H&R Block website to give you an opportunity to download the product to help with non-cash charity donations to calculate what should be claimed. The problem with downloading DeductionPro is that the rebate for the product is not honored if it is downloaded. It has to be purchased at a retail store to get the rebate. No where on the website, on the rebate coupon, or in the program does it state that the rebate is not good if the program is downloaded directly. It does indicate to send in the UPC code from the box of the product, but if I downloaded it directly from their website, they should have a record that it was purchased legally. They gave me some bogus excuse "that due to customer buying habits, we have elected not to honor rebates unless purchased from a retail store", or something to that effect. I think the product is good, but I don't like their business practices. I may well go back to TurboTax next year. I am giving the product two stars because of their business practices. Overall, I thought the way it handled my taxes was acceptable.
Rating: 
Summary: When will the rebate scams stop????
Review: Like many others, I was particularly torqued with Turbo Taxes Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, C-dilla, and was infuriated when I had to buy a second copy of the software since it would not print on the machine it was registered to print. I then set out to try an alternative, namely Tax Cut. Although the screens are probably not as glitzy as Turbo Tax, they were adequate and got the job done. I then went through the very laborious process of getting a state tax, package knowing full well it was going to be a scam. I even sent it out priority mail, delivery confirmation. They sent the entire package back with a note that stated that the UPC had to be sent in order to get the rebate; yes, you guessed it, the rebate fell out of the package right were I sent it. I am still looking at the tax cut box with a hole in the bottom where the UPC was cut out. There out to be criminal penalties for this type of deceptive practice. I guess I am going back to Turbo Tax now that they ditched DRM technology.
Rating:
Summary: Tax Cut Doesn't Cut it
Review: Tax Cut imported an 1099 DIV form that wasn't mine. It doubled my Schedule C income by including last year's 1099 MISC income when I ran Error Check (This generates errors rather than fixing them). The 2-year comparison sheet wasn't even close on last year's numbers. To get a useful return, I had to delete all previous depreciation expense and then enter it by hand. Depreciation shows up on the worksheets but not on my tax form. This product increases your taxes, makes all kinds of errors and doesn't explain anything so it hard to tell if something that doesn't look right is another Tax Cut goof or really should be there. Give yourself a break (tax and otherwise), don't buy this product.
Rating:
Summary: buggy
Review: I used TaxCut last year, and had no problems, though it was a bit more difficult to use than TurboTax. This year the interface is much slicker, but bugs prevented me from efiling. I'd started doing my taxes a few weeks ago, and gave up when I got to the State section and was told to enter the information directly into the forms. Tomorrow is the deadline, though, so I went back, worked through the forms, and ran the error check - all was fine. Then when I went to efile I was told I couldn't because I hadn't entered information about investment income from a dependant. There was nothing in my return about dependants, so I don't know where that came from, and I can't turn it off. There was also a problem with a 1099-MISC. It passes the initial check, but not the efile check. There isn't enough information to help me decide if there's a mistake in the return or whether the efile option just isn't available for me. If I "fix" the problem, I'm pretty sure I'm classifying the income in the wrong way. So now I'll just have to print everything out and go stand in line at the post office.
Rating:
Summary: Should be a zero stars
Review: TaxCut Deluxe 2003 is the most awful software I have ever tried to use. It let me enter all my data and then absolutely refused to go the final step until I logged into the internet and allowed it to "check for updates for child care costs" or some such ridiculous excuse, which it spent 20 minutes downloading. And I don't even claim any dependents! I suspect that it was uploading my income and address data to H&R Block. You can't tell what it's doing. Then it has no screen view of your final tax return---you have to print out 5 pages to see it! Truely awful. Never buy this. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Not even one star
Review: This software had us owing over $700.00. We knew something was wrong so on top of the $26.00 I paid for the software I then went to have a tax person look them over for another $30.00. Apparently the software automatically puts numbers in that it shouldn't. Bottom line, we did them over ourselves and got a return of over $2,000.00 which is about our usual amount. I begged my husband to try this software. Never again.
Rating:
Summary: TaxCut was a $14,000 TAX HIKE!
Review: Due to a bug in TaxCut, my W-2 form got duplicated. This changed us from having a $7,000 refund to owing $7,000. I didn't catch TaxCut's bug before I e-filed. Now I've got to go file amended returns for both Federal and State. What a nightmare! This thing is supposed to make my life *easier*? NOT! Besides that, the program's just generally buggy.
Rating:
Summary: Watch Out for the Hidden Errors--DANGEROUS TO USE
Review: Previously used Turbotax to do my taxes but this year there were many TaxCut offers and Rebates so thought I would try TaxCut instead. Sorry I did.The only thing that was good is that with the importing of information, it first seems quicker. But the errors and the problems are a disaster. Links do not work. Even an items simple as telling you "Where to File" instead of taking you to an address leads to just an general information page (with no addresses in sight) Must check that inputted information is in fact used in Return. Fact that there was a question and you answered it does not mean that the information was used.Just one example--inputted both NYC local taxes paid and NY State taxes paid--both reported on same return--but while TaxCUT computed the amount of taxes owed for each, it refused to credit my local taxes paid, showing only the State--resulting in an erroneous amount due. Multiple times I tried to correct this. No way to do it. Would not even Override!Correction of other TaxCut created errors sometimes could not be done with Overrides but then Return could not be eFiled!
Rating:
Summary: This program is a stinker!
Review: This program stinks! First of all, it took me forever to do my taxes on this d*** thing. Then we had to download the State Taxes after it said on the box that it was included with the Federal Taxes. Next, when all was said and done (yea right!) it said I had warnings and erros but it didn't say how to fix it. After many screams and hollers, I was ready to e-file (a big joke!); I had to fill out even more paper work then I did when I had to do it by snail mail. And I couldn't even print it out for snail mail! Whoever made this program, must have been a nerd who got picked on a lot and this is their revenge.
This program stinks, stay away from it and do what you normally do. All this does is ask you bogus questions about, God knows what, and you're left with anger and fustration. I'd give this a big fat ZERO if I could but it gets a one by default.
Rating:
Summary: Federal fine, State not so good
Review: I had a mixed experience with Taxcut. I have been doing my returns by hand for years, and I finally decided to use software this year. I really dislike Intuit as a company, so I went with Taxcut instead of Turbotax. Overall, the process was quite painless. I have a slightly more complicated than average return, and I completed the whole Federal process in about 3.5 hours, which is significantly less than manual filing. I actually recieved a slightly higher refund than I anticipated. So far, so good. Then I proceeded to file my NY State taxes. THE SOFTWARE SAID I OWED ~$5000 MORE IN TAXES THAN I ACTUALLY OWED. I knew going in that we had overpaid by a few hundred dollars. Thank God I knew what I was doing. I proceeded to file manually, and the refund worked out to ~$300, rather than owing $4700. I was never able to fix the problem on Taxcut. All the data had been imported from our Federal version, and I couldn't figure out how to change it. (I didn't spend too much time trying, as I knew I could do it quickly by hand.) If I hadn't known what I was doing, I could easily have spent many hours and perhaps dollars trying to fix this problem. I don't think I'll be using Taxcut again.
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