I have used Turbotax for as long as I can remember and never really had issues until this year. This year there was some bug that left out some income. I thought the final amount was off, so I elected to file by mail so I could double check the 1040, thinking I could just fix it before mailing. I immediately saw the error, went back in to Turbotax and noticed the bug had cleared up, so now there was a different amount listed from the paper version of the 1040 and what TT said online. I couldn’t find a way to reprint it with the correct numbers. I spent an hour with tech support who couldn’t do anything (it was shocking how bad their bad there support was), so I asked for my money back.
The response was “we don’t guarantee satisfaction with the online version of the product”, so no. There is no way to talk to talk to anyone who knows anything, or even file a bug report. Apparently the download version does guarantee satisfaction. So, for $140 I received nothing in return. I did file a dispute with my credit card company, but I am not expecting much.
A word of warning. Not only are they are lot more expensive than the other tax services, their customer service seems to be nonexistent at this point.
I went with HR & Block in the end. It cost me $230 in all between the two, just so I could pay the government $15. I think next year I will just do it by hand (I do not qualify for the IRS easy filing).
Do you have complicated taxes? FreeTaxUSA is $15/year (free federal, $15/state.) Amending is another $15-20 should it be necessary with a good e-filing workflow.
Being able to use 1040 + associated forms is a good muscle to maintain, though (I did freelance tax prep for awhile.)
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I don’t have complicated taxes at all, but with tax programs two things tend to make things more difficult as far as filing: a 1099R for retired military pay, and stocks. The 1099R I am not sure why that rules me out of things like the IRS free filing. The stocks part can be a lot of data entry, so the services do come in handy then (but this year I only had 4 transactions).
Honestly I had written them off because they are free. I guess I shouldn’t? I am an accountant (not a CPA), so doing my own taxes is hardly a big deal, I just want to e-file and be done with it quickly. Only one of which I achieved this year.
I’d check them out, maybe even this year if you’re curious (you don’t have to pay until the end.) I was leery as well early on (cut my teeth on Lacerte) but moved over a handful of years ago from TaxAct, which was good for several years but started pushing up their prices. It’s a lot easier to make good tax software than 20 years ago and the IRS e-file vetting is a solid program.
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With a one man business, macOS, and a Schedule C, are there any accurate and worthwhile tax programs out there at all? Otherwise, I’d have to run the tax program on Windows.
My macOS accounting program is Corona.
Is there something better on Windows? Seems like everything is online now. I think if I had a business I would go to a CPA personally.
I thought HR&Block was fine. It did have a few screens where I wasn’t sure what they were asking though. Which is silly, because give me a 1040 and I can get through it fine, it’s just time consuming.
I will be using FreeTaxUSA next year. I did some research and they seemed to be loved by everyone, found very little negative.
Still waiting to see if my credit card will accept my dispute. I can show them the errors to prove it, just not sure if they will ask me.