I used to write a program to do the numbers each year, the benefit being that I can repair a number and rerun it without pain, anyway if you can program easily.
The directions became too hard to follow around 2002, with the universal advent of phaseouts of this and that and worksheets hidden in the form with directions worded backwards ("subtract line 7 from line 6 and enter the difference here, or zero if negative." What a human wants is compute line 6 minus line 7) that thus provoke programming mistakes.
Turbotax isn't actually up on all the rules either.
If anyone has any opinions on the following, I'd like to hear them.
I've been using the H&R Block Online suite for about six years now. The first couple, I did it by hand along with their online computations and was satisfied enough that I stopped doing it manually.
I'm always wondering, though, if I'm not getting the best bang. We've been trying over the past couple of years to get the right balance between withholding and refund so that we're giving the government exactly what's required without a penny more, but lacking any refund at all. That way WE earn the interest on the money we make, not the Federal government.
Maybe every day you should feature a product that your loyal readers simply cannot live without, and then link through your portal to it. Like kissing pig salt & pepper shakers.
I say this only because I have no use for TurboTax. My finances are simple enough that the free online services suffice. But pig-shaped salt and pepper shakers? The uses are endless.
I used Turbotax for about 12 years. Three years ago I switched to TaxCut, and I ain't going back to T'tax. Both are good, but it's worth doing a little research before you decide.
My husband and I are the accountants in the family (though he's primarily tax at this point). It pays in plates of his favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Any tax program that will let you cheat on your taxes like Geithner did isn't worth the money you pay for it. You need a good CPA. And don't let the fact that I am one make you think I'm biased. I'm not. Really.
I don't know about online, but TaxCut software (link posted above) has been renamed H&R Block at Home. It's comparable to TurboTax, and I think better in some respects.
Any tax program that will let you cheat on your taxes like Geithner did is worth hundreds of times the money you pay for it. The trouble is that all I can find on their site is stuff like the Deluxe and Premier editions; I haven't been able to find out where you can buy TurboTax with Impunity®.
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30 comments:
(Insert the obligatory Tim Geitner joke here)
:)
I'll buy it--and from Amazon via your link--if you'll promise that you use Turbotax.
No, I don't need it.
Oh, poop. I just bought a book from Amazon and I didn't use your link. SOrry.
If you wait it out a bit, the price will drop. Interesting also how the price has gone up over time.
We use Brad, not only do we not have to figure him out, he doesn't work for Intuit.
(Insert the obligatory Tim Geitner joke here)
Damn, I need to be faster!
"I'll buy it--and from Amazon via your link--if you'll promise that you use Turbotax."
I do. It's great!
"Oh, poop. I just bought a book from Amazon and I didn't use your link. SOrry."
Well, buy something else. Maybe a Kackel Dackel, if you like poop.
Maybe a Kackel Dackel, if you like poop.
LOL!
A perfect excrementmas gift?
I used it for the first time last year, after a lifetime of paper forms. I'll use it again this year.
My taxes are going up because the daughter has aged up so I don't get the child tax refund on her.
I used to write a program to do the numbers each year, the benefit being that I can repair a number and rerun it without pain, anyway if you can program easily.
The directions became too hard to follow around 2002, with the universal advent of phaseouts of this and that and worksheets hidden in the form with directions worded backwards ("subtract line 7 from line 6 and enter the difference here, or zero if negative." What a human wants is compute line 6 minus line 7) that thus provoke programming mistakes.
Turbotax isn't actually up on all the rules either.
Given the uncertainties right now (Thank you, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi), I'd hold off for a while.
(Sorry, Ann)
WV "imelte" What the snowlady modeled after Sra Marcos said when the sun came out.
If anyone has any opinions on the following, I'd like to hear them.
I've been using the H&R Block Online suite for about six years now. The first couple, I did it by hand along with their online computations and was satisfied enough that I stopped doing it manually.
I'm always wondering, though, if I'm not getting the best bang. We've been trying over the past couple of years to get the right balance between withholding and refund so that we're giving the government exactly what's required without a penny more, but lacking any refund at all. That way WE earn the interest on the money we make, not the Federal government.
Maybe every day you should feature a product that your loyal readers simply cannot live without, and then link through your portal to it. Like kissing pig salt & pepper shakers.
I say this only because I have no use for TurboTax. My finances are simple enough that the free online services suffice. But pig-shaped salt and pepper shakers? The uses are endless.
"A perfect excrementmas gift?"
Exxxxcremnt
We do our taxes the old fashioned way; by engaging a professional firm who will represent us when the IRS flags a "random" pat-down, er, audit.
What? Now? But we haven't even gotten to file one extension yet...
That quipped, I do love TurboTax. I started using it a couple years ago. Saves me the $300 or so per year that I used to spend on an accountant.
(Not that the accountant isn't needed for other things.)
I use a pen, a calculator and have a computer standing by to find and print any worksheets I need along the way.
Usually about 45 minutes of hell done the weekend before April 15th.
That way WE earn the interest on the money we make, not the Federal government.
Interesst rates aren't high enough to matter one way or the other, these days.
And if you did earn interest, they take a cut of that as well.
It's a pittance, sure, but it's MY FUCKING PITTANCE.
I used Turbotax for about 12 years. Three years ago I switched to TaxCut, and I ain't going back to T'tax. Both are good, but it's worth doing a little research before you decide.
@Scott M
Killjoy.
Screw that; you can do federal free with TaxAct online or pay $14 for both federal and state.
(I don't work for TaxAct; I've only used the web site for, I think, six years.)
So nobody else uses H&R Block Online? How do I know I'm not getting ooscrayed?
My husband and I are the accountants in the family (though he's primarily tax at this point). It pays in plates of his favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Any tax program that will let you cheat on your taxes like Geithner did isn't worth the money you pay for it. You need a good CPA. And don't let the fact that I am one make you think I'm biased. I'm not. Really.
"So nobody else uses H&R Block Online?"
I don't know about online, but TaxCut software (link posted above) has been renamed H&R Block at Home. It's comparable to TurboTax, and I think better in some respects.
Won't need TurboTax this year.
Not voluntarily paying my taxes until the Supreme Court rules ObamaCare un-Constitutional.
Any tax program that will let you cheat on your taxes like Geithner did is worth hundreds of times the money you pay for it. The trouble is that all I can find on their site is stuff like the Deluxe and Premier editions; I haven't been able to find out where you can buy TurboTax with Impunity®.
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