Mrsfitts's Full Review: Intuit TurboTax Deluxe 2004 Full Version for PC, M...
Last year Intuit offered to permanently sell us Turbo Tax for the rest of our lives or until our Visa Card was no longer good.
TurboTax DeLuxe 2004
Having decided to use Turbo Tax by Intuit despite the previous Spyware debacle a couple of years ago, we received our copy early one January afternoon.
Installation was simple in my 2004 PowerSpec 1.6G PIII running Windows XP computer. We were well above the minimum requirements of 190 MB available hard disk space, 64 MB RAM for Win2k or higher machines. Loading took approximately 10 minutes, mainly because we had to quit drinking beer long enough to tell the program we didn't want to buy all the programs offered.
During the loading process, we chose to download the "Free" State software also. My state software is included in the $39.95 price.
After uploading, a check for updates was made. Some of the update (fixes) included:
*Resolving XP user problems.
*Reinstalling state software.
*New Social Security Numbers (beg. with 691-695)
Because We're TurboTax users of many years, the TurboTax will import, at your command, all of your data from the prior year. This is a huge time saver! No longer do I need to type in the name of the same company or the same address year after year. The only thing required is that after the import, we verify that the information is the same as it ever was.
The Interview Process is pretty straight forward; "How much did you make? Send it all in." Or something like that. My husband read each W2 box, and I typed in the numbers. The rest of the interview takes you through the 1099s and the 1098s you receive and where to stick them, er, the numbers. In each panel of the interview, if you're not sure if you can cheat, er claim certain deductions, there is a Explain This link that opens up a small box that goes into details. Like, your kid is your dependent if you're still supporting them, but the IRS is not. Neither is your favorite pet, no matter how high the vet bills might be. We used the explanation links a few times, but still couldn't find a way to get out of paying taxes.
During the Interview Process you come upon Schedule A; Itemized Deductions. This year when it came time for our Charitable Contribution lists we opted to purchase ItsDeductible for another $19.95 on our Visa. Normally we use the S.W.A.G. method of figuring out the value of our contributions, but this year we knew we would go over the magic number of $500 for non-cash after the donation of our 1991 Camry and wanted to have clear documention of what that ugly sweater we got for a birthday was really worth so the IRS wouldn't come after us later. We found that the Good/Fair/Poor value was often times more than what we would've dared say. A lot of 10 yr old electronics were listed in that program. The ItsDeductible program migrated the data into TurboTax easily.
With the purchase of this TurboTax Deluxe program we were offered "free Federal e-filing" *(after rebate) but since the program came up with some kind of bogus number (anything not a refund) we did not take advantage of the "free" e-filing this year. Last year we had our good returns (those with a refund coming to us) e-filed, got the money automatically deposited into our savings account less than 10 days after submitting the program to the e-file processors. Getting the rebate took much longer. Approximately 2 months after submitting that.
This year's TurboTax also came with Photo Explosion and Family Lawyer. Two disks that might end up with all those AOL disks I get in the mail -like the Scrapbook CD from last year.
As soon as the Federal finished crunching numbers and showing us the bad news, the State Return was up. Since all the Federal data is imported from TurboTax, the State return only took about 2 minutes. Fortunately the news was better on the State front. This one we had to pay for our own E-filing, but it will greatly offset the Federal taxes we owe. The TurboTax program lets you put in your bank transmit data so that monies from either the federal or the state can go directly into your spouse's slush fund or your checking account.
Bottom Line
I owed money in my first year back working full time after my 1999 accident. I blame my husband first, then I blame Turbo Tax. Certainly it couldn't be because I didn't have them withhold enough from my weekly payroll. Ok, I might be somewhat to blame and TurboTax rudely pointed that out.
Will I be buying TurboTax again? YES! I LOVE being able to finish my tax chore before my first glass of beer is gone. "Doing Taxes" used to be more inebriating than watching the Superbowl. Now, we're finished before the glass can even get warm. Each year our tax chore is accomplished faster and faster, and for a whole lot less than any accountant we've ever employed.
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