A Very Taxing Experience
Written: Feb 05 '00 (Updated Feb 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy user interface, valuable advice, simple question and answer format
Cons: Has a nasty bug in the New York State program, weak technical support
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| taurusmoon's Full Review: FWB Turbo ToolKit 1.0 Full Version for Mac (100 Us... |
It's here! It's here! I dance around the mailbox clutching the long-awaited envelope in my hand. Were there a conga line snaking by, I would have gladly donned a silly hat and a plastic lei and joined in the revelry. Since none of my neighbors happened to be living La Vida Loca, I took the dance indoors and tried to ignite the party spirit among the denizens of my home. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. Please note you cannot convince a tabby to conga no matter how hard you try.
I can't remember being so anxious about the mail since I waited for my college acceptance letter and my driver's license. What could possibly elicit such postal preoccupation? January 31st had come and gone and I still was missing one vital tax document. Here at last was the malingering Form 1098 that had been standing between me and my refund. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. I can file my tax-ES
Before you call the men in the white coats, allow me to explain. For the last umpteen years (ever since sales tax and finance charges were written off as write-offs) I have been caught in the purgatory of "Standard Deductions". 1999 was the year I broke free and bought my own home: a coop apartment. I could now deduct mortgage interest, real estate taxes and capital improvements. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. Now I have de-duc-TIONS. I couldn't wait to prepare my return and bask in the glow of a hefty refund.
I had always hired an accountant to prepare my tax return for me. Although my returns are very basic, I have a small amount of freelance business I conduct each year and was always too timid to prepare that Schedule C without professional guidance. Last year, I realized that I really could go it alone if I had a good software package to guide me. I plunked down my money and my trust in TurboTax and was not disappointed. I had my return done in no time, filed electronically, and had my refund direct-deposited into my bank account within days. (And, this was in April!)
Since I anticipated a larger refund this year I couldn't wait to get started. Once the Y2K hype died down I sent my honey in search of a sale on the 1999 Edition of TurboTax. (Hey, I didn't want to blow the refund on the preparation costs.) What he came home with was better than I expected: TurboTax Deluxe for $28.95 including a rebate for a free TurboTax State (a $27.95 value), one free Federal e-file (value $9.95) and a $30 rebate on select Quicken 2000 products. I was blissfully happy. Now all I needed was to wait patiently until the various reports and documents were delivered to my mailbox.
February 3, 2000: the last of the documents (which by law should have been here by January 31 - grrrr) finally arrived and I prepared myself for the moment of triumph. I installed the program (a breeze), downloaded the New York State program from Intuit's website (fast and easy) grabbed my papers and a Diet Pepsi and I was on my way.
TurboTax Deluxe is like an accountant in a box. It interviews you to assess your personal situation and prepares the forms you need. The program asks you to input your data then asks you relevant yes or no questions to determine which steps you need to go through. It does all the calculations for you. If you used the 1998 edition you can import your basic information from last year's file. You can even import data from Quicken, QuickBooks or Microsoft Money
If you're in doubt about anything the program provides ample explanation with brief videos, help documents and on-screen IRS publications. A few times I was stumped over whether something applied to me or not. A simple click clarified the issue.
I completed my Federal Return in no time. And, my refund was even better than expected! Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA I did my victory dance around the apartment and, after a few strange looks from the cats, returned to the computer to complete the New York State portion of my moment of glory.
From what I can recollect of last year's state tax preparation experience it was super-fast and painless (except for the $230 check I had to make out to fill the State coffers.) This year I hoped to break even. The State program works hand in hand with the Federal version, taking all the data you previously input and transferring it to the proper lines on the State form. It asks you a few more State related questions and voila you have broken the speed record in tax preparation. At least that was how it worked last year.
Imagine my horror when I looked at the screen and it tells me that I owe New York City (through the State) $1774. Huh? I earned less in miscellaneous income this year than last year. I had 3-1/2 months of real estate related deductions. And last year I only owed $230! To add insult to injury, the program told me that I owe New York an additional $84 in penalties for not withholding enough throughout the year. The conga beat was no longer playing in my head. I was now hearing taps.
TurboTax State now guided me through the process of allocating my income into quarters to see if I could get the penalty reduced. That saved me $28. Whoopdeedo. It then insisted that I prepare a plan for Estimated Taxes for the year 2000. Which I grudgingly did, all the time insisting that there was something seriously wrong with the original calculations. After about an hour of struggling with this problem I discovered what was at the root of it. The program did not copy the local tax portion of my W2 into the State return. Now, how was I to fix this?
I turned to the TurboTax online technical support center looking for a toll-free number. The only one they provided was an automated hotline and did not address my problem. I filled out an "Express" question form and emailed it over to them. The immediate response I received was "choose from among these following documents, if none of them answer your question, go back and rephrase your question." Aaaaahhhhh! I needed to speak to a real person to see if anyone had reported this bug and learn how it could be fixed. Aha! A help line was available during business hours. (It was now 20 minutes after closing) I looked for the number so that I could call in the morning. Nada. They gave their hours but no phone number. Now that's support!
In desperation I tried to debug the problem on my own. "Let me see if the program will allow me to manually insert the hard earned tax money I already paid to the City of New York." I accessed the form, found the appropriate line, typed in the number and POOF, the program now said that I was due a $160 refund. I was too spent to dance. I let the imaginary conga line pass me by. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA I am much too ti-ERD. I now had to find a way to remove those unnecessary forms the fictitious underpayment had generated. "I'll deal with that in the morning."
I was determined to get in touch with Intuit and let them know about the horrible bug in the program. The next morning I read through the documentation and found the technical support number with a note: long distance charges apply. I couldn't believe that I had to pay for the call to inform them that they had big problems. Imagine how many customers they have in New York City. And, who knows if this bug affects other cities across the country?
I bit the bullet and made the long distance call. After listening to recorded messages on my dime, I was finally transferred to a technical support agent. Of course, he was horrified to hear my story and together we tried to solve the mystery of the disappearing taxes. Here is the undocumented problem:
When filling out the W2 portion of the Federal program, you are asked to copy the information directly from your W2 forms. Line 19, Locality name on my W2 reads NYC RES (as I am a New York City resident employed within the city). TurboTax was expecting to see NYC without the RES tag. Because it didn't find what it was looking for, it didn't transfer the data. I wonder how many NYC residents will blindly file their returns with this horrible error unnoticed. I learned that the problem is not unique to NYC. It also applies to the following localities (please pay attention if you live in any of these): Yonkers, NY; all cities in Michigan; St. Louis and Kansas City, MO and some areas of California and Ohio. If you live in any of these localities and you are using this software to prepare your State return here's what you should do:
On the menu bar, go to "Select Forms". Choose W2 from the list of forms. Scroll down your form and right click on line 19. Then select About 19-1 Local Name from the pop-up menu. This will give you the codes that the program expects to see in that line with a disclaimer that it may not match what appears on your actual W2 (Why don't they say this when they ask for the data input?) Edit your W2 appropriately and make sure to edit any additional W2's you may have.
All in all, TurboTax is a fabulous time-saver that offers some excellent advice. But, please heed my advice as well. Don't assume that everything is okay just because a software package prepared it. Print out and go over your finished forms with a fine toothed comb. You never know what bugs are hiding in the roots.
Now I'm off to dream about how to spend my glorious refund. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. Bop bop, bop ba, bop-BA. Conga anyone?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
taurusmoon
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Location: New York City
Reviews written: 40
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