Review of 2011 version for 2010 Taxes
TurboTax is one of the most well known and most used tax preparation software. TurboTax has been around since the mid 1980s and they continue to improve the product each year that goes by. TurboTax keeps on top of the latest tax changes and tax forms. Each year they will release a new version as soon as the IRS finishes their revisions to their forms. They also keeps up to date on all state tax forms as well, so you can be assured that you will have everything you need in one spot to complete your Federal and State tax returns.
TurboTax Versions Offered
- Free Version: The free version if good for those individuals that have simple tax returns. You are considered to have a simple return if you receive a W-2 and have a basic checking or savings account and have minimal or no stock transactions or investments. It is free to e-file with the IRS, but if you want to e-file your state tax return the price will be an additional $30.95.
- Deluxe: The Deluxe version is good if you have a fairly normal tax return, but you itemize your deductions. The cost for this version is $34.95 for your federal tax return and will cost an additional $39.95 for your state tax return.
- Premier: The premier version is better for those individuals with more complex tax returns. So if you have many stock transactions, complex investments or rental properties, then this could be the best version for you. This option is $20 more than the Deluxe version. Your federal return will cost $54.95 and State return will be $39.95.
- Home & Business: The Home & Business version is good for those individuals that are sole proprietors, consultants, contractors or operate a single owner LLC. The cost to file your federal return is $99.95 and $39.95 for the state tax return.
- Business: If you have a corporation, partnership, or multi-member LLC, the Business version will be best for you. The cost of the business version is $149.95 for the Federal return and an additional $49.95 for State.
Ease of Use
TurboTax tries to make things as easy as possible and uses as little tax jargon as it can. If you use the paid version of TurboTax in consecutive years it will even pull in your basic information from the prior year and it will compare the tax return to the prior year and give you notifications if something doesn’t seem right, which helps reduce errors. The interview questions are very clear and it makes sure that you take advantage of every deduction you can.
Other Perks
- Tax Audit Check: Once you are complete with your return a check will be run to see if there are any errors or any red flags that may arise with your tax return. If it picks up anything, you will be given the option to make corrections. It will also let you know your audit risk level too. You can choose to pay extra for audit defense as well. If you get audited and buy the audit defense and you do get audited, you will be provided a tax professional to represent you and help with IRS communications
- Maximum Refund Guarantee: If you can find larger deductions using another tax preparation method, you will be refunded the applicable TurboTax federal and/or state purchase price paid.
- 100% Accurate Calculation Guarantee: If you get penalized by the IRS because of a calculation made by TurboTax then they will pay the penalties and interest that arose from the error.
Overall, TurboTax is an excellent tax preparation software. If you are planning on using a tax preparation software, you really can’t go wrong with TurboTax.
Turbo Tax 2010’s state software was a complete nightmare. I will never again use it. Typically for Montana, a couple files federal taxes as married, joint. For Montana state taxes, they file married, filing separately. It just works better. On this year’s version of Turbo Tax, you were required to actually prepare 3 separate returns, one federal and two separate state returns. That required redoing the federal return by deleting and re-entering necessary information. I will never use this software again for my state returns. I could have completed it by hand in half the time. Oh, and let’s not forget having to file 3 separate returns in 3 separate sessions.