There are some allowable deduction that the system does not ...
352337
There are some allowable deduction that the system does not allow you to do but you can overwrite this as a go around,
2170894
Yes, you avoid having to go to the bank, take out cash and pay in places where credit/debit cards are not accepted. What I don't like is all the fees deducted.
3069399
In Unaccountable, Makary not only defines the problems in our "health care" system, but he offers us a way out.  The health care system isn't about health care, it's about money. I don't see that as a dealbreaker. Let's face it, things cost money. But, Makary shows us the who, whay, when where, why & how of transparency. Implementing some of the models suggested in Unaccountable will offer us the opportunity to care for all and be the country that we think we are.
4412108
I have used this product for a few years and am generally happy with it although some aspects of data entry require decisions on my part that are not totally supported by the product's integrated help. I have two points for people who are considering the purchase of this product to ponder.

First, Turbo-Tax will guide you through the completion of the requisite forms and worksheets. Unfortunately, far too many questions are only answered briefly if at all. To counteract this, you can pay an additional fee to have someone assist you (can't comment on this feature as I have never used it).

Second, if you are not computer literate and encounter difficulty using the computer in your normal day to day activity, you might want to consider alternatives to computer-aided tax completion.

Personally, I am pleased with this product.
2430205
This was the fourth year that I have used Turbo Tax and I must say that I don't have any fundamental issues with the product.  It does what it says and is relatively easy to use.  The downloaded version did seem to have some bugs regarding installation of the state component and it tried to charge me until I manually saved my tax return, exited the program and then restarted it.  Bit of a pain, but no big deal.

My bigger issue is that the description makes it seem that you are getting your taxes taken care of for a reasonable rate, when in fact you will be charged an additional amount (approx. 50%)to e-file state taxes.  There is a rather ambiguous statement in the fine print at the bottom that says state e-file is an extra charge.

I will think seriously before using Turbo Tax in the future and feel that misleading consumers in this manner is not appropriate for a company like Intuit.  It seems that if they are trying to get people to trust them with their finances, they could be more honest about what things will cost.
2405639
I was one of the long time users of Turbotax who switched over (briefly) to H&R Block because of TurboTax's ridiculous, colossal mistake in judgment - please do not take my comments here as supporting in any way, shape, or form, the unbelievable error in judgment that TurboTax made when it tried to remove widely used investment schedules/forms from its Deluxe Edition.  Everything seemed to be going well when I tried using H&R Block Deluxe - it converted my data from 2013 on my new iMac just fine, and I was making my way through everything fairly easily.  As a general matter, I like the presentation of TurboTax a bit better than H&R Block - it summarizes your income and deductions at various points in the program as you navigate through it, and compares your current information with past years.  H&R Block doesn't seem to have any those extra features, which are really not necessary, but kind of nice.  H&R Block Deluxe is straightforward and seems to have everything I would have needed to file my tax return.  Unfortunately, while I was entering my charitable deductions, I received an unexpected error, the program quit, and I lost about 2 hours of information for my charitable deductions.  I really, really wanted this software to work, but I can't risk re-entering my information.  I feel that I have no choice but to switch back to Turbotax now that they have seen the error of their ways and included a free upgrade.  Sorry H&R Block.  I am reluctantly returning your software.  I guess I wasn't ready for you, or at least, your software wasn't ready for me.  Maybe next year.
3275460
Software meets the basic needs but has lot of limitation on using e-file that are not documented and are not a limitation in Turbo TAX
151489
I think this book is mostly accurate and cites compelling facts particularly about the disfunction of Congress. There is however, an undertone that government is the solution to many of our problems and I do believe that it is not quite balanced in that respect. The cost of the Federal Government- especially the entitlement system, its sheer size, the elitism that it has produced- in representatives and many service workers in high positions- is truly a problem. We have really abandoned our roots when nearly 50% of our citizens are relying on some form of government subsidy.  So to some degree we all need be sympathetic to the fiscal conservatives in both parties when they use every method as a wake up call to the public that we cannot sustain deficits that approach 100% if the GDP...much less the $80 Trillion when we include the present value of future entitlements!
996081
I have been using Turbo Tax for several years.  However, both last year and this year, when I went to pay for expenses associated with my state return with a credit card the program directed me only to the option of buying the extra cost audit services and deducting the cost from my Federal return.  Since my return is all standard deduction and very simple, I have no need for the "just in case" audit services.  After several futile attempts to locate the place where I could pay only  the expenses dealing with my state return with a credit card I gave up and had the $48.00 plus dollars audit protection and associated state return costs deducted from my federal return. I may not use Turbo Tax next year.  I have been very satisfied with Turbo Tax in prior years. Five stars in prior years, three stars currently.
2035975
TurboTax blew it this year.  They deleted the ability to download 1099 forms from Investment firms so I had to buy TurboTax premier to do that, but before I installed it, they restored the ability to download these forms.  The cycling was a pain in the but and cost me several trips to the post office to buy and return CDs that I thought I needed or didn't need, all to do what I had been doing for years with the Deluxe version.  I like the software but TurboTax needs to quit gouging its customers, both on cost and products.  I suspect there will be quite a large number of ex-TurboTax customers either this year or next.  I think the product works well now, but buyer beware.  Alternatives are available and may be worth investigating this year.
1300880
I have used H&R Block tax software for a long time and have been very pleased.  There are a few things that I think could be improved, but I guess they can't write software to completely please all users.
2388356
Can't complain, keeps me from getting a yearly child tax deduction, but i guess it's worth it in the long run :)
3353470
The fair Tax idea is a great idea. However old taxes never go away. I can see the compromize of only the top 10% keeping IRS payments up, then later to 30% then 49.9% paying both IRS & FED Sales taxes.

 The fire place tax was established in about 1500 AD, we still have it today, look at your local property tax code, X valuation per chimney.

 I am pro fair tax, just see it as another tax, not a solution. The solution is stop spending other peoples money in the name of good.
195452
It's over. Boortz and Linder have finally admitted that the book is incorrect. The main selling point of this plan is "Allow You to Keep 100% of Your Hard-earned Paycheck". It's right on the cover of the book. But they now admit this is untrue.

Boortz posted the following message on his website on September 15th:

On review, and after reading the critiques of opponents to the FairTax plan, we have concluded that there is one element of the FairTax that could have been present (sic) with more clarity in the book; the concept of embedded taxes and keeping 100% of your paycheck.

...

We write in The FairTax Book that the competitive pressures of the marketplace will force prices down when embedded taxes disappear from the cost of retail goods and services, and we cite 22% as the average amount of those embedded taxes. Does this 22% include the income and payroll taxes that are paid by employees? Yes, it does. So ... what does this mean to your paycheck after the FairTax becomes law?

When the FairTax is implemented, and when business and personal income and payroll taxes disappear, your employer is going to have to make a decision. He will either take some or the entire amount he had been withholding for federal income and payroll taxes and add it to your weekly check, or he will readjust your pay figures so that your entire paycheck will be equal to what you used to call "take home pay" before the FairTax. The employer may also decide to do a little of both. Either way, you can see that the amount of money you actually receive as pay - the amount you can put into your bank account - will not decrease, and may actually increase.

...

Now, let's elaborate on the "keep 100% of your paycheck" line that appears in The FairTax Book. It is certainly true that after the FairTax becomes law there will be no more withholding from your paycheck for any federal taxes. What you earn is what you get. This is not to say that your gross pay will equal what it was before the FairTax. This will depend on what your employer does when the embedded costs represented by the tax burden you have passed on to your employer disappear. One thing is certain: You will suffer no decrease in real or net earnings --- the amount of each paycheck you deposit into your bank account every other week. The "keep 100% of your paycheck" concept can more easily be applied to those who either change jobs or come into the labor force after the implementation of the FairTax. (end)

In other words, for prices to remain constant, you will take a huge pay cut, because your employer will just reduce your salary to be equal to your current take-home pay after taxes. So if you were making, say 80k and taking home 60k after taxes, now your new salary is... 60k. Sure, you keep 100% of your *new* paycheck, but it's a lot smaller. No extra money for you.

So many of these reviews have raved about how wonderful it will be when they will get to keep all of their paycheck, how they will be able to buy much more since prices won't rise, how the economy will expand, etc.

Here are few comments from previous reviews:

"I would like to take home my whole pay check. I could pay off my mortgage in half the time." Wrong.

"Just imagine keeping the money you make instead of giving it to the Government..." Nope, try keeping a *much* lower salary!

"Look at your paycheck and see how much has been taken out for all taxes. Now imagine getting 100% of your paycheck every payday." Wrong.

"Not to mention the fact that the additional money in everyone's pocket will stimulate a massive buying and investing bonanza that will be never-ending." Nope, no additional money at all.

All wrong. Many of the negative reviewers here pointed out this fallacy, and now Boortz has admitted it. He's been busted, and at least had the courage to admit it. Will you?
1557674
I have used Turbo Tax for years, and I've been frustrated to have to pay $60 to file required Federal forms for years.  After Turbo Tax removed functionality from their Deluxe version (cannot E-File Schedule D; you must upgrade to do so) and I discovered that H&R Block Tax software, which also happens to be cheaper, could import prior year TT data, I decided to make the switch.  It turns out that you get what you pay for; while H&R Block tax software claims to be compatible with Windows XP, you *cannot* import prior year TT forms using Windows XP.  They are apparently aware of this issue (and have been for some time) and are uninterested in fixing it.  The Flat Tax cannot come soon enough.
3936230
In order to believe this author's assertions, one must place a lot of trust in the author. Many of the citations put an ellipsis inside the quotations, even at the beginning, which usually means that the quote is a continuing portion. The question remains, what is left out? Often the wording of the citation uses the word "includes." The author suggests that such words are a "term of art" that stands by itself, but my understanding leaves the possibility of additional important considerations. In other words, I worry that the author has cherry-picked partial statements to make his case. Much of the book relies on the basic assertion that "wages" as defined in the IRS tax code refers only to employees who work in or for the Federal government. With that as a base, the rest of the "so-called" taxpayers who have no such connections are paying taxes voluntarily, but are (or should not be) under any obligation to do so. Most of the book is devoted to buttressing this argument. Therefore, if one cannot put full faith in the original foundation, the derivative conclusions remain suspect. While "examples" are provided that suggest success from some citizens who have fought the IRS, how can one verify their authenticity. And even if they had experienced "success" once, we are not told whether that action provoked any retaliation from the most feared government agency in our land. Keep in mind that we now know the IRS is not above targeting certain groups/individuals that they don't like. Caveat emptor!
2589661
I've been using the H&R Block tax software for six years now, probably because the first three years I got it free with my PC World subscription. It does make tax preparation less annoying, but it doesn't explain a few things very well during the process - so, if you're like me and know the tax code well enough to say "hey, why can't I enter this deduction?" at certain points, just be patient. The order in which certain things are done seems convoluted at times - for example, allocating the home-office portion of property taxes and utilities isn't done during the self-employment section as in past years (under Income) but during the deduction section. It's a leap of faith the first time, seeing your numbers being too high, but trust me they all work out in the end. You may also find yourself entering items under the wrong heading (i.e., cell phone expenses) because you aren't expecting this software to be as thoroughly detailed as it turns out to be. My advice - don't enter anything until prompted, and only when done should you go back to tuck in this and sneak in that.

This version actually covers most sole-proprietor businesses as long as they aren't sub-chapter S corporations. So, for example, if you are a victim of the current recession and are making ends meet as a handyman, this will suit your needs and prompt you to take all the legal deductions to which you're entitled - many of which an income-tax tyro probably won't be aware, doing them on paper. (This savings alone will pay for the software several times over.) It even allows for equipment depreciation, opening and closing inventory and more. I haven't bought the deluxe version of Tax Cut/At Home so I don't know how much more involved it gets; this seems good enough for my needs.

All things considered - not perfect, but pretty darned good. Skinflint tip - wait until March 15th for a price reduction, especially if - like me - you expect to be within $100 either way of your tax liability.