<p>D has never prepared a return but has carryover losses due to investments bought in her name that lost money. S has a full-time job, as well as his own part-time business which generates a lot of expenses but has a net profit. So far, D has had the CPA do her returns but this year we want her to file her own. S has used TurboTax one year and H&R Block another year. We and they are looking for recommendations about which software might be good and easy. </p>
<p>A CPA does our returns–the last time I filed one was in 1990s via TurboTax. Any feedback about available tax software available for folks is greatly appreciated. (When I was single, I always filed my own returns, manually.) Thanks!</p>
<p>I have used the H and R Block website to do our semi-complicated tax returns and son’s easy tax return for the past few years and have found it very easy to work with. I did it all manually previously - so no basis for comparison - other than I would never go back to doing it manually again.</p>
<p>I have always used Turbo Tax. There their returns are not complicated it may be easiest to use the on-line version, which may be discounted or free through one of their financial institutions (bank, mutual fund companies, etc.).</p>
<p>Thanks for these thoughts. D has little or no income–just want to preserve her losses that we want to have her carry forward for when she DOES get some income. S will not likely qualify for free tax programs, but is OK with purchasing–just curious about what experiences folks have had with the various tax software programs (which I am totally out of touch with).</p>
<p>I have used TurboTax for many years, and it has carried me though a lot of complicated scenarios through the years. Occasional hiccups at the state level, but it is has mostly been really good. I personally prefer to purchase the software and do it on my laptop – I don’t like having my financial information stored in the cloud any more than is necessary. Yes, you can be hacked either way, but Intuit seems like a much juicier target than lil’ old me and my Norton 360 protected laptop.</p>
<p>I buy the turbo tax software at Costco every year when they run a 10 dollar off coupon.
I allow son to use it and the he only has to pay for the online filing fee for federal and state.</p>
<p>I have been using Turbo Tax Desktop version. Will likely use the same this year.</p>
<p>It is getting more and more complicated for us to do the tax return by ourselves in recent years. Mainly it is because I become less interested in learning (and keep up with) the tax code changes and our cases become more complicated.</p>
<p>Not able to get our young adult child to get started on this yet. He had very limited income in 1 year only. It would take more efforts to get him to do it than it would for me to “snowplow” it. It is usually the case that, as soon as I open my mouth about this kind of stuff, he would “tune out of whatever I said” pretty soon.</p>
<p>I also buy Turbo Tax at Costco and you can do many returns on it although you can only file one for free. If they qualify for the free file, I would do that. Go to the IRS website ([Internal</a> Revenue Service](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov%5DInternal”>http://www.irs.gov)) and click on FreeFile and it will give you various programs that you may qualify for. I have used Turbo Tax that way for years when helping people do theirs and it works really well for most returns.</p>
<p>Another Turbo Tax user here. The first program I used was Tax Cut, which was also fine, and a little cheaper. However, the lesson I learned was to use the same program, as data repopulates from one year to the next, and it is seeming easier as the years pass and the program becomes more familiar. know that that there are many levels of complexity with Turbo Tax, so read the box carefully to know which one to buy. We print and send, to avoid the fee. There are a number of free files for Federal. Our state has a site that the offspring have used, without great problems.</p>
<p>I’ve used Turbotax since graduation when a few older relatives showed me the ropes on it. Was much better than doing it by hand as I did during college. </p>
<p>To make things better, NY State has started to encourage free e-filing of taxes so I no longer have to print and mail out my tax forms like I did before. No longer need to worry about printing, postage, or the aggravation of getting it to the post office. </p>
<p>Just e-file them and confirmation of receipt comes within 48 hours. :)</p>
<p>I use something called TaxSlayer. It’s free if you qualify for free file via the IRS website and very cheap if you have to pay. At least as good as TurboTax for simple stuff including a simple Schedule C. And I believe it covers most state tax filings too, with e-filing included. Certainly much cheaper than TurboTax.</p>
<p>I used to work for H&R Block. I do not recommend using them as a walk-in customer. Not at all.</p>
<p>Does TurboTax online version keep the data and populate to the next year? Does it have the option to save the data to computer hard drive? Or does it keep the data on Intuit server? Thanks.</p>
<p>We use Turbotax, and we do our kids on it (or let them do it). Sometimes I feel like they overcomplicate things, but DD didn’t have much trouble following the steps last year (simple filing).</p>
<p>I have used Turbo Tax for years and started comparing with Tax Act. Using both software and seeing which gives me better results. Tax act is cheaper to file, usually gives me slightly better results, but not as user-friendly as Turbo Tax. Also Tax Act, generates a nice form for your FAFSA info. My daughter uses Tax Slayer which I think is free for her to file. But i believe you need to qualify to file free.
Turbo Tax does remember your personal info from year to year as long as you use your same password and username.</p>
<p>Re TaxSlayer: even if you pay for it, it is extremely cheap. I believe you just pay $10 for electronic filing and $5 to retrieve your results from all previous years.</p>