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<p>This was a huge issue in '12 too, but it was all on Congress and the IRS, who were very late with regs on the last minute changes that they made. TTax just got blamed for it by their customers. </p>
<p>TTax marked Do Not File on the early/preliminary forms so that their customers would not think they could file on the day they received their W2. </p>
<p>As @xiggi points out, a lot depends on how tricky or messy your taxes are. Over the many years I’ve been filing taxes, I’ve done ours long-hand on paper, with Turbotax, and more recently with the IRS website link to “free-fillable forms” (I think I got that name right). If you know which forms you will need, and you are reasonably handy with a calculator, you might not need more than what you can print out from irs.gov</p>
<p>What is E?</p>
<p>Schedule E = Supplemental Income and Loss (From rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, estates, trusts, REMICs, etc.)</p>
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IRS website has (or at least had for 2013) Free File Fillable Forms that allow you to do it online with electronic filing, And it does the math for you.
<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free”>http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free</a></p>
<p>If you send a message to Bob Meighan @Turbotax about your issues with purchasing the Deluxe and then having to unexpectedly upgrade, you will be given the Premeir version for THIS YEAR only at no additional cost.</p>
<p>yeah, I’ve been doing free fillable forms for years. I like the price! :)</p>
<p>Ugh, taxes already? You must be getting money back. I don’t file until October, I wait till the very last minute becaue there is nothing worse than doing taxes.</p>
<p>But if you wait until October to file, don’t you still have to pay any amount due by April to avoid a penalty?</p>
<p>I don’t think the IRS will accept returns until January 20, so why be so upset that some forms in Turbo Tax are not final and say “Do Not File?” I’m sure Turbo Tax will have the final forms available for download before January 20.</p>
<p>“But if you wait until October to file, don’t you still have to pay any amount due by April to avoid a penalty”</p>
<p>I always send a check In April with the extension request that is more than I want to, hoping to avoid the penalty, and then end up sending them an even bigger one, with the penalty, in October. But delaying the misery is worth it to me.</p>
<p>I always did mine hard copy and then switched to TurboTax but as they became more complicated over the years, even my old 1984 accounting degree wasn’t helpful lol. Once I added a small business and some other stuff, I decided the CPA at $300 was well worth it. I do the quickbooks so she just has to do the actual tax forms but she figures my depreciation, etc. and knows all the ins and outs…keeping my fingers crossed she’ll be on the stick this year because of FAFSA and CSS. I sent her the end of year business stuff on the 24th (we closed for the week) and my EOY paystub today but haven’t heard anything back. </p>
<p>“But delaying the misery is worth it to me.” - I don’t get it. You have annual misery (April or Oct) either way, right? </p>
Didn’t read all the replies but if no one said it yet, CALL. I did that last year because of a similar upgrade issue and was upgraded for free by the customer service rep.
One year I went ahead and bought Premium because I thought it could help me more easily calculate my basis for capital gains. WRONG. It had no functionality to deal with splits or mergers, and I still had to do the darned hard part on my own. Swore I would never pay for Premium again… sounds like I am screwed, though… what a lousy change. I will call and see if I can get it for free when I get to that point this year, but I will also be writing their CEO a complaint letter as well.
““But delaying the misery is worth it to me.” - I don’t get it. You have annual misery (April or Oct) either way, right?”
My misery isn’t necessarily paying the money (though that’s part of it). Collecting the mounds of records, just dealing with it, can’t stand it. Our penalty usually is around $600, so it’s not that bad. It’s procrastination. I know I have until October 15th, and I can’t delay beyond that, so I get it done. As a bonus, apparently you have less chance of getting audited if you file after the April 15 deadline. I’m not the type of person who get unpleasant tasks done early, I put them off.
Please post a link to the proof that filing date is related to audit chances. I would be interested in reading about that.
I can’t find it on my accountant’s website where it originally was, but I did find this:
https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/10-ways-to-avoid-a-tax-audit
"7. Know when to file.
Most tax advisors say the later you file, the less likely your chances of an audit. Some go one step further and say you should even file for extensions as most returns are already selected for auditing in a given tax year by the latest extension deadline of October 15th.
Remember, though, that if you owe taxes, you are still expected to pay by April 15th or face penalties. Even if you’re not sure of the amount you’ll owe or if you don’t have the money to pay, send along a check for a small amount, even $10, with your promptly-filed return to show good faith on your part and lower future tax penalties.
On the other hand, if you’re expecting a hefty refund and don’t anticipate any audit problems, file as soon as possible so you can get your money quickly."
I think it also matters whether your CPA or tax preparer is in the IRS “hotlist” or similar for being “aggressive” at taking deductions and the like, which can also up your audit likelihood. I like to think they are less likely to audit you if you use a CPA who is more conservative and doesn’t do creative accounting. 
Anyone know if there’s any truth to this? I know my BIL and brother were both audited. I don’t use their CPA. No other family members have been audited.
The IRS forms aren’t final yet which is why the softwares, including the professional software, have do not file. Some tax benefits that were expiring were only extended a few days before Christmas. Our pro software has not been updated to reflect that year. The IRS will not even accept electronic returns until later in January.