Customer Reviews
Do Not Buy this Software Until it's Updated 
2006-02-25
When I first saw this software at the store, I was really excited, not because I needed it for myself but because I thought it would be great for my students. I'm a tax professional who specializes in working with self-employed people. I teach small business tax classes and one of the hardest things to teach others is how to make quarterly estimated tax payments (how to know the amount to send in). I figured this software would really help students but that's not true. The only thing this software does right now is tell you that you can avoid penalties by sending in the same amount as your tax liability was last year. And then it tells you which line to look at on your tax return to see what that figure is. Supposedly in June, an update to the program will help users calculate the true amount to send in based on the income being earned in the current year. Without that feature, this software is nothing. I hope the revised version will provide this information; the concept seems good but this program should not have been released until it was really ready to be used.
By the way, if you can't wait until June to learn how to calculate the amount to send in for estimated tax payments, download form 1040ES from the IRS website or take a look at my book Minding Her Own Business: the Self-Employed Woman's Essential Guide to Taxes and Recordkeeping. Two chapters plus an appendix are devoted to this important (and confusing) subject.
Jan Zobel EA
Oakland, CA
Not up to TurboTax standards! 2008-01-15
I absolutely love using Turbotax for my taxes. I tried the chief competitor one year (stunk). I tried a tax professional (horrific, no understanding, fixed THEIR errors, and got charged extra for it). But TurboTax is consistently a great product.
The promoted estimated tax service online & the software are not well thought out and requires so much hacking that most people will likely give up and make a $0 "quick" estimate. I hope they don't get penalized.
I have trained 1000s of people in software and other technology aspects so I am very comfortable with software. I am NOT comfortable with this software and I am strongly considering dumping the TurboTax I love and going to a local accountant that can make me comfortable about paying my quarterly estimate.
Do not E- this one 2006-06-15
When using Turbotax to prepare my taxes this year, the prep software advertised this program. I thought it might be a good idea to simply e-file my estimated taxes also. However, this software is not simple to use. It isn't inutiative at all (no pun intended). The version I used is through inituit's website via an account, not a program I install on my computer. Sometimes the website is busy, so the program is temporarly out of service. I had thought I'd set up my account to automatically schedule a reminder and pay from my checkbook. However, today when I checked (it's time for the 2nd quarterly payment), I didn't get a reminder. When I tried to manually efile, I instead had to manually print out the estimated form and send the payment in the old fashioned way because efiling requires an earlier stamp than a postmark. Before getting this service, it's time to ask..."Do you really wish to make a simple process more complicated?" I wish I had said no.
Beyond Disgusted 2006-04-06
I'm a freelance designer for the first time and thought that this would be a great tool for estimating my taxes each quarter. How wrong I was!
First of all, most of the features are not updated. Also, it only does Federal taxes and not State, which it says: "Feature unavailable at this time." In fact, I saw that on a number of these promised features and made me feel that my money is pretty much wasted.
At this writing, I am gathering up my information to take to H&R Block. I feel so insecure about using this software that I don't trust it. I plan on writing them a letter of complaint and then seeing if I can get my money back.
My recommendation: Try another method.
zero stars would perhaps be more appropriate 2006-03-19
Why bother with this, especially since it doesn't even do the job? Filing estimated taxes is a simple matter. Download the fillable PDF (1040-ES or 1040-ESE) from irs.gov, the calculations are trivial (you can construct a simple excel sheet for them if you want to). And for electronic payment enroll in EFTPS at www.eftps.gov.
No more worries about getting a penalty or fine at the end of the year, or if the IRS got my payment! 
2006-03-12
I'm a contractor and don't have taxes withheld throughout the year and I also have a part-time handyman business. It's easy to forget to pay estimated taxes and it's not something I like to do. I never really know if my payments make it to the IRS or if I'll get a fine or penalty because of something I forgot to do.
I used TurboTax Estimated Taxes to file my final 2005 payment and was impressed. It was really easy to use and I got my information set up in minutes. It sent me an e-mail reminder before the deadline so I wouldn't forget to pay (I won't have to remember myself anymore). I e-filed my payment to the IRS which was really convenient, and got a confirmation number so I knew my payment made it there on time.
My contractor income is about the same every year but my handyman business income can fluctuate a bit. It's a definite plus that I can transfer over my annual tax return from TurboTax to help me estimate this year's payments in the product's payment calculator.
Now I don't have to worry about the "when, what, or where" of paying estimated taxes every again!
