TaxCut 2005 Premium + State [Old Version] :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

No support for Cap Gains Worksheet imports

2006-04-16
I am not happy. I just completed my 2005 taxes using Taxcut, after spending 5 hours needlessly - hand entering my cap gains (basis, dates, etc.) info. Taxcut doesn't support imports from comma delimited files, and Fidelity (my broker) tells me they declined to support their export service. I am VERY suspicious this is collusion with Microsoft and Gainskeeper which, for #49.95 a year (less than 100 trades - $149 for more), would enable this import. Although I have been a Taxcut customer for 10 years, unless this is corrected next year, I will be going to Turbo Tax (which supports the direct Fidelity imports).

SUPERFICIAL AND DANGEROUS

2006-04-15
After I got disgusted with Intuit (mostly over their Quicken software) in 2004, I switched to Microsoft Money and H&R Block's TaxCut software for my 2005 taxes. Microsoft Money is fine; unlike Quicken, they've kept their promise to be able to store data online. But TaxCut is another story.

IF YOU'VE USED THIS SOFTWARE TO PREPARE YOUR 2005 TAXES AND OWE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT, FILE AN EXTENSION, GET TURBOTAX AND RE-DO YOUR RETURNS! YOU MAY SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!! Then ask for your money back.

I got such wildly different and dismaying results from my TaxCut prepared return in 2005 than my TurboTax return for 2004 that I called a tax attorney friend to ask if there had been any changes in the tax laws, applicable to me, that would explain the difference. He allowed as how there were not, and suggested I use TurboTax, as he does. So I followed the advice given in the previous paragraph and saved myself $15,000 on my federal return, $6,000 on one state and $2,500 on another!!

Back to Tax Cut. Before I gave up on TaxCut, I ordered the software for a second state, paying $35 by telephone, downloaded it and began preparing the return. The interview asked whether I were a resident. I declared that I was not, and a dialog box popped up and informed me that, sorry, but the software did not do returns for nonresidents of that particular state. It apologized for any inconvenience (such as the $35!) So I went back and declared myself a part-year resident, hoping to get an idea of what I would owe. I was then asked a few questions and presented with a $6,000+ tax bill. TurboTax does a much more thorough job, believe me. Selling this kind of junk is criminal!

NJ 1040 NR Bug

2006-04-12
First I will talk about the bug, then I will relate my tech support experience.

On the New Jersey Non-Resident form there is a bug on line 14 where there is Column A, for your income everywhere, and Column B for your NJ income. According to the instructions for this form that are provided by the state, if all of your income was in NJ, you put the NJ income from your W-2 in Column A - NOT THE FEDERAL AMOUNT. (I called the NJ Tax office and was told the same thing.) The software puts in the Federal Amount which is less than the NJ amount therefore calculating your taxes wrong. There is a way to override it and put in the correct number. You have to go to one of the drop down menus on top and find the "forms". Click on that, then open the form you are working on. Go to the line/box you want to override then right click and click override then put in the right number. BUT, beware, if you put in the wrong number the guarantee that H&R Block has if your taxes are calculated wrong will be null and void. If you make a change and are eligible for credit for these taxes in your home state, make sure to then put the correct number in the other states form as well.

Also, one minor bug in the NY state form. I live in Kings County. It actually prints King County on the form.

As for technical support, I first tried the online chat. It seemed at first that the problem was clear to the person helping me. After 15 minutes of waiting he came back and said it was right. I told him what the instructions said and he responded by telling me he was not a tax advisor. I reiterated that it was a bug and not a tax issue. He went to "research" it again and came back with some nonsense about efiling. I said it had nothing to do with that. Unfortunately I accidentally closed the window as he started to tell me about the guarantee. So, I called the next day to speak with someone. She told me I had to start a new form separately from my other forms. I tried this but I would only let me put my income in as other income, thereby bypassing all the necessary calculations and write off sections on the form. So, I called again. This person started off with saying he is not a tax advisor, but I got him to actually do some work. He used some numbers and went through the process step by step. Finally the lightbulb went off and he saw the problem. He disappeared for about 5 minutes then came back saying that there was nothing he could do to help since he is not a programmer. He offered to transfer me to a supervisor which he did. The supervisor told me he would report the bug and that no more fixes would be out this year. He then told me how to override the amount, but informed me of the issue with the guarantee being invalidated.

Other than these problems it was smooth, but I am somewhat concerned that there are other problems I did not catch. Good Luck.

Pretty simple experience

2006-04-11
Not sure where all the hate's coming from for previous reviewers but I found Taxcut worked perfectly fine for me. It was affordable and walked me through the filing process as I expected. My computer is pretty new so maybe that's why I didn't have any glitches. Be sure to check around for rebates I was able to get a further reduced price. Another feature that I really liked is that since I used Taxcut and I get audited they will go with me before the IRS.

Lower quality than TurboTax and incorrect stock option support

2006-04-10
I used TaxCut for this first time this year (2005 tax year). I had been using TurboTax for several years, but I got upset about the way TurboTax pricing and features kept moving up the product line. I had to spend more money every year for the same functionality. Well, it turns out that TurboTax is worth the extra bucks. It is a much better quality product and worth the extra cash.

My problems with TaxCut are:

- Limited online help. Their help wasn't useful at all.

- Kept asking me to type in values from my 2004 tax return even though the program had imported my old files. The program shouldn't ask me for values it had read in off the disk.

- Did not correctly handle stock options. My employer added the proceeds to my W-2, but there was no way to indicate this in the software.

- Online chat and person-to-person phoen support is weak. The folks I interfaced with didn't have a clue how to help me with the stock options stuff.

- T2 technical support, the next-level after the folks who answer the phones, does not work weekends - not even the last weekend before tax deadline! They told me, "You'll have to call back on Monday."

I went to the store yesterday and bought TurboTax premium. The change was refreshing. It took me under an hour to manually transfer the TaxCut numbers into TurboTax. The interview questions were better and the stock option support was right on. Plus their deduction finder actually reminded me of some things I had forgotten. The software paid for itself 5 times over by the amount it increased my refund. Go TurboTax!

After update works good

2007-04-05
I could not get the deduction to import, so I called customer support. They answered in less than 1 minute! I told them the problem I was having. They sent me an email with the following link.

[...]

Downloaded the file ~16.9 MB. Ran the file (this un-installs, then re-installs the Deduction Pro 2006). I tried to import, still had the error. Opened deduction pro, opened the deduction file I was working on, and re-saved it. Tried to import again - NO problems :-). So if you are having problems, download the update. Run the update. Open your deduction file you started, and re-save it.

I really liked the 2005 version better, I think this version is a little more difficult to figure out.

So far - I am pretty satisfied.

Do not buy H&R Block Tax Cut 2006 it has defects and poor support

2007-02-24
I purchased Taxcut 2006 and it has errors and defects . After completeing 1040 form at the end when your using a SSA-1099 form the software asks for a Imployer I.D. when there is none and will not transmit to IRS unless the Employer I.D. number is entered. Called customer support and they could not deal with the problem and hung up on me . Could not download updtates for Deduction Pro 2006 message error came up DP 7007 and to redownload .After 6 times gave up and could not transfer figures from Deduction Pro 2006 to 1040 form got message deduction pro 2006 needs up date .Contacted HR block customer service at 1-888-482-9288 and Customer Service gave me a FTP download site when logged on to said no such site exsits . Requested a refund and sent a complaint to the FTC and Missouri Attorney Generals Office . Customer Service also sent over 20 surveys asking how they did as harrassment .Going to Turbo Tax next year

Never Using TaxCut Again!

2006-10-17
I've been using TaxCut Since 2001 and have never been really happy with it, but every year something happens that is annoying and I finally think it is time to move on. One year, due to buggy programming it SKIPPED my entire IRA interview so I made an error on my taxes and ended up having to pay an additional $900 plus a penalty. The HUGE amount of work required to prove this error to take advantage of the "Guarantee" is a joke and not worth the time. I have learned that you can never never just rely on the interviews and that they often aren't phrased clearly enough so you don't know really where you are in the return. I have complicated taxes, so I really need things to be logically and clearly spelled out.
This year's nightmare came when after I printed out a draft, I found that the file had been corrupted and all my information had to be re-entered! I'm not sure what the hell happened but I just couldn't get the data file open and I ran out of time.
Also, don't expect the State Returns to be all that helpful, they force you to do alot of your own calculations, and I often had no idea what I was really doing because there wasn't much explanation. Scary.

Next year, I'm trying TurboTax!

Poor Software

2006-06-23
This product is not as user friendly as the competative product, Turbo Tax that I have used for the past 5 years. I also found that when I sent my taxes in I was told that the figure that Tax Cut had arrived at was wrong and I owed money. Technical Staff at Tax Cut were not available in a timely manner, and some three months after the tax deadline finally told me that they do not calculate the bottom line tax due in the same way that the Federal and State Governments do and rounding errors can occur. What do you buy this product for but to get it right the first time!

Some apparent defects and poor support

2006-04-26
I had an issue with the error checker finding copy number problems when none existed. Online support told me to delete the forms and re-enter, which did not solve the problem. They kept cutting and pasting some verbiage that had nothing to do with my problem, insisting I try that. In the end I gave up after three separate sessions and ignored the warning. Online support resources were very thin, The online chat seemed good at first but could not go past standard cut and paste responses.

Also, the interview was hard to re-enter after exiting to forms sometimes. Plus going back in the interview often jumped to the beginning of the section instead of one page back.