TurboTax Federal + State Deluxe Deduction Maximizer 2006 Win/Mac [OLD VERSION]

Customer Reviews

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

2008-01-12
Been using the Trubo Tax program for the last seven years and it has saved me a lot of money. Easy and quick to use. Service receiving these programs have always been outstanding and fast.

Multi Year User

2007-10-22
I've used Turbo Tax for 10+ years and have never had a problem with it. Although I could probably only use those segments that I know I need, I take the time to let Turbo Tax take me completely through the interview process to make sure I do not miss anything. In previous years, I found it not easy (but not hard) to review details of my return. This 2006 year seemed to be easier to review parts of my return. It seemed as if the software navigation was improved making Turbo Tax a five star product.

Turbo Tax 2006

2007-10-13
Is this easy to use or what? I was able to get my taxes done in less than an hour. I will never pay the price for a tax preparer again.

Turbo Tax 2006

2007-10-01
Came in unopened box and brand new... was mailed out promptly... will recommend this seller as a good merchant

TurboTax vsTaxAct

2007-09-12
I do my taxes by going through my income and deduction items and putting them into my tax return, i.e. I am using the "forms method". I have no comment about the relative merits of the "interview method" of TurboTax and TaxAct. My income consists of Social Security, pensions, dividends, interest, a real estate partnership in two states other than NY where I live, commodity trades and tax refunds. For 2006 I used both TurboTax and TaxAct since I wanted to be sure that TaxAct, which costs less than half of what TurboTax costs, will in the future be just as good for my purposes.

I found the much cheaper TaxAct more convenient to use, because it is somewhat easier to find and open forms in TaxAct than in TurboTax. TaxAct does have the annoying property that even on a screen with plenty of room to spare, certain words of the forms don't appear. For instance, NY IT-201 line 72 is: "Total New York State Tax withheld..." and line 73 is "Total New York City tax withheld..." On the TaxAct screen both lines become "Total NY Tax withheld...". I should say, if you print out the page the missing words reappear, and in any case the two items are imported by the program from another form, but even so, this is a disturbing defect.

Neither TurboTax MA nor TaxAct MA has schedule 3K-1 which I needed for the real estate partnership, and I filled in the MA tax forms by hand.

Both TaxAct and TurboTax can convert your tax return, either with or without all the worksheets and 1099 forms, into a .pdf document. The document can be very long, and TurboTax produces a table of contents which makes it easy to find what one wants.

I noticed one difference between the tax computations. TurboTax just deducted from my NY tax what I paid to MA and RI, where I am nonresident. TaxAct allowed me to deduct only amounts it computed using a complicated formula one is supposed to use. I think it computes roughly the smaller of the taxes I paid to the other states and what the NY tax would have been on the amounts earned in those states.

One disadvantage of TaxAct for me was that it does not offer a RI state tax program.

I asked for help from TaxAct by e-mail twice, well after April 15th. On both occasions they replied within hours and the replies answered my questions.

Next year I will use only TaxAct.

Worth the money

2008-04-14
If you keep good accounting records and have the patients to follow all the steps, this is a very worthwhile program. The only cons are that you can't update each year - You have to buy the new version, and e-filing is extra. Although, my federal refund came in a very short time so the extra charge was worth it for me.

TurboTax is a Rip Off

2008-02-20
My fiancee is a contracted employee and has to file 1099s and a schedule C every year and has struggled to finish his taxes on his own for the past few years using online services that merely charge $1-$10 to e-file for him. Overall, his taxes are simple and don't need a whole lot of help with preparation but he thought he would purchase TurboTax and it would be a simpler process and would find and calculate his deductions a little easier. Well, it still took him two days to complete the paperwork and then AFTER HE PURCHASED the program, they wanted ANOTHER $15 to e-file each State (2) and his federal taxes! What's the point in buying a program if they are charging more than the free online preparation programs for the service and more to e-file?! After he printed his forms to send them in and file regularly, I tried TurboTax along with two other online programs to see if it would benefit me. Not only did one of the online programs give me more of a refund, they wanted $20 less to file both my state and federal. Don't waste your money on this product!

Not worth the headache, do it by hand is easier

2008-01-22
Every year I go out and by Turbo Tax for the convenience and that I can down load the information with ease from my quicken program. This is a big plus in the programming and it's only benefit. But I always wind up doing it by hand anyway.

In years past, turbo tax was issued and then a follow up final issue with all the information was added so if you waited until April, you would be assured to have the final version which allowed you to print and do your state taxes. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. You have to go online to get the final versions. What if you do not have online access? Well then you have you have to call them and are not guaranteed to get any help that way. The headache is not worth it..

Since the IRS puts all of its final laws into place in June, can't turbo tax and other software put out there final versions by December 1? Since we are forced to pay taxes every year, shouldn't this be as complete as possible BEFORE they release it? This way all we need is one program and not worried about getting on line or worried about new product information.

Consider other options until they fix this part of the programming.

it wont work

2008-01-21
downloaded the program properly without any problems indicated but when I try to start the program I get the error window asking if I want to send the error to microsoft with no further guidance on which way to correct the problem. It has taken longer trying to get it to work than it would have taken to actually complete my taxes.

Frustrated! I want a refund.

Turbo Tax Warranty - Not

2008-01-19
If ths following is your idea of good product support, then by all means, purchase Turbo Tax. While using the software, I had no idea that this limitation to Turbo Tax existed. As for me, my next purchase will be Tax Cut.

The only provision for claiming excess railroad retirement tax on Form 1040 is for tier 1 withholding. The excess can be derived from a combination of railroad employers or in connection with a railroad and non-railroad employer. The program does properly record the excess of the tier 1 tax on line 67 Form 1040 as a credit against income taxes. It does nothing with the tier 2 excess tax. This must claimed separately, as you noted in your email, on form 843 which is not supported by the Turbo Tax software.

The software's help does contain information regarding tier 1 and 2 railroad retirement withholding. The help clearly indicates that only tier 1 may be claimed as a credit against current year income taxes. It goes on to state, "You cannot claim a refund for excess tier 2 RRTA tax on Form 1040. Instead use Form 843."