Sarasota PC Monitor
H&R Bock TaxCut Premium
A Software Review
by Herb Goldstein
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Well here we are, another year gone by and another tax return to look forward to. Like the other two inevitables in life, death and dentists, it's just something we can't escape. And, we either do the dirty work ourselves or pay an accountant through the nose to do the evil deed which any half-way talented computer user should be able to do with ease.
When I retired close to 20 years ago I used an accountant to prepare my taxes from force of habit. It was unfortunately a $500 habit to have the accountant prepare a relatively simple return and who I observed using tax software that was manageable by any computer owner. I subsequently bought the tax software myself and have been easily preparing my own taxes every year since. I have been saving a yearly accountant's fees and have never prepared a return whose accuracy was questioned by Uncle Sam.
Now I am far from a financial genius, and if I can do it, so can you! The first step is to choose a good tax prep program. I have tried several and found HR Block's TaxCut to be the best. What else would you expect from the only tax software produced by the country's leading tax preparation professionals?
The procedure is the very essence of simplicity. Gather all your 1099's, W2's, and other income and expense information. TaxCut will ask you a series of simple questions about that income and expense. Fill in the answers to those questions and when you are through, out comes a beautiful return that looks exactly like the accountant's $500 job. If you have any questions along the way, TaxCut provides copious and easy to understand, context-sensitive explanations and help. When you complete your return TaxCut will audit it for any errors or any unusual entries that would flag IRS attention. TaxCut computes all the math involved with your return as you go and with 100% accuracy.
At the beginning of the interview, TaxCut describes documents necessary for the section and lets you check off situations that apply to you. This sets up the questions that follow. As each section ends, a summary highlights your progress. A link on each page opens an index of tax topics covered, indicating the status of each.
TaxCut's help system remains quite accessible and thorough. The program uses hyperlinks liberally to explain fields, and related FAQs appear on the right of the screen. Click on Help Me, and the interview provides expanded clarification. Help videos are provided as an additional crutch. For the most part, interview questions and explanations are simple and easy to comprehend, with thorough coverage of financial topics.
After completing your return, TaxCut will offer advice on how to save money on taxes in both the current and in future years. It even provides tips and tools for managing and saving on your investments. It is a marvelous and ingenious program that will make your computer more than pay for itself.
TaxCut can do far more than prepare a simple return. It can readily handle such complex tax issues as home sales, rental properties, mortgages, depreciation, capital gains, capital loss carryover, IRA's, child tax-credits, and a whole slew of additional tax-related issues. As a finishing touch, TaxCut will file your return electronically if you wish to hasten your refund by several weeks. It also provides a free return for your state income tax.
Paying taxes may be painful, but TaxCut makes preparing a tax return painless. It can even import return data from the previous year's return prepared in any tax prep software as well as from info in Quicken or MS Money.
TaxCut is available in Standard, Deluxe and Premium versions at 15, 25 and 40 dollars consecutively. Each successive version offers more tools and advice. Since the difference in cost is minimal compared to the importance of the work they do, my advice is to go with the Premium version. You can find more info on them all at www.hrblock.com
You can purchase the boxed version at any location where software is sold. Some office supply stores offer additional free software when you make your purchase. One of the specials I've recently seen offers Microsoft Money free with your TaxCut purchase. TaxCut is also offered for download sale at hrblock.com.
Key Features:
* Step-by-step guidance for filing Federal tax returns.
* Take advantage of the newest tax breaks and save money.
* Kiplinger's tax and financial planning library.
* Up-to-date IRS publications.
* Retirement savings enhancer; helpful tax-law assistants.
* Error Check automatically reviews for common errors. :
Copyright 2005. This article is from the January 2005 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.