So, I order Turbotax...

[DaveSimmons]

I bought TurboTax Premier also this year. I buy it on the CD and got it by mail from BJ's ... it was $72 including the delivery and tax to my front door. I do not like the digital download versions and buying it off Ebay is risky. It may not be genuine or not activate or maybe not download the State forms you need. The cd version does not need anything to activate it. Once it is installed, all is well.

If you buy the digital download from Amazon, sold by Amazon, there are no issues with activation.

I only use each annual version once, so being able to re-install from CD in 5 years doesn't matter to me, but if I did want to the old versions are in my Amazon software library.

 

[Muse]

I bought TurboTax Premier also this year. I buy it on the CD and got it by mail from BJ's ... it was $72 including the delivery and tax to my front door. I do not like the digital download versions and buying it off Ebay is risky. It may not be genuine or not activate or maybe not download the State forms you need. The cd version does not need anything to activate it. Once it is installed, all is well.

Yup, that's where I'm at with it now, installed off the CD and I let it do its updates, haven't started it. Before I bought this I searched online and saw an ad for a digital download that was enticing, way cheaper than ordering a CD, something like $20-25. I posted here and a mod looked it up and contacted Intuit who responded that the seller wasn't authorized. I figured it was too risky to chance, although the site looked pretty professional. Buying a download off Amazon is probably pretty safe, though, I figure. Maybe next time.

If I were to consider paying $72 for it I would just buy at Costco, they are selling it for $65 + tax, comes to the same. I've bought there before but in recent years have found cheaper sources online for shipped CDs.

I still want to talk to an agent at Intuit and ask them if the Deluxe version handles investment loss carryovers, that's the only reason right now I want the Premier edition.

 

[Muse]

buy turbotax CD, share it with up to 4 family/friends, each of you pay 1/5 the cost, and you get really cheap tax prep

Well, I'm sure my sister has her taxes done by a pro. I just don't know that I know anyone I could share it with! I think that makes sense.

 

[Muse]

Just finished my taxes, what fun.

I called TT today and asked if Deluxe will manage my loss carryover. The agent put me on hold and several minutes later says it won't but check next year, it's possible it will then. I won't hold my breath.

And those dogs still want $24.99 to efile state. Screw 'em.

 

[bruceb]

I agree the E-File fee for the State return is nothing but greed on the part of Intuit / Turbotax .. I just printed out my state return (about 4 pages) and brought it along with the W-2 / 1099 they require when you paper file a return, to my local State Income Tax Office ... US Postal would probably have lost the letter and you would want to use Registered to prove it was delivered.

 

[Muse]

I agree the E-File fee for the State return is nothing but greed on the part of Intuit / Turbotax .. I just printed out my state return (about 4 pages) and brought it along with the W-2 / 1099 they require when you paper file a return, to my local State Income Tax Office ... US Postal would probably have lost the letter and you would want to use Registered to prove it was delivered.

I mail mine every year, never had a non-delivery problem. Maybe that's risky, but I haven't sweated it. It cost me a long envelope and 70 cents in stamps this year. I'm dropping it in the mailbox outside the main PO in my town this afternoon.

In addition to the ridiculous $24.99 state filing fee, Intuit insults the user by insinuating that they are remiss in not efiling in the way they deal with the situation in that portion of the program. It truly is disgusting. There's no way I'm coughing up that cash to them.

 

[radhak]

Yearly, I buy Turbotax Premier so I get my investment loss carryover from the 2008 financial debacle (my cash was in a fund that tanked like most everything else).

Why are you buying a desktop version of a software when they have an online version? You get a login, populate your info, even pulling W2 info from your employer, and pay when filing.

I have used TT online for the past decade, and it has carried over all my info year-to-year seamlessly. What am I missing?

 

[bruceb]

It is more secure to use a desktop version. The only time your information goes out over the web, is when it is E-Filed. Personally I prefer it this way. Plus if I should ever need to reinstall that year's program for any reason, I can do so.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The desktop version opens your last-year TT document to import information too, and it also connects to your brokerage to import this year's data.

I also prefer to not store my tax data on Intuit servers.

 

[zinfamous]

Just finished my taxes, what fun.

I called TT today and asked if Deluxe will manage my loss carryover. The agent put me on hold and several minutes later says it won't but check next year, it's possible it will then. I won't hold my breath.

And those dogs still want $24.99 to efile state. Screw 'em.

I used to do it this way. It's free

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/calfile/index.asp

Just need the info from your federal 1040.

 

[bruceb]

That may be fine for California, but North Carolina has certain income limits depending on which of their E-File options you pick.. And I really do not want to create another user account and then have to reenter whatever information the state return requires. Turbotax does prepare it, just save it as .pdf (both as forms required for filing and also as all forms with supporting worksheets) you use the first to mail it in, the second if you want a detailed record for your files

 

[Muse]

That may be fine for California, but North Carolina has certain income limits depending on which of their E-File options you pick.. And I really do not want to create another user account and then have to reenter whatever information the state return requires. Turbotax does prepare it, just save it as .pdf (both as forms required for filing and also as all forms with supporting worksheets) you use the first to mail it in, the second if you want a detailed record for your files

Yeah, there's nothing to enter to file state, you just print it from the PDF after choosing all forms necessary for filing. Then mail the PDF to the state, which I'm doing today just like I have for the last few years. I also print copies (from the PDFs) of exactly what I send to the state and a copy of what TT provides to the IRS. I save my return (in TT's format) and both of the aforementioned PDFs to my server.

 

[bruceb]

Basically the same here. Paper copies of the returns and all W-2 / 1099 / deduction docs .. but I do no keep the TurboTax files on computer. They go either on an external USB Hard Drive which only gets powered up when I want to access it or on a USB Flash Drive .. totally secure from unwanted access

 

[Muse]

Basically the same here. Paper copies of the returns and all W-2 / 1099 / deduction docs .. but I do no keep the TurboTax files on computer. They go either on an external USB Hard Drive which only gets powered up when I want to access it or on a USB Flash Drive .. totally secure from unwanted access

Interesting idea. I'm wondering why I'd be nervous about someone getting my tax return, though. It has my name, address, SSN, all the details about my finances for 2017 (well, mostly), but can they screw me with that stuff? AFAIK, there's no account info.

 

[nakedfrog]

Basically the same here. Paper copies of the returns and all W-2 / 1099 / deduction docs .. but I do no keep the TurboTax files on computer. They go either on an external USB Hard Drive which only gets powered up when I want to access it or on a USB Flash Drive .. totally secure from unwanted access

Until a major credit agency gets hacked and all that info is already on the internet anyway.

 

[bruceb]

Possibly true, but at least I know I did what I needed to do to keep information on my computers, safe.

 

[Muse]

Information security... it seems to be something of a mirage. People, sophisticated individuals, governments have been hacking systems left and right. Experian, Sony, Facebook, where does it end? Seems like no data is safe. I look at all my statements, make sure there's nothing squirrely going on.

 

[zinfamous]

That may be fine for California, but North Carolina has certain income limits depending on which of their E-File options you pick.. And I really do not want to create another user account and then have to reenter whatever information the state return requires. Turbotax does prepare it, just save it as .pdf (both as forms required for filing and also as all forms with supporting worksheets) you use the first to mail it in, the second if you want a detailed record for your files

For Tax Act, you can't access the state PDF like you can Federal. They charge you before you can begin your state review or even access a PDF. For the federal part, you can get an unprintable/uneditable PDF of your 1040 before paying.

I am now filing in Maryland, and it is way easier than CA. The free online service direct through them only has a few fields to enter, remembers your data from previous year, and took me about 10 minutes. ...and they calculated about $170 more than what TaxAct was estimating in refund for my state.


....I was actually annoyed because I got a refund, way more than I had planned. I calculated my allowances and submitted them last year, so I was expecting to be in that -100/+100 range, which is about where I was for federal, but I got 800 back from state. I think my HR didn't properly submit state allowances or something. Or I didn't properly include them...no idea, really. I bought a house last year + points, so it's not like getting a huge refund is unexpected, but I had planned not to get one, and calculated all of my known expenses with all known interest/property tax/points, etc...