I found Turbo Tax in a lot of different stores around here. I think it's still the #1 tax software. I'm going to give TaxAct a try to see how it does. I already did my taxes using Turbo Tax, but decided to d/l TaxAct to see whether it gets the answers right. If so, I may use it as my primary next year. I'll post what I find after trying it out. I started it last night (but didn't finish) and a quick observation is that you have to go through a lot more screens to get something done. I also like the way TurboTax imports things from last year and uses them as a starting point. If you haven't changed employers, that can save some time. The way they prompt with last years' 1099s helped me realize I was missing one. If I had just entered based on what I had, I'd have missed one.

You can enter securities transactions, but the more specific update is that you can't enter any more than 99,999 shares in any one given transaction. Since I trade on the OTC sometimes, I have more than 100,000 shares in several transactions. SO, I was forced to use TaxAct, which just has a 15 character limit in the description line. Intuit lost me on that, had no choice. I can also say, now that I've filed AND gotten my returns accepted, that TaxAct was almost as easy as TurboTax -- the only problem was ease of navigation, and the significantly lower cost made the *only somewhat* less easy navigation very easy to take. But the rest of it was fine. OH, the only other problem was that I couldn't import from ItsDeductible, since ID has an exclusive w/Intuit. So I paid for the ID ($20) and paid for the state and local prep/filing (16), grand total of $36 and I'm done. Their communications were timely and much more helpful than Intuit's ever were. They want business, they don't expect it, iykwim. And please note: TaxACT is NOT TaxCUT. The link is below. I learned about them through a review of this year's TurboTax on Amazon. Kudos to TaxAct. Thanks and Keep it up! Here is a link that might be useful: excellent substitute for turbotax, IMO

equinecpa: You wrote: >>Two cents from a CPA: ..... Just the inconsistencies in results tells me you are making input erorrs -I'd count on it. The programs are not calculating the return differently -you are somehow inputting it differently. ========================================== That is not true. Compare TaxAct with TaxCut where you've bought and sold both taxable and tax-exempt bonds with acrued interest. You will find TaxAct understates the final income and therefore the tax. Several years ago I went thru the calculation line by line with both using identical input. (Both on computer and paper). I pinpointed the exact mistake TaxAct was making. I wrote it all up clearly and concisely and sent it by US Mail to TaxAct headquarters which was in Iowa. They acknowledged my analysis; said they'd fix it. They never did. A couple years later I checked it out again and this time emailed em. This time they denied the error. The wording of the reply showed that they did not understand the problem. I wouldn't trust TaxAct with anything beyond simplest of returns; ie wages only with a standard deduction.

Hi Jock Ewing, Being a furriner - I have no useful advice to offer regarding your Incentive funds, tax refund, etc. ... sorry about that. However - I'm with dadoes ... wouldn't it be a good idea for you to plan to reduce your tax refund to close to $0.00? Over the years that I've worked as a personal financial advisor, one of my major suggestions to clients and others was that they reduce their income tax refund to $0.00. Even at low rates of interest ... money in your bank account does develop a small amount of interest, during the year and a quarter to a half or so that some of it would be there. I'd like to suggest that, during the year while your extra large withholding is being held back and sent to the IRS as an interest-free loan, you check with your bank as to the amount of interest that the extra amount withheld would have earned. Then when you receive your tax refund, suppose you take an equal amount and, in the presence of your family, throw it into the street. Do you figure that they would, on the strength of that act, judge you to be a wise manager of money? Not only are you losing the small amount of interest (let's call it a "pittance") that that amount of money would earn if you'd taken it and put it into a separate and inviolable bank account ... it would have been available in case of need to deal with a major emergency expense. The IRS wouldn't have been too sympathetic had you, facing such a need, asked them to pay you a portion of that potential refund during that year. Which relates to another major suggestion that I made to my clients ... that they try to have at least 3 months' income available in easily accessible asset in case of an emergency. With six months', nine months' or a year's amount being built up in case of substantial unexpected need - including, in recent years, a possible extended period of unemployment. I shared with a number of them the information that I often did not have that on hand myself during my years of recent employment, as I held a "credit" (really "debt") card with, usually, zero or almost zero owing, with full amount paid off monthly prior to due date, plus a line of credit at the bank, usually sitting unused (with no set-up or maintenance fee if unused) which I could draw on to pay off the credit card balance due after use to cover an emergency. Actually, I recently signed up for another card, with 1.9% interest rate for 9 mos. on transferred balances, to use to purchase stock, should I so choose, as I would have to pay 5.00% currently on my line of credit but can buy the stock using the first card, then transfer the balance. But - the first card will charge interest at regular rate (about 18%) from the date that I draw on it till the date that it moves to the second card. By the way - I'm 80 and live on less than the income from my three pensions (one governmental with residence requirement, so housewives qualify, a second contributory related to my former income, and a third private contributory one) plus a small annual required amount of withdrawal from a tax-deferred retirement account. That income is much more secure that most employment income, as all that I need do to qualify is ... ... stay topside the grass! Which makes my pension income almost a guaranteed income (as long as the private carrier and the government stay solvent - and ours is a lot closer to that than yours). Do yourself a favour, Jock, please - set up a bank acocunt that you promise to leave alone except in case of extreme emergency ... and deposit the amount of withholding overcharge from every paycheque. With a name such as yours - you may have a drop or two of Scottish blood in your veins ... and you know their reputation for being careful with the use of money. Good wishes for what's left of winter, the spring - and the rest of the year. ole joyful