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Can even I do TurboTax?

19 years ago

If the ads are to be believed, even someone numerically challenged like me can file taxes via TurboTax. Is it true? Where can I download the forms for free? chery-va

Comments (14)

lizql
19 years ago
Turbo Tax is easy. Just fill in the blanks. Go to the IRS website for links
steve_o
19 years ago
TurboTax (and TaxCut, its competition) will ask you various questions, in English, which identify your sources of income and your deductions and credits. Typically you can click on something you don't understand to see more explanation or the IRS rules (usually not the same thing :-) ). Unless you need some truly obscure form (and maybe even then), TurboTax (and TaxCut) have IRS forms built into the program and will bring them in as you need them.

It's really rather painless, if you have to pay income taxes.
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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
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You call that deer? This is deer... I need to train them to eat fire ants. Anyway...looks like a renovation is in order. What do you want? Do you want the nicest lawn on the block or do you just want it fairly weed free? The difference in maintenance is not that much, but to have the nicest lawn you'll need to spend a little extra on seed and soil testing. There are three options for grass type. Those are fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, and a mix of both. Fescue is a bunch type grass meaning it will not spread quickly enough to effectively cover an area. The solution to that is buy more seed. When the grass plants die from abuse or disease or insects, they are dead. New seed is the only way to reestablish it. With Kentucky bluegrass it is a sod forming type of grass. It will spread fairly quickly to fill in any bare spots. Fescue remains green all year while KBG will likely go dormant in the winter and turn brown. It will come back at full strength in the spring. If you want the nicest lawn and you decide on KBG, you can go an extra mile and cause it to remain green through almost all of the winter. Your neighbors who also want the greenest lawn will hate you...if that's what you want. Here is a picture of a KBG lawn in eastern PA taken December 1, 2010. Here's the same lawn in April of 2011 after winter but firmly in spring. These are pictures of morpheuspa's lawn. He'll be along any minute now to help you. He spent extra to get a mix of Elite KBG seed. He also spends $25 per year on soil testing and a little more on micronutrients to amend his soil chemistry. Otherwise the lawn is organic, watered once a week, and mulch mowed once a week. Generally he fertilizes 3x per year, but some years he dabbles with experiments. Here's a summary of a renovaton: Spray with RoundUp Spray again with RoundUp a week later Rake up all the dead stuff Scatter seed Roll seed down to ensure good contact with the soil Water 3x per day for 3 weeks just enough to keep the top surface of the soil moist When the grass is up to 4 inches, start to mow and back off on the frequency of watering. There might be some details you want more info on, but that's a summary. You don't need to aerate, rototill, smother or cover the seed with top dressing, or do a lot of soil amendments. New seed has enough nutrients inside the seed to maintain the new grass plants for several weeks. Once you have roots in the ground, then you can deal with fertilizing. ...unless you want to use organics, and then you can fertilize any time you want. Now what are your new questions?
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sharlee
19 years ago
chery 2: Have you tried Turbo Tax yet? Why haven't I used it previously? That is the question I now ask myself since doing taxes this way for 2004. It was great!

For over 25yrs I simply gave all the info to my accountant
which always took me a lot of time & felt "I could do this". Anyway, now that I'm just working part-time(self-employed) & enjoy keeping books I found it fun. Also, saved about $300.00 in accounting fees.

Let us know what you decided to do.

Sharlee
chery2
Original Author
19 years ago
Sharlee, I chickened out. Have an appt. w/ accountant Wednesday, who will take his $300 pound of flesh. Why did I wimp out? Because of the investments we made via our financial advisor w/ inheritance from my mother. The statements started pouring in this month, and I couldn't understand them. Financial advisor has been legitimately unavailable [back surgery], but once he can explain what the statements are saying, I definitely want to try TurboTax next year.
Last year, the CDs my mother left to her three children were NOT considered by IRS to be part of the estate, and we all got burned. I know for a fact that she was not aware of this inheritance tax law. She would switch banks if one provided 1/4% more interest than the rest, and she told me the money we inherited would not cost us anything until we did something with it. She was totally money savvy; I still can't believe the CD tax got past her.
So, in addition to paying Uncle Sam $3000, along with penalties for not paying estimated tax quarterly, H&R Block charged us $300. I don't mind so much paying this new accountant, but I'm going to ask him to do the short form as well as the itemized forms, just so I can see he's doing his job -- and so I can see HOW he's doing it.
Thanks for asking. Will let you know how it goes.
chery-va
Silverdove
19 years ago
I just filed with Turbo Tax through the IRS site. It's free if you link from there. (There are also other e-file providers to choose from.)

I had already figured out my taxes, but I wanted to e-file. The Turbo Tax program agreed with what I came up with, so I am hoping that we are correct!
Pooh Bear
19 years ago
You can download TaxACT and it is FREE.
I used it this year after getting several great recommendations.
I put all our numbers in it as it asked me.
And it worked out my return to print.
I could efile for about seven dollars.

Wife didn't trust it this time so we went to HRBlock.
They did our return and came out with the same numbers.
I watched as the guy entered our info.
Looked like the same program to me.

Next year wife said we could use TaxACT for free
and do it ourselves.

Pooh Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.taxact.com/
mike1983
16 years ago
Yes with Turbo tax you can safe some $$..if You need any more details about this software lest have a look here:

Turbo Tax Software
jannie
16 years ago
If you simply want blank forms, you can get those for free from the IRS website IRS dot gov. When I do my taxes (calculations) I use Free Tax USA. Not free but costs a reasonable #15.95.
eric_92037
16 years ago
IÂve held off using Turbo Tax because I heard you still have to mail in paper tax forms to the IRS anyway. Is this still true?
jannie
16 years ago
I just got my 2007 tax statement from Met Life. I'll hold onto it for filing taxes next year!
mzdee
16 years ago
I've used Turbo Tax for years. Previous to that I did it manually. Before that my ex husband paid someone to do it. You can do it. If I can you, you most assuredly can.
zone_8grandma
16 years ago
IÂve held off using Turbo Tax because I heard you still have to mail in paper tax forms to the IRS anyway. Is this still true?

That used to be true, but not last year. I've used Turbo Tax for nearly 10 years now. Last year I did not have to mail in a paper form. They let me sign the form "electronically".
asm198 - Zone 6a (MO)
16 years ago
Up until two years ago, I filed my taxes for free from H&R Block's link on the IRS website. I loved it and could never understand why people would pay to have their taxes done instead of doing it themselves.

For the past two years, someone in my husband's family does our taxes, so we have them done for free. I tried to do them myself the first year, but it was more complicated than in past years. However, I may file myself this year, depending on how we decide to file. I know we'll have to get tax advice because of some circumstances (newlyweds, among other things.
Pam Honeycutt
16 years ago
I've not tried Turbo Tax, but have been using TaxAct for years, you can efile both your state and federal with it. Its very simple to use, walks you through the whole process with plenty of help if needed. Each year it will incorporate your needed information from the previous year.
I will always use taxact as long as its available.

Gemfire

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