TurboTax Online Deluxe 2009 Review Discussion

By Jay Garmon

TurboTax is the headline star in the tax preparation software world, but is its reputation a product of great performance, or simply great marketing? We break it down in this review.

First, a word about my tax return, which I will be using to test-run TurboTax and a few other tax preparation Web apps. In 2009, I received unemployment pay, did freelance work, started a new job for an out-of-state employer, paid down a student loan, had a child in daycare, bought one house and sold another, and maintained a home office as a primary workplace. In short, mine is not a simple tax profile, and if these tax apps can handle what I throw at them without making me want to tear my eyeballs out, they should be able to stand up to the typical taxpayer pretty easily.

Also of note, I used TurboTax last year to prepare our household taxes, so I was able to import my previous year's tax return directly -- an option not directly available (or functional) with other tax prep apps.

Read the full content of this Article: TurboTax Online Deluxe 2009 Review

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Good review. However...

My suspicions that NBR is becoming a software review site are confirmed.

 

One thing that I wanted to point out. Throughout this review you are referring to H&R Block At Home as "Taxcut". That is what it has been called in the past and was pointed out in your review of said product. However, to be less confusing to others who may not know that H&R Block At Home and Taxcut are the same thing, I would suggest that you change it to reflect it's current name. Thank you for the review!

 

Jay... Very good and thorough review. Thanks for taking the time to share this with others. As you note in your review, using TurboTax may take a little bit longer than other solutions because TurboTax is built around the promise of getting you the biggest refund possible and ensuring an accurate return. TurboTax probes for write offs like no other software program and performs sophisticated diagnostics and error checks to ensure accuracy.

We believe the investment of a few extra minutes is well worth it knowing you got the biggest refund possible and that you're not going to get that dreaded IRS notice.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

 

I've used TurboTax and most of its competitors and, frankly, there is no reason to use anything else. With online discounts (Google is your friend, but if not... the T. Rowe Price website is your friend), the cost differential is minimal given what you receive in return.

My experience with the competitors (including CPAs) was a similar result, but much more effort getting there. Less data import capabilities (especially from Intuit's other product, Quicken), and a generally less refined product.

I'm back to Turbotax and, assuming that their market domination doesn't cause crazy monopolistic pricing, I will likely never go back. The only problem that I ever had was a result of fat-fingered typing (Yikes!), but even that was easily corrected through an amended 1040 from Turbotax itself.