Tax Software Purchasing Decision

Neither, file them online at one of their websites.

I never file my taxes on line. Not putting my nor anyone else's ssn on the internet. No comment on which program to purchase.

i'm in canada so it's probably not gonna help, but i used taxwiz when i had a pc, and tax freeway now that i have a mac

I second this recommendation. It's easier than dealing with their awful software and they save all the information so you can just log in again next year and continue.

mint.com has a free way to do it, though I'll probably go ahead and pay for TurboTax on the web again.

Awful software? If you know how to do taxes, it is very easy.

Edit: Glad you feel comfortable putting your ssn on the internet

I didn't say it was hard to use, I said it was awful software. You need to buy it, install it and update it to deal with new tax code yearly.

If you already use that software for your finances it makes sense, but if you don't the web apps are what I recommend.



So am I, it'd be stupid for me not to. I get paid by many online vendors and they require me to provide them my social security number. If I were paranoid about it I'd not be able to do a lot of things that are to my benefit.

And, if you have a bank account or credit card, your SSN is likely in a web-accessible database anyway.

Awful to you means buying the program, installing it and updating it. Ok

When you have to do all that, with the associated data protection and migration when it's not needed in a web app yes, but those are hardly the only reasons I think the major tax software for desktops are awful.

When you do it through desktop software you have to perform your own backups or have your data on a single point of failure. And because each year requires updates you need to purchase new versions or update your existing software while on the web this is all done for you. It's a much better platform for software that needs such frequent updates as well as historical data as it can handle the backups (to multiple physical locations), updates and all for you without you having to lift a finger.

And the paranoia about entering your SSN on the web is extra silly given that the desktop apps also submit the information through the web if you use their e-file features. Just because you aren't entering the SSN in a browser and doing so in desktop software instead means little if you are going to then transmit the data over the internet anyway if you e-file.

In a business application, i would always use the QuickBooks software to prepare the data for filing taxes, but i would never file taxes from QuickBooks, because you want a layer of insulation--you want an accountant. If the accountant wants to use such software to file taxes, that's OK by me, because he is responsible for the content accuracy, as the signatory is responsible for the utlimate accuarcy. Every accountant i've ever worked with, however, provided copies of the relevant documents, completed by him or her, which i then prepared on an electric typewriter, after which the responsible party signed and we mailed the documents in to the IRS or the appropriate state agency (for example, in Ohio, the State Department of Revenue and the School District Income Tax Agency). There would be nothing wrong with filing electronically for business taxes, but everyone i've worked for in small business management (even though often younger than i am) was not comfortable with the technology.

Whenever i've used QuickBooks for accounting purposes, i've always kept two back-up copies, one on the premises and one at the home of my employer (even when it annoyed them to be obliged to deal with it). I did a back-up each week, since recreating a week's worth of data entry wasn't that huge a job. Once again, i have no problem with online back-up services, but my employers like to have something they could see, something they could hold in their respective hands.

For personal taxes, in which there is no business filing, i consider it silly to install software to do what the Feds and the state will allow you to do online. RG's absolutely correct, the software sucks (for personal tax filing) and you would either be disastrously without a back-up, or you'd be obliged to keep your own back-up (and no back-up system is effective unless you physically store a back-up copy elsewhere) which you'd only use once a year. For personal taxes, it doesn't make sense to do anything other than use the free services provided by the taxing agencies, or one of the online services.

There is nothing to fear doing your taxes online, assuming that the site provides encryption. If someone is going to steal your information there are millions of ways they can do it, and pretty much nothing you can do to stop them.

Everything is on a computer or in a database somewhere, it would be very inefficient for someone to target individual users computers, and much more efficient (i.e. cost effective) to breach the data centers that payment processors and banks use, where they can get millions of people's data at once.

Your SSN is not secret anymore, to anyone.

This is a salient point which bears repeating.

I used TurboTax this year, again. It's easy to go year to year with the same one because it pulled my 2007 tax info automatically.

It did end up costing me more this year because you couldn't deduct it. But oh well.

Just for your information, I don't use e-file. I send my tax return in to the filing center. I also order the actual tax software to put on non-internet connected computers.
...and when have I ever made sense

Anyway, since when do we need a computer to help screw up our taxes. I can do that for free.