On Apr 3, 1:05 am, Will Trice <wwtr...[at]paragondynamics.com> wrote:
- quote -

Not a clue. I'm guessing it's a teaser to get you to buy the other
versions of their product (including state versions). There were some
rumors in the past about the IRS allowing tax preparers to sell your
personal information to 3rd parties. I'm not sure that ever went
through. If it did, maybe TaxAct makes money that way.

- quote -

I used it this year and last. I agree with you that the interface is
a lot better than TurboTax. But I think TaxCut trumps both. My taxes
are pretty simple, so they're not a real test of TaxAct's robustness.
That being said, I did my taxes using TaxCut both years, too, just to
make sure they come up with the same number. For me, the bottom line
is that TaxAct is free and includes free e-file. That sealed the
deal, right there.

--Bill

OK, so I've posted a few times about the virtues of the free online
version of TurboTax here before. Well, no more. The free version this
year appears to only be able to handle 1040-EZ type tax issues. As soon
as I indicated that I have capital gains, I had to go into a paid
version (hey, they had to make money off me eventually, I've been using
their product free for a few years now).

However, I discovered that the interface for this year's version has
become incredibly clunky and non-intuitive. After completeing the
interviews and performing an automated error check (which caught a few
things) I was able to view my 1040. It appeared to be incorrect, but to
check it thoroughly, I needed to see all my various other forms and
schedules. But to get a look at those, I had to pay up the ~$100 for
the paid version I selected. I declined to pay the fee since my return
looked incorrect anyway (by a lot).

As a side note, I responded to an ad in my newsreader tonight for a free
online version of TaxAct. Its interface is much better and more
intuitive than that for Turbotax. However, when I got to vehicle
depreciation for my wife's business, it came up with a drastically
different deduction than I did. I need to research further to ensure
that I've got the right value, but I'm pretty certain that TaxAct got it
wrong. I suspect it's confused because I used standard mileage for this
vehicle in the past and I want to switch to actual costs this year. It
didn't ask me if this was the case. But I still can't see how it got
the value for this deduction, and I can't see the details of its
calculation unless I upgrade to a paid version.

Anyone know how TaxAct makes money off of their free version? Even
e-filing is free. That's how the free version of Turbotax got you, they
charged for e-filing. Anyone have any other thoughts on the online
version(s) of TaxAct?