Vic Dura wrote:
- quote -

I used the free Taxact last year after preparing our return
by hand. Not surprisingly, we agreed to the dollar, which
speaks well for its accuracy.<g> It did serve as a vehicle
for a neat printed return.

One caution: On almost every page, Taxact attempted to sell
one of its step-up formulations. It did become a bit
annoying, but my resistance was strong and lasting.

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joetaxpayer <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote:
- quote -

Garbage in, garbage out.

If the preparer doesn't ask the question and the taxpayer
doesn't have a clue then is some cases the TurboTax
interview may even be better.

My father always did his own taxes. Many, many years ago
after he passed away, my mother went to a preparer for a few
years. Not a store front, but two different CPA's who
specialized in tax. Over three years my mother an I found
several items that were either entered incorrectly or
omitted altogether. In both cases they filed amended
returns for her without charge, but we, not they, found the
errors.

Since then I have prepared all of our returns. Like most
things - if you want something done right, do it yourself.
That doesn't mean that you don't have to put forth the
effort to educate yourself and keep abreast of changes of
the tax laws.

Not for everyone perhaps, but it works for me.

--
-Ernie-

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- quote -

Neither. Try the free TaxAct at www.taxact.com

--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

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Andrew <andrew[at]losset.net> wrote:

- quote -

Who took out the most ads?

Seth

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Missy wrote:

- quote -

I've heard from more people that the style of their tax
preparer is to send a 'checklist' of things to bring or fill
in the numbers. This is either mailed in or dropped off to
his office. A finished return is given back, with little or
no discussion or council. If this is not typical, then my
apologies. In any case, it would seem that most of the
dialog occurs after the tax year has ended, in which case
I'd be curious what a human preparer would uncover which the
human tax payer would not have already provided.

In my dealings, I make a strong attempt to have a November
meeting which will uncover moves that can be made before
year end;

The ability in 2006/7 to donate from an IRA and while it
counts towards your RMD, avoids taxes. (this is a benefit
for those who are not exceeding the standard deduction, but
are making good donations)

Conversions from IRA to Roth IRA to fill up the tax bracket
they are in. (Paying tax at 15% and avoiding the increasing
RMDs pushing them into 25% bracket)

Advice on contents of pre-tax accounts vs post tax accounts,
as dividends and cap gains are tax favored in the post tax
accounts.

Even if a tax 'pro' were going to discuss these issues, what
benefit could he provide after the tax year has ended?

JOE

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Apala Man wrote:

- quote -

Aside from one quirky aspect of their pricing (I posted
elsewhere that a returning customer gets a solicitation for
the new year's software, at full retail, plus shipping, and
then get a delivery well after you can find it in the stores
for less. For me and the accounts I handle, I need the
ability to do a dry run before the end of the year, to make
decisions regarding IRA conversions, stock sales, etc.) I
like TurboTax.

The product itself is easy, intuitive, and offers an
'interview' mode or just 'go to forms'. You don't mention
stock trading, or rental property. It sounds like you will
have an easy go of it. I'd be surprised if you could get a
'better' return with a pro. The year is over, and the only
thing you could do now is make an IRA deposit for 2006. The
effort should go into planning for this year, otherwise for
2006, what's done is done.

JOE
JoeTaxpayer.com

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"Apala Man" <apalati...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

A human tax preparer usually saves you more money than they
cost you.

Missy Doyle

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"Apala Man" <apalati...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

If you don't know enough about federal income taxes to do
your own return by hand, then you should not use either
software package. Instead, you should engage a local tax
professional to do your return.

If you could do your own tax return by hand, then either
software package should meet your needs.

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"Apala Man" <apalati...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Either will do the job if you understand your taxes enough
to feed it the right information. Consider TaxAct, which is
free.

ed

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I am not an expert tax preparer by any means, but after many
years using each of the tax prep programs you mentioned, I
went to work this year for one of the big store-front tax
prep companies.

If your tax situation is rather simple, W-2's, 1099's etc.
either program will work very well. In fact I recommended
the free program TaxAct to my sons, both married home
owners, and they liked it and used it to prepare and e-file
for free.

You need a professional, and I mean a real pro not a
store-front hack (there are some very competent
professionals among the store-front preparers if you are
lucky enough to get one) if your tax situation is not
straight forward. If you are divorced and have a child
custody situation; if you are supporting a parent in a
nursing home; if you have business income or unreimbursed
business expenses; if you have grown children or
grandchildren living with you; if you have a home office, or
stock sale, or sold a home, or moving expenses, or you or a
dependent have a disability, or income not reported on a W-2
or 1099, or unusual medical expenses, or sizable donations
to charity, or had a spouse die in 2006, etcetera; you need
a real tax professional.

One more thing, if you have other than a straight forward
return and live in a state that has income tax, you need a
pro. The commercial tax prep programs don't do a good job
(in my opinion) with state returns which can be as complex
as federal especially if you have income from multiple
states.

Carl

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Apala Man wrote:

- quote -

See http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,4831,00.asp .
I believe PCMag gave TT the nod this year. Others are
better at answering your other questions.

--
Regards -

- Andrew

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Which of these 2 programs should I use to file my taxes? or
there other ones that are better? I work fulltime, my wife
works fulltime, we have kids and we just bought a home. is
this something the software will able to do and get us the
best damn returns or should I just go see a human tax
preparer. Thanks. I will appreciate all your insights.

AT

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