in article SalmonEgg-3164A2.22150814032009[....sbcglobal.net, Salmon Egg
at SalmonEgg[at]sbcglobal.net wrote on 3/15/09 1:44 PM:

- quote -

I have been a Macintosh user for as long as there have been desktop
computers (1986 for me). When I first started my practice in 1996, I used
TurboTax and printed everything out on paper so I could sign the returns.
When I started to efile returns, I migrated to Intuit ProSeries which costs
about 30 times as much but it has been reliable for me and the support has
been very good. I can also do 1041s, 1065s, etc. on a pay per return basis
if I need to. I don't have very many.

When I converted, I went out and bought an HP Pavilion system that ran
Windows XP for about $600. I did not want to deal with all the complexity
of running Windows emulation on my Mac. I am on my second Windows system,
another HP Pavilion running Vista (which sucks). There is a great advantage
to running your tax software on a stand alone system which does not have
email or any other software running on it. It is connected to my network
printer and to DSL through my Apple Airport router (hardwired).

ProSeries runs well on the Windows machine although I have had more Vista
unique issues than any other kind in the last 2 years. Usually I can get a
support resource quickly and they have some idea what I am talking about
when I call.

ProSeries has certainly not been bug free all the time but it is a product I
can live with and it has never let me down in an unacceptable way. There
are lots of other packages out here that are good. I have used LaCerte and
TaxWise and I like ProSeries better. You can pay less but so far, not enough
less to make me switch horses.

Uncompensated advice guaranteed correct or double your money back

Frank S. Duke, Jr. CPA
Cincinnati, OH USA

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<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

I switched to TaxCut this year instead of staying with TurboTax. I am
using an Intel Macintosh. I wonder if the software products are attuned
just to Wintel systems and that is the source of my disenchantment.

One unforgivable sin, in my opinion, is that TaxCut does not appear to
be able to Save or Save As until you actually quit TaxCut. This seems
like a sure way to lose data, and I did. So now, I will plan to quit
more often and go through rigmarole of reopening the form.

In trying to fill out Schedule B, the program wants to use a 1099-Div
for each dividend payer. That is OK with me, but I am having great
difficulty moving on to the next payer. It certainly is not clear on how
to do so without starting all over again with Schedule B.

At this point, I do not know if I am going crazy seeing serious defects
in TaxCut and TurboTax or whether the software publishers are not up to
making an easy-to-use product. I sure would like to know just where the
deficiency is. I would appreciate hearing from others whether they are
having similar problems and how they are coping.

Bill

--
Private Profit; Public Poop! Avoid collateral windfall!

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >