Problems switching from Turbotax Premier to Deluxe in future tax years?

[audreyh1]

The last two years we had gotten Turbotax Premier for free from Fidelity. I haven't seen anything yet on Fidelity's site that indicates free Turbotax Premier is an option for 2017 taxes. So far they are only offering very limited discounts on download versions of Turbotax. It seemed like by this time last year Fidelity had the free offer, or am I too early?

Turbotax Deluxe 2017 without State is available from Costco and Amazon for $39.99 and $39.86 respectively which is way better than the Turbotax linked offer from Fidelity.

If we end up buying Turbotax Deluxe are we going to end up with any compatibility issues when we bring Turbotax Premier data in for the new tax year? Does anyone know?

Originally we used Turbotax Deluxe and had no problem with Schedule D or other tax forms we normally file. Then there was the big brouhaha over Intuit trying to force users to switch to Turbotax Premier for Schedule D. At that time, Fidelity was offering Turbotax Premier for free, so we went that route. Fidelity did not offer Turbotax Deluxe for free.

Does Turbotax Deluxe now work like the good old days where it did a proper job of handling Schedule D? Or did they add back more cursory support.

I'm just hoping someone here has some experience they would be willing to share. Thanks.

 

[Another Reader]

They are probably holding off until the tax bill is signed and TT gets up to speed.

 

[Souschef]

I just bought Deluxe, and had used Premier last year. I imported last year's data, and it is all there. However, TT posted a message with an upsell to Premier.

 

[audreyh1]

Hmmm - I wouldn't assume that Fidelity is holding off for the tax bill. People will have to deal with Turbotax updates regardless. I don't remember exactly when they started the free offer last year. I don't remember if it was mid month, or later in Dec.

Vanguard declined to offer Turbotax last year, so I'm wondering whether Fidelity will decide to drop it too.

 

[audreyh1]

I just bought Deluxe, and had used Premier last year. I imported last year's data, and it is all there. However, TT posted a message with an upsell to Premier.

Thank you very much!

Do you have Schedule D transactions that include sales of shares (realized gains) as well as distributions? Turbotax used to handle both in the good old days but I've read some comments claiming Turbotax doesn't handle sales which are part of Schedule D.

 

[cathy63]

You can import a previous year's Deluxe form into Premier. TTax Deluxe and Premier (CD or Download versions) include all the same forms. I believe that Premier includes extra wizards in the interview to handle sales of ESPP shares or cases where you are modifying the data reported on your 1099-B. If all your stock or mutual fund sales are imported from your brokerage and you don't make any edits (or you are willing to go to forms mode and do them there), then you should not need Premier.

 

[cathy63]

Thank you very much!

Do you have Schedule D transactions that include sales of shares (realized gains) as well as distributions? Turbotax used to handle both in the good old days but I've read some comments claiming Turbotax doesn't handle sales which are part of Schedule D.

TTax Deluxe Online does not include Sched D. You may be seeing comments about that version. But if you're buying a CD at Costco or downloading from Fidelity, then you are using TTax Deluxe Desktop, which does include Sched D.

 

[Souschef]

Frankly, in the larger scheme of things, $30 is not going to break me. I just get ticked off when a company tries to pull a fast one like that.

 

[RunningBum]

Thank you very much!

Do you have Schedule D transactions that include sales of shares (realized gains) as well as distributions? Turbotax used to handle both in the good old days but I've read some comments claiming Turbotax doesn't handle sales which are part of Schedule D.

The 2017 desktop version has no problems with both sales and distributions that go on schedule D, at least nothing I'm aware of from inputting my data and looking at the resulting form.

 

[audreyh1]

Well Gooolllleeeeeee!

Fidelity free TurboTax offer appeared this week so I was just a wee bit premature.

Oops - DH logged on and couldn’t find the free download.

There must be a new trick.

Found it! DH was off searching for it who knows where instead of looking at the start page. You do have to scroll down a bit to find the offer.

 

[audreyh1]

The 2017 desktop version has no problems with both sales and distributions that go on schedule D, at least nothing I'm aware of from inputting my data and looking at the resulting form.

Thanks

 

[CRLLS]

Well Gooolllleeeeeee!

Fidelity free TurboTax offer appeared this week so I was just a wee bit premature.

Oops - DH logged on and couldn’t find the free download.

There must be a new trick.

Found it! DH was off searching for it who knows where instead of looking at the start page. You do have to scroll down a bit to find the offer.

Ahhhh Thanks! I've been looking for that. Your finding it on the bottom of the Start page is the info I needed.

 

[audreyh1]

Ahhhh Thanks! I've been looking for that. Your finding it on the bottom of the Start page is the info I needed.

I think they made it explicit this year that it’s a free download of Premier. Before you had to follow the links to the downloads on the TurboTax site to see that it was free.

 

[CRLLS]

Last year and the year before getting it for free was iffy at best. Sometimes the Intuit site gave me a discounted price. I tied several times and finally got the JuJu just right and got it for free.

This year, the Fidelity site says

Get TurboTax® Online Premier free

(emphasis is mine) but when I sent to the Intuit site, I clicked on the "Download" button. I saw that the download was free too.

 

[audreyh1]

Last year and the year before getting it for free was iffy at best. Sometimes the Intuit site gave me a discounted price. I tied several times and finally got the JuJu just right and got it for free.

This year, the Fidelity site says

Get TurboTax® Online Premier free

(emphasis is mine) but when I sent to the Intuit site, I clicked on the "Download" button. I saw that the download was free too.

Oops sorry - I didn't notice the "Online" part. As before we followed the links to the download versions on the intuit site and found the premier download price set to $0.

 

[Sunset]

Well Gooolllleeeeeee!

Fidelity free TurboTax offer appeared this week so I was just a wee bit premature.

Oops - DH logged on and couldn’t find the free download.

There must be a new trick.

Found it! DH was off searching for it who knows where instead of looking at the start page. You do have to scroll down a bit to find the offer.

Do you have to have a certain level of investments to get it ?

 

[audreyh1]

Do you have to have a certain level of investments to get it ?

Yes. Traditionally this has been a perk for private client level which is based on assets held at the company.

2016 article about status levels and perks at Vanguard and Fidelity: https://thefinancebuff.com/vanguard-fidelity-large-account.html

 

[braumeister]

I think they made it explicit this year that it’s a free download of Premier. Before you had to follow the links to the downloads on the TurboTax site to see that it was free.

Yes, definitely more obvious this year and a much more streamlined process to find and download it. So much nicer than jumping through all the convoluted hoops of the last couple of years.

 

[MichaelB]

My Start page says

Get TurboTax Online Premier free

The link is to the online TT, but the download option is right there next to it, and it shows TT Premier for $0.00. Funny, the Deluxe version costs $59.99

It downloaded, installed and updated easily.

 

[audreyh1]

My Start page says The link is to the online TT, but the download option is right there next to it, and it shows TT Premier for $0.00. Funny, the Deluxe version costs $59.99

It downloaded, installed and updated easily.

That’s why we’ve been using Premier, because it was free, but Deluxe was not.

 

[Montecfo]

Thank you very much!

Do you have Schedule D transactions that include sales of shares (realized gains) as well as distributions? Turbotax used to handle both in the good old days but I've read some comments claiming Turbotax doesn't handle sales which are part of Schedule D.

I use Deluxe (desktop version) i Have stock sales etc. Handles them fine. I'm sure TT likes to use various tactics to get you to buy premier but I have not needed it for stock sales.

 

[misanman]

Saw the Fidelity offer this morning and I'm installing TurboTax Premier 2017 as I type this. It is a much clearer offer than in past years.