Almost free tax software, etc.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

These deals come around every year in many flavors, the depth of which is limited only by your willingness to file rebates, wait for some of the money to come back, and harangue the couple of companies that try to pretend they didnt get your rebates. So far I've had excellent luck with the companies involved here and have gotten this deal annually.

Go to OfficeMax web site (You can put a deal together for any of the stores, but this one is pretty easy if officemax will ship to your area)

Add turbotax deluxe to your cart, then the turbotax multistate thats free after rebates, then the quicken 2005 thats free after rebates, then the norton 2005 antivirus that MAY be free after rebates. The norton is 100% free if you already own any antivirus product (see the notes on the officemax web site for specific versions and limitations), or its $19.95 after rebate.

Add some thumbtacks or a nice gel pen or whatever to get your order up and over $150.

Start checking out and where appropriate, apply one of these $30 off $150 coupon codes:
122574452105
122574452655

Which should be valid through 2/5/05.

Turbotax has a $10 rebate, making it $29.95
State is free after rebate
Quicken is free after rebate
Norton AV is either $19.95 or free after rebate
Minus $30 off
Free shipping for orders over $50

You get all the s/w for whatever your state charges for sales tax is, plus $20 if you dont own any antivirus s/w, or you make a nickel if you have an AV software package that qualifies and no state sales tax.

Even if you have to pony up the $20 for the norton package, this deal runs every year, so you'll get your tax s/w, quicken update and AV s/w for free every year from now on, providing the office stores keep running coupons and rebate deals.

Note that this is not the deluxe version of quicken, just the basic one. Its helpful to get you to $150 to use the coupon, but you can also substitute other "free after rebate" items you can find on the officemax web site.

 

[Spanky]

Costco, effective Jan 17 to Jan 23, is offering Turbo Tax Deluxe 2004 for $34.99, $10 instant off. After mail-in rebate of $10, the cost will be $14.99. It is not free but definitely inexpensive.

Spanky

 

[Nords]

Turbotax has a $10 rebate, making it $29.95, state is free after rebate.

I have gimme-trouble in office supply stores even when I try to stick to a list... Since I only "need" the tax software, I guess it might be safer to cruise CostCo first.

Quicken is free after rebate.

I've been an Intuit hostage for nearly two decades, and now I only upgrade when they threaten that I won't be able to download stock quotes or when they change their file formats. It's good to see that Intuit has finally "learned" how to make Quicken talk to Excel. (About time!)

I'm doing it all now on Quicken 2003 Premier Home & Business (WinXP)-- does anyone know enough about Q05 to tell us if it's worth the hassle factor?

Norton AV is either $19.95 or free after rebate

Last time I used Norton AV, the first year was free but the following year I was asked to pay a $29.95 fee IOT keep getting virus updates. I don't know if that's still the case with this version.

Some companies have a clause in their Symantec AV Corporate Edition license allowing employees to also install the software on their home PCs. Free updates as long as Symantec cares to do so...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nords - I know what you mean. I have many, many FAR software packages I've never installed.

They make fine coasters though.

The norton AV includes 1 year of virus updates. Once you've bitten the bullet and bought one, the subsequent years new version is free after rebate, and also includes the 1 year sub.

At least thats the way its worked for me.

If you want to pay a little, costco has a deal coming up, I believe next week. $39 for ttax deluxe with instant $10 rebate and $10 MIR, and the state tax is $29 with a $29 rebate. $20 for both isnt too bad.

I was going to use vanguards turbotax on the web, but I dont know if it'll import my turbotax file from last year. I'd hate to have to rekey all the carryover info.