Tax software deals

[explanade]

For this year, I feel like I've got enough confidence with my spreadsheet, but I may still buy before I do my Roth conversions. Not worth saving $10 or $20 only to find out I made a $5000 error on the subsidy calculations.

So if you were to convert say $25k of a 401k into ROTH, don't you pretty much know how much it would add to your AGI?

And then you can see how the higher AGI would convert to the MAGI?

 

[Souschef]

I get TurboTax free from T.Rowe, but it is on line. I would rather have it all on my PC, so I will probably buy it.

 

[RunningBum]

So if you were to convert say $25k of a 401k into ROTH, don't you pretty much know how much it would add to your AGI?

And then you can see how the higher AGI would convert to the MAGI?

I know that all of my conversion adds to my AGI/MAGI. The things I wanted to make certain of was what other things add or subtract to them, and what is my MAGI limit.

I don't remember how much tax law changed last year, but I do know that the forms changed. So last year I wanted to do a trial run with the software.

I've already mentioned how the subsidy limit can be a little confusing. Yes, I know what it is, but it doesn't hurt to have an extra level of verification.

I also said I probably have enough confidence to not need to do a run with a tax program this year.

All that said, if paying $10 or $20 extra for buying a tax program early gives me an extra level of confidence, that's my business.

 

[RetireBy90]

I know that all of my conversion adds to my AGI/MAGI. The things I wanted to make certain of was what other things add or subtract to them, and what is my MAGI limit.

I don't remember how much tax law changed last year, but I do know that the forms changed. So last year I wanted to do a trial run with the software.

I've already mentioned how the subsidy limit can be a little confusing. Yes, I know what it is, but it doesn't hurt to have an extra level of verification.

I also said I probably have enough confidence to not need to do a run with a tax program this year.

All that said, if paying $10 or $20 extra for buying a tax program early gives me an extra level of confidence, that's my business.

+1

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

^ This. The last two years (probably even longer) Amazon and Walmart have offered major price discounts on H&R Block tax software the week of Thanksgiving.

I just got an e-mail from Turbotax letting me know that the program will be available at retailers Friday November 27th.
Their pricing which is always far more than I've ever paid on Black Friday
Deluxe $70
Premier $100
Home and Business $110.

 

[Ready]

Wow! Is it really that time of the year again? Life is moving way too fast for me.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Since: "Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, ten years after the release of Windows 7, after which the operating system ceased receiving further support or security updates to most users."

I think any company concerned about security issues would not produce software to work on Windows 7.

Yea, I was thinking about it. I finally upgraded to Windows 10 (for free) today. I lucked out in that it went pretty smooth. Now I can go tax software shopping.

 

[Souschef]

Wow! Is it really that time of the year again? Life is moving way too fast for me.

Relax-you will not be getting 1099's for another 4 months in some cases

 

[Buckeye]

I get mine and my family and friends done for free by being a volunteer tax preparer for the AARP Tax Aide program.

Of course, I "have to" volunteer like 40-80 hours in the spring doing taxes for strangers, plus 40 hours of training in the winter.

But they pay mileage, and I like to help people out, so I think I'm getting the sweeter end of the deal.

I did this for several years. We had an excellent supervisor at the location where I worked so it was fun. I had lots of prior experience, but I always learned something new in their training.

I also learned how dishonest brokers were who were churning the accounts of oldsters. I would ask if they knew about the buying and selling and everyone said no. Some understood there was a problem but most still didn't understand they were being fleeced.

 

[SecondCor521]

I did this for several years. We had an excellent supervisor at the location where I worked so it was fun. I had lots of prior experience, but I always learned something new in their training.

I also learned how dishonest brokers were who were churning the accounts of oldsters. I would ask if they knew about the buying and selling and everyone said no. Some understood there was a problem but most still didn't understand they were being fleeced.

Your experience mirrors mine.

I had one lady who took like $90K out of her traditional IRA and had about $50 withheld for federal taxes. As soon as I saw that 1099-R I cringed. She ended up owing like $20K additional. That's when another more experienced preparer helped out by talking about how to set up a payment plan.

I also had several older people with brokerage statements where they had maybe $20K total and it was invested in 12 or 15 actively managed mutual funds.

I of course tried my best for these clients - for all of them - but since I'm not licensed for financial advice, I could only make vanilla comments and suggestions.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I became aware of this calculator here on ER.org. If you want an estimate of where you stand for the year, I think it's pretty good.

https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/calcs/1040-calculator.php

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

So which service to you all recommend? (perhaps should make a poll/discussion thread). I had been using TaxAct.. started out very budget friendly but somehow seem to the the most expensive now (any investment income kicks you into the $80 tier -at least until they offer discounts). I'm sort of fed up with the spike in the prices and have no reason to stay in their ecosystem (was nice when I had carryover losses from harvesting in 2008 but I've burned all that up). I don't need hand holding, just want easy and quick entry and double-checks. Homeowner, do not itemize as I'm well below the threshold, HSA, Cap Gains/Div income. I'm almost tempted to do a paper return but willing to pay some for convenience and electronic filing.


Also, does anyone retired maintain their income under the threshold to use the "Free File" and are there any gotchas that will trip up FIREes if they try; "form WKYHA is not supported under the Free File program." Not relevant to me this year but hopefully for 2021.



FLSunFIRE


WKYHA (We Know You Have Assets)

 

[Dawg52]

I get TurboTax free from T.Rowe, but it is on line. I would rather have it all on my PC, so I will probably buy it.

I've always been the same way but I moved on from traditional hard drive PC's to Chromebook's. I used the free online TT version(Fidelity) last year and it worked great. But if one needs a traditional PC for other reasons....you might as well go for the downloaded version.

 

[SecondCor521]

So which service to you all recommend? (perhaps should make a poll/discussion thread). I had been using TaxAct.. started out very budget friendly but somehow seem to the the most expensive now (any investment income kicks you into the $80 tier -at least until they offer discounts). I'm sort of fed up with the spike in the prices and have no reason to stay in their ecosystem (was nice when I had carryover losses from harvesting in 2008 but I've burned all that up). I don't need hand holding, just want easy and quick entry and double-checks. Homeowner, do not itemize as I'm well below the threshold, HSA, Cap Gains/Div income. I'm almost tempted to do a paper return but willing to pay some for convenience and electronic filing.


Also, does anyone retired maintain their income under the threshold to use the "Free File" and are there any gotchas that will trip up FIREes if they try; "form WKYHA is not supported under the Free File program." Not relevant to me this year but hopefully for 2021.



FLSunFIRE


WKYHA (We Know You Have Assets)

You might try https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/. The UI is a tad clunky, but if you know your way around the forms, you'll probably be OK. They support quite a few forms - to be 100% thorough you'll want to read through their list of limitations as there are some oddball cases they don't cover. You can e-file federal through the site, but it doesn't do state taxes at all.

Usually with the free file programs, if you meet the qualifications that the IRS describes when you start, the software companies don't try the WKYHA upsell.

 

[RetireBy90]

So which service to you all recommend?

Ive been TT user for some time now. I prefer to do on my PC rather than on-line, although my worry about my data online isn't too bright since I use the E-File for federal taxes. I've used other software but I'm used to TT now and don't take to changes well.

 

[RunningBum]

So which service to you all recommend? (perhaps should make a poll/discussion thread).

Turbo Tax. I tried saving a few bucks with H&R Block but had a few problems with it, documented at https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/tax-prep-software-89479-6.html#post2064377 .
When a tax program error results in a letter from the IRS, I'm not going to use that program anymore. HRB resulted in two separate letters. I went back to Turbo Tax for good after that.

 

[Buckeye]

So which service to you all recommend? (perhaps should make a poll/discussion thread). I had been using TaxAct.. started out very budget friendly but somehow seem to the the most expensive now (any investment income kicks you into the $80 tier -at least until they offer discounts). I'm sort of fed up with the spike in the prices and have no reason to stay in their ecosystem (was nice when I had carryover losses from harvesting in 2008 but I've burned all that up). I don't need hand holding, just want easy and quick entry and double-checks. Homeowner, do not itemize as I'm well below the threshold, HSA, Cap Gains/Div income. I'm almost tempted to do a paper return but willing to pay some for convenience and electronic filing.


Also, does anyone retired maintain their income under the threshold to use the "Free File" and are there any gotchas that will trip up FIREes if they try; "form WKYHA is not supported under the Free File program." Not relevant to me this year but hopefully for 2021.



FLSunFIRE


WKYHA (We Know You Have Assets)

I loved and used TaxAct for many, many years. I think the folks who started TaxAct were Parson's Tax Edge alumni. But, like you said, their prices skyrocketed to beyond reasonable. I think they were bought. Last year I purchased TurboTax from Costco. I missed TaxAct but there was no way in h*ll I was paying what they were charging. It was a huge percentage increase from the prior year. Like 40%.

 

[Sunset]

So which service to you all recommend? (perhaps should make a poll/discussion thread). I had been using TaxAct.. started out very budget friendly but somehow seem to the the most expensive now (any investment income kicks you into the $80 tier -at least until they offer discounts)......

I use H&R Block for the past decade.
Never got any IRS letters.
I have/had: self employment (no employees), rental, dividends, stock sales, roth conversions, roth contributions, option trades, regular employment.

So I have found H&R Block worked ok for me but I never did recharacterizations.

I did use TT one year, oddly it was low cost, but then the next year they excluded some basic forms unless a person upgraded so I switched and never looked back.

 

[CardsFan]

This topic amuses me every year. A bunch of fairly well to do people trying to save $10-$20 on tax prep software. Heaven forbid any of us pay full price

BUT, buying Tesla's is OKAY

 

[pb4uski]

I agree with you. I’m not trying to convert the exact ideal number as I recognize there may be some income I’m missing without having 1099s in hand. By right amount, I’m shooting for close to top of what I ideally would like to do with factoring in a cushion so that I don’t go over that amount.

Ah... remember the good old days where you could convert, calculate your tax return and recharacterize any excess? I had a number of years in a row where my taxable income was exactly equal to the top of the 15% tax bracket!

 

[pb4uski]

This topic amuses me every year. A bunch of fairly well to do people trying to save $10-$20 on tax prep software. Heaven forbid any of us pay full price

BUT, buying Tesla's is OKAY

You are right. We are a strange bunch.

We are all strange in our own special ways... some more than others.

 

[teejayevans]

This topic amuses me every year. A bunch of fairly well to do people trying to save $10-$20 on tax prep software. Heaven forbid any of us pay full price

BUT, buying Tesla's is OKAY

Get off my lawn!

 

[Sunset]

This topic amuses me every year. A bunch of fairly well to do people trying to save $10-$20 on tax prep software. Heaven forbid any of us pay full price

BUT, buying Tesla's is OKAY

Only if I can get it on a deal..... like free oil changes for life

 

[NW-Bound]

This topic amuses me every year. A bunch of fairly well to do people trying to save $10-$20 on tax prep software. Heaven forbid any of us pay full price

BUT, buying Tesla's is OKAY

Some were early birds in order to get free supercharging. They often remind others of that privilege that late comers do not get.

 

[MisterBill]

I just checked the web site. I guess HR Block is not supporting Windows 7.

Since: "Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, ten years after the release of Windows 7, after which the operating system ceased receiving further support or security updates to most users."

I think any company concerned about security issues would not produce software to work on Windows 7.

Last year Turbotax did not support Windows 7, but it did run on it. You just had to dismiss an annoying message each tie you started the program saying that you were running on an unsupported OS.

BTW you can still upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 for free, even though the offer supposedly ended a long time ago.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

Costco typically puts Turbotax on sale, I'm thinking after Thanksgiving but I could be wrong. That triggers everyone else to match their price.

Oh, and if you are a Private Client at Fidelity (or some other qualifier which is hard to nail down), they offer TT Premier for free around the end of December. Last year it didn't show up until January. I see there are some threads here about it.