Tax software functionality and deals

LarryMelman said:
I just remember being so dumbfounded when a Fidelity rep told me "yes, I know we've given it to you for free for several years. But your relationship with Fidelity is not sufficient to qualify for the offer now." With seven figures of assets and over 30 years with them. Unbelievable. Not that I hold grudges or anything like that.
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Larry,
Yes it's unbelievable. I'm amazed at the people here and at Bogleheads that think they have it figured out. I'm sure I have less assets, fewer brokerage transactions and other interactions with Fido than more worthy clients. Yet every year on day one it's there. Furthermore after a billing problem with the "Free" Premier TurboTax offer, I don't even use it. Maybe it's because I periodically click on the Fido annuity or management pages which usually gets a phone message from my Private Client Group Rep. Like I frequently say - Who knows?

Maybe its the fact that I show more assets on their analysis tool than they control. Much of our assets are over at the Walmart of investments and maybe that's a factor. Pure speculation on my part.

And now I see I've nicely segued into a humble brag. Sorry
 
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What is the "Walmart of investments?"
 
Cobra9777 said:
Same as others, the free TurboTax Premier offer finally appeared on my Fidelity Home page this morning. As in the past, they try to suck you into the online version. If instead, you want to download the CD/desktop version, follow these instructions:

On the first Intuit screen you come to, don't click any of the 4 options. Instead, scroll down until you see, in very small print, "TurboTax CD/download also available." Click the button that says, "See Products." Now, click the "Buy Now" button under Premier. At that point, select your OS, and then you can purchase Premier for $0 and download the desktop version. I had to login to my Intuit account and it sent a 2FA code. It also asked to confirm my phone number and billing/shipping info. But then it gives you the License Code and a button to click for the download.
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Thank you for the info. I still had a little trouble getting there to the final click, but after a couple of try’s I finally found it. Without the general steps it’s almost impossible to stumble upon.
 
rkser said:
At present, we are using the "What If" in the FORMS section of Turbo Tax Premier 2020 for 'Estimating the 2021 income & taxes'.

We plan to buy Turbo Tax early next year as all the updates will be in by then.



Would buying Turbo Tax now as opposed to next year give us any advantage in firming up the year's income & taxes ??
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If you buy it earlier it updates automatically each time an update is available.
 
LarryMelman said:
As usual it annoys the hell out of me that some people get the offer and some don't. (Free TurboTax was taken away from me after 2017, even though I had over $2M of assets at Fidelity, including mid-six-figures of Fidelity mutual funds, reps told me my "relationship with Fidelity was insufficient". After which, I moved over $1M out to Charles Schwab and Fidelity didn't bat an eye.)

We all apparently see different things.

On my home/summary page, in the middle column, there's a section "See our special discounts with tax providers. Get the most out of your tax preparation." with a link "Learn More" that goes to a generic page
https://www.fidelity.com/tax-information/tax-preparation/overview
which has links to TurboTax, TaxAct, H&R Block, and TaxChat. The TurboTax link says "up to $20 off", for Deluxe which I need it's $39 discounted to $29 (state e-file is extra). I'll probably find a better deal on Amazon or elsewhere in the weeks ahead.

There is nothing else on my home page related to taxes. The left side has a list of my accounts and a link to open a cash management account.
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Trust me it wasn’t taken away from you. You just can’t find it yet. Keep trying and dig further as if you were going to buy the Premiere version on the handover TT link. It’s there for you, you just didn’t go dear enough.
 
Al in Ohio said:
Trust me it wasn’t taken away from you. You just can’t find it yet. Keep trying and dig further as if you were going to buy the Premiere version on the handover TT link. It’s there for you, you just didn’t go dear enough.
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Correct. The offer is in a tile and not all tiles are visible. Click on the “customize” button on the summary page to see all of the tiles.

I have also heard the offer can appear, disappear and then reappear. Who knows why.
 
Al in Ohio said:
Trust me it wasn’t taken away from you. You just can’t find it yet. Keep trying and dig further as if you were going to buy the Premiere version on the handover TT link. It’s there for you, you just didn’t go dear enough.
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Unfortunately, you are wrong. Fidelity TOLD me in 2018 that I did not qualify for it any more. This has been discussed to death.
 
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steelyman said:
OK. Well, it seems like you don’t have the assets at Fidelity needed to qualify for the offer in 2021. Drag, I know.
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I feel like I am being trolled. Did you read post 263? At the time they told me my "relationship was insufficient", I had over $2M with them. Several hundred K of that in their mutual funds. But no assigned rep nor any managed portfolio products. We have never figured out what the criteria are. You can search my posting history for discussion of this every year, back to 2018.

I have decided to be OK with the $60-ish to buy Turbo Tax (deluxe + state e-filing), but every year this topic comes around again.
 
I've been using H&R Block Deluxe+State for years. Thinking of switching to Turbo Tax because of the ability to import 1099s from Fidelity. In order to import 1099s from Fidelity I would need to purchase Turbo Tax Premier edition? Is that correct? Otherwise, if I get the Turbo Tax Deluxe I will need to manually enter the 1099 information?

Also, what is the feature in Turbo Tax that allows you to do "what if" scenarios when trying to decide whether or not to sell taxable investments? (Or to figure out how much you can sell and remain in particular tax bracket?) People typically do this "what if" planning once they get their estimated capital gains and estimated dividend distribution numbers, i.e. they are doing it right now.
 
LarryMelman said:
I have decided to be OK with the $60-ish to buy Turbo Tax (deluxe + state e-filing), but every year this topic comes around again.
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steelyman said:
Sounds like a solution to me!
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Not to me. I think if I had more than a million at Fidelity, I get on their butts and get the free Turbo Tax. Squeaky wheel system.
 
Tax software deals

Jerry1 said:
Not to me. I think if I had more than a million at Fidelity, I get on their butts and get the free Turbo Tax. Squeaky wheel system.
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Sure. If you have more than a million at Fidelity now, not a few years ago.
 
Jerry1 said:
Not to me. I think if I had more than a million at Fidelity, I get on their butts and get the free Turbo Tax. Squeaky wheel system.
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I squeaked plenty. To an online rep and a phone rep and a local office rep. Then I moved over $1M to Schwab and Fidelity didn't express any regret at all over it. So there you go. Now please let's let this die.
 
Qs Laptop said:
if I get the Turbo Tax Deluxe I will need to manually enter the 1099 information?
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No. Deluxe can do that. The first year that I bought my own, I bought Premier because that's what Fidelity always gave me. But someone here posted that the only benefit of Premier over Deluxe (for me) was handling ESPP stock sales a bit better. Otherwise, Deluxe imports 1099's just fine.
 
Qs Laptop said:
if I get the Turbo Tax Deluxe I will need to manually enter the 1099 information?
Click to expand...

LarryMelman said:
No. Deluxe can do that. The first year that I bought my own, I bought Premier because that's what Fidelity always gave me. But someone here posted that the only benefit of Premier over Deluxe (for me) was handling ESPP stock sales a bit better. Otherwise, Deluxe imports 1099's just fine.
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Plus, I believe the thing to do is get the best deal you can on Deluxe and then if you find that it can’t handle something, you can upgrade to Premier for the difference in MSRP’s, which would still end up being a good price.
 
I think I’d be fine with Deluxe (vs Premier) because my returns are not exotic. Quicken leads you to think otherwise.
 
Wow, what a journey on this thread and Fidelity's website! I can hardly believe how hard someone made it to download the free TurboTax Premier from Fidelity! Amazing!

The Fidelity rep. I've talked to doesn't know anything about this. I have no idea what qualifies you. I have more than $1MM with Fidelity.

Thanks go to Cobra9777, Al in Ohio, and audreyh1 for their posts. They guided me to the free download. It is not an easy trip! Sorry if I missed anyone.

This post is dedicated to LarryMelman. Larry, I appreciate your thanks, but I've blocked you for so many reasons.


FREE TURBOTAX FROM FIDELITY


1) Go your Fidelity home page and scroll down to the bottom left corner to see the TurboTax Premier offer. Click on “Get started now”.

2) Scroll down to Premier and click on “Learn more” under Premier.

3) Click on the drop-down menu “ File your own taxes” | “CD/Download products” | “Compare all products”. Choose Premier at $0 and click on “Buy now”.

4) A popup window appears where you select your operating system. It then shows “You added these products” listing Premier at $0. Click on “Continue”.

5) You enter your personal information and download.

Merry Xmas to all!
 
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