Uh Oh! TT What are you doing to me?

I download everything and check to see if it is what I expect to see based on the 1099s...


Do you have to put in your password? I might not be remembering correctly but I think I just entered some number on the 1099... but could be completely wrong as I have done nothing for this year....
 
frayne said:
Does anyone else like to input the numbers manually these days?
Click to expand...

No.

But there is some data for which I have no choice but to manually enter. Examples include:
- my credit union
- Treasury Direct
- My (former) employer so that I can adjust the cost basis for every sale of shares from ESPP and RSU's

Otherwise, I much prefer to have everything automatically entered. Once I get to the end, I let it percolate for a couple of weeks. Then I sit down with my DW and we go over everything line-by-line vs. the paper copies I make. We've never found a mistake in automatically downloaded data, but there have been typos in the past with manually entered data.

Cheers.
 
I don't understand the hesitancy. You're entering your most intimate financial details: SS numbers, IRA account numbers, bank account numbers, HC information, ages, addresses, income and account balances, etc etc, yet you're worried about TT having the passwords to those accounts?

Someone evil at TT doesn't need your password to your brokerage.
You've already given them all the information they need to do a lot of harm!
 
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This thread has been eye opening for me; I had always thought the direct download from Fidelity was the big selling point. Ends up I take one number from 1099-INT; ordinary and qualified dividends from 1099-DIV; and amount of withdrawals from IRA on 1099-R. Only other number on our tax return are from wife's SSA-1099 and amount of my estimated tax payments. Since I always print out all the 1099s, it would be just as fast for me to enter manually.

Of course, at some point I will sell stocks or ETFs in taxable account and I will. have RMD from wife's non-deductible IRA so things will get tougher then.

Again, thanks for the insight,

Marc
 
Texas Proud said:
I download everything and check to see if it is what I expect to see based on the 1099s...


Do you have to put in your password? I might not be remembering correctly but I think I just entered some number on the 1099... but could be completely wrong as I have done nothing for this year....
Click to expand...
I downloaded VG a week ago or so and IIRC I got a number from VG which I entered in TT to authorize the download. I am waiting for Schwab to be ready for downloads and will see what they use.
 
marko said:
I don't understand the hesitancy. You're entering your most intimate financial details: SS numbers, IRA account numbers, bank account numbers, HC information, ages, addresses, income and account balances, etc etc, yet you're worried about TT having the passwords to those accounts?

Someone evil at TT doesn't need your password to your brokerage.
You've already given them all the information they need to do a lot of harm!
Click to expand...
+1. Forest for the trees…
 
marko said:
I don't understand the hesitancy. You're entering your most intimate financial details: SS numbers, IRA account numbers, bank account numbers, HC information, ages, addresses, income and account balances, etc etc, yet you're worried about TT having the passwords to those accounts?
Click to expand...

Account numbers are optional so it's wise to not include this information (unless you are requesting direct deposit of your refund). Even though they know my address and other personal info, I don't want to give them the keys (i.e. userid/password) to my front door.
 
I do manual data entry, file by mail and keep paper copies of everything. I also calculate my taxes by hand and use that calculation to check the output of the H&R Block program. I have found errors in their program in past years and sent them emails about those (they all got corrected eventually). In fact, the only reason I use the computer program at all is to help ensure that I don't make a stupid math error or forget something.
 
I did my taxes on TT Deluxe yesterday. Initially, it was telling me my refund would be equal to our taxable income. :dance: Then, I ran a review and found my mistake. :(
 
My big concern with turbo tax is them knowing the balance of my brokerage accounts and the types of accounts I have. I do not want to be part of 'big data' where detailed records are kept on everyone and used for marketing and sold around the Internet. Also Turbo Tax can be 100% innocent but they can have all their data stolen by someone else. For me it's not worth the risk. I'll just enter in my own data.
 
marko said:
I don't understand the hesitancy. You're entering your most intimate financial details: SS numbers, IRA account numbers, bank account numbers, HC information, ages, addresses, income and account balances, etc etc, yet you're worried about TT having the passwords to those accounts?
Click to expand...

If you use an online version that's certainly a risk, but many tax packages let you work offline to avoid that risk.
 
frayne said:
Does anyone else like to input the numbers manually these days?
Click to expand...

Yes! -- but I have been doing volunteer taxes at the senior center for the last 10 years a couple of times a week -- and managing 3 estates. I am used to entering lots of numbers.

The answer might be different if it was just our tax return -- but I doubt it.

-gauss
 
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I have manually input my data into tax programs for 1099's.
The only reason I have done this is because in the past TT did not download accurately. Some of the numbers landed in the incorrect boxes. (Granted this was a W2 from ADP, but seeing it was from one of the largest vendors in the payroll world, I would have thought the data would have been set up to align correctly.)
Since I don't have much data, I just decided to manually enter going forward.
 
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I was surprised I could not download pdf versions of my 1099’s and have the tax program import from there. I’m not happy about giving Block or Intuit access to my accounts but it’s not them I worry about. I worry about some 3rd party hack. I guess changing passwords is a good idea. So far I just manually enter data for a bunch of 1099s and one W2. The software is already too much of a black box so doing it manually lets my brain process the numbers and compare them to my spreadsheet. Also I am not sure how sutomated entry handles info in the footnotes that is not reported but required to adjust the entries (i.e. accrued interest on bonds purchased)
 
You can also download your forms from your broker, offline from TT, and then upload and auto populate into TT from your computer instead of your broker.

I find the auto populate function delivers a more complete fill-in than manually especially with multiple sales of stocks.
 
dmpi said:
My big concern with turbo tax is them knowing the balance of my brokerage accounts and the types of accounts I have. I do not want to be part of 'big data' where detailed records are kept on everyone and used for marketing and sold around the Internet. Also Turbo Tax can be 100% innocent but they can have all their data stolen by someone else. For me it's not worth the risk. I'll just enter in my own data.
Click to expand...
Balances of my accounts and account numbers are not in my TurboTax info.
 
N=number, X=multiplication, R=return, 7=seven (I had no idea what "TLH in Fido's B" meant, either)
 
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