Tax prep software offers

[jim584672]

Last year I did HRB Deluxe+State for $20 plus tax from newegg. I'll wait a bit it is still early.

 

[braumeister]

If Fido gives me the same $5 deal as last year, it's well worth waiting another 2-3 weeks. IIRC, it was right in the middle of December last year.

 

[easysurfer]

Tis the season for tax prep software market timing .

Amazon today has Turbotax Deluxe + State as a Black Friday deal at $45.99.

I'm gonna go the greedy route and wait until around the week between Christmas and New Years like usual.

Unless of course, I see an offer I can't refuse .

 

[easysurfer]

Just checked Costco. It’s 45.99 for deluxe with State. Plus, they have a $10 offer for in program use. So you can use the $10 to offset some of the cost of filing your State. That’s a pretty good deal. I’m going to get it because I’ve started paying to file my state. I don’t like it, but it’s obviously more convenient and I like the security of e-filing versus printing and mailing. So for $10 instead of the normal $20, it’s even more easy to justify.

That $10 add on offer is tempting. But didn't Turbotax increase the price of State e-filing this year?

 

[Jerry1]

That $10 add on offer is tempting. But didn't Turbotax increase the price of State e-filing this year?

I’m not sure but even so, I’ll get $10 off. It hurts a little to pay the fee, but I gave in and started doing it a couple years ago. I’m sure I would have done it again this year unless it went crazy high.


ETA: I just checked and it does look like the fee increased to $25. “The man” always sticking it to us.

 

[easysurfer]

I’m not sure but even so, I’ll get $10 off. It hurts a little to pay the fee, but I gave in and started doing it a couple years ago. I’m sure I would have done it again this year unless it went crazy high.


ETA: I just checked and it does look like the fee increased to $25. “The man” always sticking it to us.

Still looks like a good deal despite the one hand gives, one hand takes away approach.

 

[Fermion]

The $20 was already worth it. I just ran our numbers (guessing a little bit on SPAXX returns for the rest of the year) and then ran the scenario if I cash in more of our 2021 I-bonds (since they are only paying 3.38% or so now). It turns out if I cash in the second set of bonds this year, we would have to pay back $220 of ACA subsidy, on top of the 10% or so federal tax, making it a "tax" of about 17% on those ibonds. If I wait until Jan I can cash them in for 0% tax. For that $22,700, 3.38% vs 5% is only $61 of missed interest vs paying $459 in federal tax plus ACA repayment.


As it stands, we will owe about $6 in federal tax for 2023.

 

[Chuckanut]

Is there any good reason to buy TT over H&R Block tax software?

 

[Jerry1]

Is there any good reason to buy TT over H&R Block tax software?

No. Maybe if there is something unusual about your return, but one year I did my very basic return using both and came up with the same answer.

I prefer TT only because I’ve used it since it came out and am very comfortable with it.

 

[Chuckanut]

Just ordered HR Block software for $20. Got $1 off for delayed shipping (but it's the downloaded version so ) Also, they are offering another 20% off if it is charged to a Prime Visa cards. <--- That offer expires in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. It's now 9:20 AM PST.

 

[ksr]

After reading this thread I decided to try H&R Block Deluxe this year (got it at Newegg with the $25 discount, so it came to just $24.99). I've been a long-time user of TT Deluxe, but was getting tired of the price jumping every year.

I already uploaded last year's TT file into H&R Block and so far so good.

Thanks to all who alerted us to the deal on Newegg!

 

[W2R]

Agree. $45 is close enough so I bought it. No need to get greedy but if they later offer it for $45;with a $10 gift card I'm the chump.

This is what I'm thinking. Not sure if I'll buy it today for $45, or wait.

Oh, and for those asking..... the reason I chose Turbo-tax? I'm 75 effing years old, white hair, creaky bones, rigid opinions, the whole deal. At this age my habits are so rigid that they make concrete look like pudding. Got to have Turbo-tax because that's what I have always used, since the last century. Not changing now.

 

[RunningBum]

Is there any good reason to buy TT over H&R Block tax software?

I tried HRB once, never again. I got two letters from the IRS about the return. One was because of a missing form needed to keep a foreign tax credit carryover alive, the other a missing explanation on a Roth recharacterization. Neither situation applies to my returns anymore but like many such product decisions you tend not to go back to the one you got burned on.

I also didn't like a couple things about the format of the output in HRB. No index for each form in the pdf, and the actual tax calculation when you have cap gains or dividends was buried somewhere that didn't make the pdf by default and was hard to find.

I'm sticking with TT. I know others have quit using it because of how they tried to convince you to use a more expensive version than you need or other pricing issues, and I can't fault them for that.

 

[qwerty3656]

Is there any good reason to buy TT over H&R Block tax software?

I like H&R block better. I've used both the last few years and found TT to always be asking much more detailed questions whether they were relevant or not. H&R Block got to the point more quickly.

 

[braumeister]

I tried HRB once, never again.

I don't like it either, for different reasons. I actually bought both of them one year and went through the whole routine in each.

I thought the HRB walkthrough was unnecessarily convoluted and unintuitive compared to TT. It also used what I considered an odd rounding convention, so most of the totals were different by a few dollars. Most likely irrelevant, but a bit disconcerting. I've stuck with TT ever since.

 

[zaqxsw]

If Fido gives me the same $5 deal as last year, it's well worth waiting another 2-3 weeks. IIRC, it was right in the middle of December last year.

My memory is the same. I'm sure finding it will again be a puzzle.

 

[tulak]

I tried HRB a few years ago and it was terrible dealing with ESPP shares. I'm going to stick with TT Premier until I quit working, at which point I'll either use Deluxe or maybe try one of the alternatives again.

Looking in my past orders, I've bought TT with an Amazon gift card at the end of December. I'll wait another month and see if I can get the same deal.

 

[levindb]

Today Amazon has TurboTax for $45.99 and will throw in a $10 Amazon gift card...I will have to wait until February to figure out how I will file state...

 

[rayvt]

This comes to the same net price I got TT for last year, ordered on 12/28/22. I'd rather pay $35.99 and no $10 gift card, but ..... ::shrug::

 

[Amethyst]

I purchase the Fed-only version, but their Fed+State was on sale too, per the ad I received:

https://store.hrblock.com/shoppingc...0140&mc_sd=20231124&emlink=CTA_DownloadDeluxe

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Today Amazon has TurboTax for $45.99 and will throw in a $10 Amazon gift card...I will have to wait until February to figure out how I will file state...

This comes to the same net price I got TT for last year, ordered on 12/28/22. I'd rather pay $35.99 and no $10 gift card, but ..... ::shrug::

Thanks levindb! I feel the same as you, rayvt, but think I will go ahead and jump on it. I may be able to use it to do a little tuning before 12/31. (I don't think I will need to, as I can tune with tIRA contributions after 12/31, but I think I will just get the bird in hand.)

 

[W2R]

Today Amazon has TurboTax for $45.99 and will throw in a $10 Amazon gift card...I will have to wait until February to figure out how I will file state...

Thank you, levindb!!! I didn't see it, because there's another entry on Amazon for the same thing without the gift card. Apparently the gift card is only offered today?

It also said that Prime members would get 6% off purchases today if no-rush delivery is selected.

Anyway, I found it and JUMPED right on it!

Sent Frank the link to it, at his request, so he'll be getting the free $10 gift card too.

 

[5Miler]

Not to derail the thread but I have a question on Turbotax that vexes me every year. DGF has a hobby business as a travel agent making an average profit of $3K to $4K per year via 1099 so I have to file a schedule C for her. Can I accomplish this through Turbotax Deluxe or do I need to keep purchasing Premier, the much higher priced spread.

Other than the little amount of her travel business income our taxes are pretty vanilla for our retired income so don't require an upgraded program to file.

I just hate paying $70+ dollars for a Premier program I don't need. I used HRB several years ago but it isn't my jam.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Has anyone figured out if this years TT be installed on 2 computers or not. I heard a few weeks ago that sharing the program was not allowed
I always buy the 5 free e-file version and then give the CD to my daughter so she can do her taxes as well on her own computer. I've also just skipped past the registration and login to my account screens and it's never been a problem.

 

[levindb]

I did a search on TurboTax Deluxe and Schedule C...

If you are using the download version, Deluxe can be used. If you are using the Online Version, Deluxe will not work.

You may want to do your own search to verify how to handle expenses related to the travel agent hobby.