TaxACT or TurboTax for Home Selling/Buying

In My Humble Opinion
1

My taxes are typically only slightly too complicated for a 1040EZ. I pay mortgage interest and property taxes and make some donations and have dividends and capital gains to report. I’ve used both TaxACT and TurboTax in the past and both packages handle my tax calculating and reporting swimmingly, though I prefer TaxACT because it’s cheaper.

However, late last year I sold my house in Arizona and bought one in New Mexico (so, different states), which certainly complicates things. I have all my forms–HUD1 statements and what not. I was planning to try out both packages to see how well they’d handle the home sale and purchase and well as the interstate move, but thought I’d ping you all on your personal experiences with this before I dive in.

My questions are as follows:
[ol]
[li]How well do TurboTax and/or TaxACT handle reporting house sales/purchases and moves, both from a user-friendliness aspect as well as thoroughness?[/li][li]Is there one package that handles this stuff better than the other?[/li][/ol]

I’m afraid I may have to consult with an actual professional type for the first time ever, but am hoping I can get it done with one of the software packages.

2014 will be nice in that I’ll be back to my usual, uncomplicated, boring self.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

2

Do you mean the free file online or pay boxed software? I haven’t sold two homes to make a comparison… if you ask me, use TaxACT because it’s less evil.

Unless there’s something you didn’t mention, you might be overcomplicating this… You really need to read this (linked part most important but maybe the whole pub). Essentially if this was your home, as opposed to a rental property, and you haven’t sold another recently, you can get rid of all/a good chunk of the gain (sale price - purchase price). Figuring out those may be tricky, but if the number isn’t even remotely above $250k/$500k. If it’s not excluded, then it will be trickier, yes.

3

Ain’t that the truth. I work for Intuit (albeit in a different department that doesn’t touch Turbotax) and they will nickle and dime your ass any way they can.

4

Update: Did my taxes with TaxACT. Some spots were a little clunky, especially the warning I was getting about noting a partial year’s income in New Mexico, but I got everything submitted and accepted. I printed out the New Mexico form and read the instructions thoroughly. I filled it out correctly, despite the annoying TaxACT warning.

For the curious, I use the online wizard–no software installation.

Thanks again for y’all’s input.