Just wondering if anyone out there has used both (or, at least has used both Turbo Tax Freedom and a higher-level paid version) in recent memory, who can tell me whether it’s wise for me to save money on the tax software, or if the free version is dumbed-down sufficiently that I could just end up paying more in taxes so save nothing anyway.
For the purposes of this discussion, I’m not planning on switching software/providers simply because I have many many years of prior returns saved in my account with them, and being able to pull needed information into the current year makes my life a lot easier. My income is a wacky combination of W2 contract work and 1099 contract work, some with withholdings and some without; along with other complicated things like the home-office deduction (and we moved, so two different home offices for various periods throughout the year), having an HSA, student loans, etc. So I’ll need to file a Schedule C, possibly have to itemize, and basically it’s complicated and takes a really long time and I’m essentially taking it on faith that I’m interpreting the questions correctly enough to end up with a correct and accurate tax return.
I have very little money, which is why I qualify for and am considering going back to Tax Freedom this year (I haven’t used Tax Freedom in years, although I probably could have qualified the last couple years too, doh). BUT given the complexity of my return, I don’t want to end up missing some vital deduction because the software never asked about it, which would end up costing me more than the software fee.
So how robust is Tax Freedom? Is it at least within the ballpark of the Deluxe version (which is what I’ve used for about the last 8 years)?
Without having used the Deluxe edition I can say that the free version should handle what you need without much trouble. However, I tried to do my girlfriend’s taxes this weekend (after she had previously used the version that costs money) and it kept trying to charge her. I would have had to contact customer service to get it reversed, gave up and used H&R Block’s free software.
I had the same problem as desertmonk. I signed on to TurboTax’s free program to do my daughter’s taxes, and when I was all finished with state and federal, income from two jobs, a retirement payout, and unemployment (totalling less than $15,000), I was asked to pay. Rather than possibly lose all that work, or do it over somewhere else and have the same issue at the end, I ended up paying about $50 for something I had thought would be free.
Before going to TurboTax, I had started with three other services – H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer. The screens were less easy to navigate, so I went back to TurboTax.
There was probably a box to click at the end to make it really free, but I couldn’t find it.
I really do like TurboTax, but this year felt like bait and switch.
I haven’t used both, but have used the free version for the past several years and haven’t noticed any flaws. I haven’t used the paid version, but my guess is the primary difference is in the fee charged.
Okay, are you using the Tax Freedom free version, or the 1040EZ free version? Two different beasts, and the 1040EZ version will upgrade you to the paid version if you start putting in anything more complicated than what’s on the EZ form.
I’m talking about the Tax Freedom version. It’s free for low-income people, not because it’s the simplest tax form. Tax Freedom is also not free if you finish your taxes and end up above their AGI threshold.
My SO finished his taxes with Tax Freedom and didn’t have to pay, despite being self-employed. He also made a lot less, from fewer sources, and overall has less complicated taxes than mine, which is why I’m asking this question.
I finally was able to track down their online chat help (my only complaint here, it was hard to find from their front page, I ended up having to Google “Turbotax chat” to find it).
I asked them the question, and as it turns out, there are significant enough differences between the two. Tax Freedom doesn’t let you import data from last year, for one, (kind of a big deal with the all the home office info) and Deluxe goes through more possible deductions.
What I didn’t expect was that the CSR then just asked me if I’d like to download the Deluxe version for free, and then walked me through the process of doing so.
So, ultimately, I was able to efile Fed for nothing, and I was able to complete my state return and then chose to paper file state because efile would have cost about $20 (which would have been the same with Tax Freedom, anyway). I was able to pay rent last week because of my Federal refund. Yay!
I am very impressed that TurboTax allows their CSRs that kind of latitude. Most corporations seem to be short-sighted in that regard. They’ll pinch pennies with their support, without regard to how that negative experience is likely to affect purchasing behavior down the line. So TurboTax goes above and beyond, I’m much more inclined to continue on with them next year, and they get some free word-of-mouth advertising.
I think this is the real product they are selling, the ablity to import and analysis data from previous years.
I’ve done the free version for the past two years and had experiences similar to desertmonk. I had to actively check boxes, more than once, to get the free version and once I failed my account, tied to my email, couldn’t ever be free again. Did this with H&R then went to TurboTax and figured it out.
This year I’ll probably just pay the cost to get the import and to not have to battle against the free version. I paid for new tax software every year before and thought myself well served, so why buck against paying now?
