April 15th is looming, and if you're like most of us, you'll be filing at the last minute, online.
Just-a-Sec had two NYC secretaries file their taxes using two different online filing services, to see how well the services fared.
The results were clear: Avoid TurboTax. Go with Tax Cut by H&R Block.
Here's the full low-down.
Secretary A on Tax Cut by H&R Block:
"It was pretty easy. I only had one snag. There was a code I had to enter from one of the boxes on my W-2. When I entered it into Tax Cut exactly as it appeared on my W-2 form, Tax Cut didn't recognize it. I kept getting an error message over and over again. I figured out how it wanted the code entered through trial and error. I had to go back and find the spot where I'd originally entered the code and fix it, and that was a bit of a pain, but I figured it out. I liked that I was able to put in my bank information, and I got my refund my direct deposit within one week. And they kept me informed by e-mail as my filing progressed, like when the IRS accepted my return. I paid for their "Premium + State" package for $59.95 which allowed me to e-file my federal and state returns at the same time."
Secretary B on TurboTax:
"I definitely won't use TurboTax again next year. What a nightmare! They have me completely frustrated. Although filling in the actual tax information was very easy, it was the post-filing stuff that was really screwed up. I wanted to print out copies of my return for my records, and there was this window on-screen where the forms were supposed to appear. They didn't. Their help instructions (which were hard to navigate, I thought) instructed me to download some other program if I was having trouble seeing or printing my returns. I did that, and it just didn't work. I followed all of their "help" instructions to the letter and nothing happened. I tried contacting customer service via e-mail. I told them I wanted them to just e-mail me copies of my returns as PDF attachments. They wrote me back and said, 'I am very sorry, we do not keep your tax files to print and send to you.' Ummm...hello? I certainly HOPE you still have copies of my returns in that system of yours! In theory, I'm supposed to be able to still access my returns and print them RIGHT NOW -- so why can't THEY access copies of my returns? I felt completely blown off. Then in the e-mail they redirected me back to a link to instructions I'd already followed that didn't work the first time for printing my returns. I'm going to try viewing and printing my returns from a friend's computer. But meanwhile, I feel very frustrated and I paid $186.15 for this! Not only that, but I found the site really difficult to navigate. I kept going around in circles for an hour trying to find the information I wanted. I find it ironic that the name of the company that puts out TurboTax is 'Intuit', because this was one of the least 'intuitive' web sites I think I've ever used. Never again."
